The view from the bottom - Sunrise Publications - Entrepreneur's Notebook - Column

I know what it's like to be low man on the organizational flowchart. As chairman and chief executive officer of Sunrise Publications Inc., that's where I am now.

That may sound like a gimmick, but it's actually a key to treating employees in a way that keeps creativity and morale at peak levels.

Sunrise Publications is the Bloomington, Ind., greeting-card company I started with two friends in 1974. In the past five years, the company has more than doubled its work force--to about 260--and has built revenues to about $20 million annually. Sunrise sells more than 33 million greeting cards a year.

But it's not the numbers that I'm proud of; it's our philosophy for dealing with people. With the company creating 1,000 new cards and other products each year, this business demands hard workers who maintain their individuality. In our management structure, the customer is on top, followed by the sales staff,

support people, down to executive management, and, last, me. It's kind of a diamond shape rather than the traditional pyramid.

Skeptics might say that the customers aren't a part of our organization, but we think they are; if we do not have the involvement of customers as part of our organization--getting satisfaction from what they want and need from us--then we won't stay in business for long.

As with any other company, workers are dedicated to making the people at the top of the organizational chart happy; but in our case, that's not the chairman.

In order to build that please-the-customer-first philosophy, and to get workers to look at the customer first rather than at how they can get ahead themselves, we've tried to provide a creative atmosphere that challenges employees personally and professionally.

For example, we have an education-loan program that allows any worker to take employment-related seminars or classes. We lend the worker money to pay for the schooling, with the loan to be paid back with years of service. If the worker continues with the company for three years after an education loan is made, the loan is completely paid off.

By providing this type of job-related educational assistance, we allow workers to develop the credentials needed to advance. And as the worker gains expertise and training, the company-particularly the customer--benefits. About two-thirds of our managers and supervisors use this program, and, companywide, it is one of our most popular initiatives.

Unlike other organizations, we give the entire company a four-day weekend every month. When there is a holiday, we plan the two days off from work around it; otherwise, we just shut the place down for two days each month, either before or after a weekend, leaving only a skeleton crew to handle the phone calls and satisfy customers while the rest of us get away.

When those 24 days a year are added to vacation and personal days, a Sunrise employee gets 40 paid days off a year.

And, no, our initiatives are not excessive. We expect our people to work very hard, but we see no reason to burn them out-not when it would affect our productivity, creativity, morale, and our relationship with the customer.

Although there is a cost to every employee-benefit program, that cost is more than made up in terms of employee retention.

When Sunrise started, we didn't have the wherewithal to do the four-day weekends or to provide educational training. But as the company has grown, our philosophy for treating individuals with dignity and respect--giving worker and customer a say in the company's future-- has paid off.

Every growing, competitive business undergoes significant and sometimes traumatic change, whether in installing new systems or procedures or demanding more from the work force. Change, particularly as it affects workers, is the one constant of an entrepreneurial environment.

By creating a highly motivated, trained work force and thereby reducing turnover, the effects of change on customers, employees, and company performance are dramatically reduced.

The view from the bottom of this organization is pretty good; customers appear pleased with the way things look from the top. Hopefully, that means we've done the right thing in training and motivating the people in the middle.

Michael Fitzgerald is chairman and chief executive officer of Sunrise Publications Inc., in Bloomington, Ind. He prepared this account with Nation's Business Contributing Editor Charles A. Jaffe.

Readers with special insights on meeting the challenges of starting and running a business are invited to contribute to Entrepreneur's Notebook. Write to: Editor, Nation's Business, 1615 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20062-2000.

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