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Local firms bet on fun to boost employee satisfaction, retention

Fun activities make work seem like recess, boost satisfaction

By Joyce Pellino Crane, Globe Correspondent, 7/27/03

Globe Photo/Sean Dougherty Bio-Concepts Laboratories of Derry, N.H., schedules camping trips for its employees. At an outing this month at Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, N.H., were (left clockwise) Paul Hartnett, president Frank Smith, Dennis Laroche, Lynne Laroche, Lauren Smith, Kate Hartnett, and Genoveva Kolachi.

Kate Monaghan has an employee benefit many would die for. Last week the public relations manager for Canton-based Tweeter Home Entertainment Group attended the Bon Jovi concert in Foxborough at almost no cost.

Tweeter is but one of many companies in the Boston area providing fun activities for its employees with the goal of employee retention, team building, and increased job satisfaction and productivity.

''It's a companywide culture that we all go to concerts together,'' Monaghan said. ''Like a lot of people at Tweeter, I have a music background and I love music. A lot of our employees are in bands or they play instruments. It helps to sell stereo equipment if you love what you're doing.''

In addition to the Bon Jovi concert, Tweeter employees had the option last week of also seeing Hootie and the Blowfish on Saturday.

Despite an unemployment rate that's hovering around 6 percent, and a nose to the grindstone trend as area businesses announce layoffs, some organizations value pleasure and are still willing to invest either time, money or both into invigorating their employees.

But whether these good times lead to a tangible benefit is somewhat up in the air. Organizational psychologists say that increased productivity is not necessarily a byproduct of having fun at work. Studies do not show a direct correlation, according to specialists.

''There's a major misconception about having fun at work and being productive,'' said organizational psychologist David Javitch. ''But there are pros and cons, pluses and minuses of having fun and not having fun.'' Javitch is an adjunct assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.

When employees are satisfied with their jobs, the data show they are absent less and they are more likely to stay with the employer, according to Javitch.

''In other words, the more job satisfied people are, the less they're going to call in sick and the less they're going to quit their job,'' Javitch said.

The staff of small biotechnology-pharmaceutical firm of Derry, N.H.-based Bio-Concept Laboratories gathers every summer under the stars at a New Hampshire campground.

There are no motivational workshops, no death-defying tightrope walks across a lake, no rock climbing events. Employees merely gather for a weekend of fun.

''The idea evolved four or five years ago,'' said Francis Smith, company president. ''Somebody said we should have a company picnic. Then they decided they wanted more time together. Most people ended up bringing tents. It's nice to get everybody out of their work environments and get them to know people from the different groups.''

Hilda Perlitsh, associate professor at Boston University's department of psychology, voiced an industry theory that suggests employee satisfaction leads to a chain of events that yields revenue growth.

''If you have workers in a more jolly mood they may be more friendly to their customers and clients,'' she said. ''We know that job satisfaction is reflected in how people deal with their customers.''

The Horn Group of Braintree has practiced that theory to the maximum. The public relations technology firm frequently engages its employees in team building exercises. Founded by Sabrina Horn 12 years ago, the culture, say employees, has always been to foster a community of cooperation. Horn founded the company's national headquarters in San Francisco, and started a Manhattan branch just six months ago. One of Horn's partners opened the 13-person Braintree office in 1997.

In 2001, Horn took all her employees to Hawaii for the annual meeting.

''The purpose was to celebrate the company's 10-year anniversary,'' said Gwen Gulick, a director at the Braintree group, ''Everyone in the company came back from that trip ready to hit the ground running. We felt that Sabrina and the partners appreciated the work we do everyday. Our clients benefited because we had the time to share case studies of what had worked best for our clients.''

Over the past year, the Braintree employees have organized a photographic scavenger hunt throughout Boston, an annual pool party, a Thanksgiving potluck luncheon, and weekly wind-downs on Friday afternoons.

In January they held a team building session at the Boston Center for Adult Education in which they cooked a meal together and sat down to eat as a group.

''It was interesting because the way the teams were split up we were in different roles than normally,'' said Gulick. ''So the junior person on the team was telling people what to do. It was different than working on a press release or a media campaign for a client.''

Gulick's colleague Lisa Azazian plans most events for the Braintree Horn Group office. The 26-year-old operations manager calls herself a backstage person who loves running the show.

''I love to be the person who fosters this very cool environment,'' she said. ''I get the greatest joy just seeing co-workers unwind, get to know each other, and have a good time outside their offices.''

Azazian represents a type of employee who thrives in a work environment regardless of what's going on in the economy or within the company culture. Perlitsh attributes that to a set of personality attributes that helps such people blend well with others.

''There are people who have certain leadership skills,'' she said. ''We have research that shows two attributes identify good leadership - creating structure and taking care of people. The good leader has both sets of skills.''

Rhonda Kallman, founder and chief executive officer of New Century Brewing Company in Randolph, has designed an entire business around taking care of people's wants. She is branding her Edison light beer in the Boston and Atlanta markets by visiting 10 to 15 bars and restaurants a day.

''Where beer is sold is clearly a social, fun environment,'' said Kallman. ''Everybody loves to hang around you when you own a beer company.''

Similar leadership skills are what led Susan Ware and her partner Caryl Guarino Buhler to launch Dish Magazine a year ago. The magazine targets Boston restaurants and caters to 30- to 40-year-olds.

''It's been fun,'' said Ware, who is editor and publisher of the magazine. ''It's like a hobby because it combines the things that we love all in one bundle. I get to write, Caryl gets to design, we get to go out and meet interesting people.''

Ware called food ''a common denominator that brings people together.'' A large part of her work involves attending restaurant openings and promotions for the reviews she writes.

''We get to go out to dinner, we go to events that we otherwise might not be able to go to,'' she said. ''The fun thing for me was getting to know chefs who have a national reputation - people who are cutting-edge in their field.''

Eventually, psychologists say, the fun wears thin and does not help to retain employees if the work bores them. Javitch noted that the real fun for people like Kallman and Ware, is not so much in the short-lived social episodes they orchestrate for themselves, but in the sense of achievement they get from creating work they enjoy.

''Having fun at work is like going to recess at school,'' he said. ''You like it. It's an emotional release and you come back to the workplace a little more energized, more relaxed. In any case, you're in a better frame of mind to do work. But that feeling is short-lived. If the job itself isn't satisfying, if it doesn't give you some intrinsic or extrinsic reward, then you're not going to be happy.''

Joyce Pellino Crane can be reached at crane@globe.com

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