For most of 2001 and early 2002, life was anything but sweet for Purdy's Chocolates.
The Vancouver-based company's production plant was embroiled in a six-month strike, followed by a protracted process before signing a collective agreement.
It was a bitter time for plant employees, management and non-union staff who worked in Purdy's retail outlets throughout B.C. and Alberta.
Fast-forward to January 2004. Purdy's has just been named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada in an annual nationwide survey. The rankings rely heavily on the confidential comments made by company employees, and in Purdy's case, the survey included virtually all of the plant employees.
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| Bayne Stanley photos, Business Edge |
| CEO Karen Flavelle praised the loyalty of Purdy’s plant workers in helping the company achieve top employer status. |
Family-owned, Purdy's also boasts a remarkably low annual employee voluntary turnover rate of 0.5 per cent. And after nearly 100 years of operating in the West, the company is now expanding into Ontario.
Like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, life's full of surprises. So, what's happened at Purdy's?
Communication is a key, says Purdy's president Karen Flavelle. Plant supervisors and store managers are crucial in conveying the company message. But Flavelle is also highly visible, and at a minimum, she visits each of the 47 retail outlets at least once a year.
On her store visits, Flavelle sports a trademark purple business suit – it matches the purple vests worn by staff – as she talks with staff and customers, answers questions and serves customers who bear a sweet tooth for premium chocolates.
"There is a real family kind of feeling about Purdy's," says Flavelle, who admits a weakness for Purdy's caramel and nut confections.
"I'm accessible, and going to the stores is a chance to talk about ideas, to explain why we did this or that in the company. People feel better when they understand the reasons (for business decisions)."
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Flavelle acknowledges that the strike by plant workers, mostly immigrant women, was painful. But in the past 12 months she's noticed that plant morale has improved. She credits the change to paying attention to the "daily little things that are important to people."
Since the strike ended, each day at the plant begins with a quick stand-up meeting where employees are told about the day's activities and are free to ask questions. An employee/staff committee was also created to advise on issues such as piping music into the plant and the finishing touches on the renovated lunchroom.
She adds that in a plant environment, rules about wearing jewelry, wearing whites, and being on time are also important.
"We have to be diligent about being consistent with everyone on those things. It's very important because it instills a sense of fairness."
The steps Purdy's has taken reflect similar efforts of other Top 50 employers who have wrestled with significant business events such as labour disputes, new competition, mergers and acquisitions, or the loss of a product line or significant customer.
Ted Emond, a Toronto-based consultant with human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates, says top companies tend to rebound much quicker from adversity.
"They seem to have a much greater resilience in their workforce, a much greater sense of forgiveness within the workforce if they are in fact a best employer," Emond says.
Hewitt Associates conducted the national survey of Top 50 employers for Report on Business Magazine. In total, 129 companies were ranked.
Based on survey data for the 2003 Top 50 Companies, Emond makes an interesting point. Statistically, Top 50 companies show no difference in the level of loyalty, passion, and engagement they receive from either their union or non-union employees. Employees will consistently go the extra mile for the company.
However, companies that weren't voted in the Top 50 do show a difference – non-union employees showed much greater engagement than union workers did.
"It comes back to whether the employees have trust and confidence in the leadership of the business," Emond says.
And just like Flavelle suggests, communication, fairness and common decency go a long way. For example, one factor may be if a company's HR department deals with the employees in a manner that is transparent and doesn't create stress (i.e. overtime pay is there when it's supposed to be, etc.), says Emond. Is the employer giving information to employees directly, or through the bargaining unit, which keeps the employee fully informed about what's going on in the business?
At Purdy's, Flavelle says 95 per cent of the plant workers filled out the questionnaires in the Top 50 survey.
Purdy's let staff complete the questionnaires on company time, and teamed up co-workers to ensure that immigrant workers with language difficulties understood the questions. The confidential results were then sent to Hewitt Associates.
"It was really important for us to know where the plant stood," Flavelle explains. "We didn't just want to hear from a small group."
It's important to note that in this year's rankings, Purdy's finished 49th. Ironically, it placed 21st in the 2002 survey. However, union members weren't surveyed that year because they were striking, and local union officials, rightfully so, complained that the survey results were skewed.
Since 2002, Hewitt Associates says its guidelines have changed and companies must include unionized workers in their surveys.
While the 2002 award didn't reflect the whole company, it was testament to the loyalty of the non-union staff who work in the company's retail outlets.
As company president for nine years, Flavelle says that loyalty is satisfying. Her father, Charles Flavelle, bought Purdy's in 1963 with a partner and he remains a figurehead.
Karen Flavelle also carved out her career in business.
She worked in marketing with General Mills, was the director of marketing at Swiss Chalet (restaurants), and consulted in Europe for a year before joining Purdy's.
Established in 1907, the company has been a fixture in the West. But this past Christmas, the company set up two kiosks in the Toronto area, and Flavelle's business plan calls for three stores to be established in Ontario by this fall.
She explains that the stores' culture will be established the "Purdy's Way" – with an emphasis on open lines of communication and a family feel to doing business.
Currently the company has about 260 full-time staff and another 340 part-timers (some who have been with the company for 20 years). In the stores, all managers and assistant managers are full-time employees. All are women.
Flavelle says Purdy's staff are working with new employees in Toronto to help them absorb the company culture.
Purdy's will move at an expansion pace that allows it to build a strong foundation where staff feel they are part of the company, excited and feeling connected to the Purdy's family, Flavelle says. She believes that's the environment now being created at the Vancouver production plant.
This year, shortly after the start of 2004, Flavelle spent 90 minutes visiting plant employees. A few workers congratulated her on the Best 50 companies status. One employee told her the environment had changed, that it was much friendlier.
The words were sweet. And like a fine piece of chocolate, they were meant to be savoured.
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