CEO sets example to balance work, life
By Carol Kleiman
Chicago Tribune
The success of work/life programs depends on the endorsement of the highest echelon of company executives: If it comes from the top, it works.
And at Land O'Lakes Inc., a diversified agricultural and food marketing cooperative based in Arden Hills, Minn., it works. That's because John E. Gherty, its president and CEO, sets his own example — from the top.
"It's the responsibility of the leader to promote and live the values of the company,' said Gherty, whose firm had sales of $5.8 billion in 2002 and is a leading marketer of dairy products.
Land O'Lakes has 200 facilities nationwide and 6,500 employees.
"Within the best organizations, employees are your biggest assets," said Gherty, who has a law degree and has run the company since 1989. "A company that is employee-friendly drives for performance but also recognizes and supports a blending of work/life challenges. That's a pretty powerful message. And it has to come from the top."
Gherty, also known for his community involvement and emphasis on corporate social responsibility, was the keynote speaker at a recent symposium on work/life issues sponsored by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. His commitment to others was first demonstrated in 1968, when he had just received his law degree and worked for a year as a VISTA volunteer in Chicago.
"During my 33 years at Land O'Lakes I've worked to maintain balance between my family and professional responsibilities and to integrate this philosophy into the organization," said Gherty, who is married to Anne Gherty and has three children, 21, 19 and 13.
"I grew up on a family farm in western Wisconsin, where we worked seven days a week but interspersed that with family and community," he said.
"When I was single, I worked hard, played hard and had plenty of time to do it all, but when I got married in 1979, and when the children started to come — just at the time I had more responsibility at work — I really changed," he said. "I was mindful of peers who worked very hard and had young families and didn't know them."
Instead, he used the "power of the appointment book" to reserve time for his family. "That time was protected, like any business meeting," he said.
He encouraged employees to do likewise, introducing flexible hours, job sharing, part-time work, telecommuting, maternity and paternity leave, resources for child- care and elder care and rewards for community service.
Today, his "blended" time is spent volunteering and being with family. "My closest personal friends are the mothers of the soccer players on my two younger daughters' teams. In my case, doing things for myself, such as tennis, golf and skiing, will have to wait for another stage of my life."
Offering work/life benefits to employees, the CEO points out, "is never a tradeoff. You get the same productivity without sacrificing performance."
Even when endorsement of "having a life" comes from the top, there still are challenges.
"At first some employees might question your sincerity," said Ralph G. Lawrence, recently retired president of Hyde Manufacturing Co., a hand tool manufacturing firm with 300 employees in Southbridge, Mass.
"They wonder if it's for real," he said, "but when they find it is, they blossom and they're better employees. Work, home, community — everyone benefits."
Introducing flexibility into a manufacturing facility isn't easy, because "manufacturing has so many hourly employees." But Lawrence introduced pooled time off so employees could use it "anyway they want." He faci-litated workshops on personal finance, retirement planning, book clubs and special parties and barbecues.
Lawrence says he was so consumed about work early on that "it separated me from my family."
He and his wife, Penny, now have four grown children. "But I learned, from my wife, to refocus my attention."
He believes strongly in work/life balance. "It's not a hard sell," he said.
