Word: zimmerer
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...Zimmer and the CEOs of a few other companies have not abandoned the idea that employees who take business (but not necessarily themselves) seriously stand to be happier and more productive. Fun doesn't save people from layoffs. But it does save them from tedium and stress and can spark creativity. The fun workplace is a concept established by CEOs like Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher, for whom audiovisual aids were a lighted cigarette and the clinking ice cubes in his drink. Of course, Kelleher wasn't above handling customer baggage either, and Southwest made tons of money...
...cheap. Men's Wearhouse spent $1.8 million on 39 Christmas parties last year and flew either Zimmer or another exec to each of them. When it's time to make a new batch of TV commercials, the company sends a few dozen employees to Los Angeles, puts them up at a Beverly Hills hotel and ferries them around town in limousines so they can be the stars in the commercials. Nepotism is encouraged; the rationale is that if the company hires friends and relatives, everyone will be more likely to get along. Once or twice a year, store managers...
...Zimmer isn't on some messianic mission to turn corporate America into a fun house. He just decided a long time ago--contrary to what they tell you in business school--that the most important stakeholders in the company aren't the shareholders or even the customers but the employees. "Look, if the employees are happy and make the stores fun, then that will make it fun for the customers," he says. Many of his customers--men--rank shopping just below flossing. "If they're happy, business will follow, and shareholders will be happy. It all starts with the employees...
...best part--and the part that should appeal to the thank-God-it's-Friday working stiff--is that having fun pays off for everyone. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Business School, thinks executives like Zimmer at Men's Wearhouse are nothing short of brilliant. "If you have a bunch of surly employees who would rather have a proctological exam than wait on you, then you won't want to shop in the store," he says. "It's hard to build and maintain a positive culture...
Which is why Zimmer is willing to spend big bucks on Christmas parties and retreats and an extra $100 here or there to make his employees happy. Last year the company even flew employees and their spouses from Oklahoma City, Okla., to a party in Kansas City, Mo., because their store was too small to have its own. "We closed the store, flew up there and stayed in a nice hotel," says Dan Johnston, the Oklahoma City store manager. "Amazing they did that." Sure, it cost a few bucks, but guess what? For weeks after that party, sales of suits...