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Show Ww vune BUSINESS ¢ y. Standard-Examiner cxt@mm Best places to work find fun can be profitable In a time of layoffs, job bumout and soaring employee health costs some jobs are still enjoyable oes The top 10 best companies to work for, according to Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, authors of “The 100 Best Places to Work in America.” The companies were not ranked Beth israel Hospital Boston, Bos- ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cut-throat stockbrokers can drive their BMWs right back to Wall Street. They're not welcome at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. The St. Louis-based securities Delta Air Lines, Atlanta Donnelly Corp., Holland, Mich Federal Express Corp., Memphis, bh New York, isn’t your typical boiler room. It’s “Wall Street without the rat race,” say two authors who Tenn. Fel-Pro Inc., Skokie, | Hallmark Cards Inc., Kansas City, Mo. International Phila- “The 100 companies profiled in this book may account for only a small fraction of the total U.S. work force, but as exemplars they named A.G. Edwards among the work. They are models for compa- for the second edition of “The 100 Best Places to Work in America,” published earlier this year by Doubleday. Source: The Associated Press companies to choose from. nation’s 100 best workplaces. workplaces. They revised the list deiphia Southwest Airlines Co., Dallas United Services Automobile Association, San Antonio. health costs, they were surprised to find a growing number of “best” represent a growing force,” the authors wrote. “They are magnets for people looking for meaningful Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz set out 10 years ago to find America’s most congenial Publix Super Markets Inc., Lakeland, Fla Rosenbluth rokerage, the largest outside of job burnout and soaring employee At a time of wholesale layoffs, nies trying to get it right.” Levering and Moskowitz made their picks on thebasis offactors that included pay and benefits, op- portunities for advancement, job security, company pride, and friendly relations amongcolleagues. The two reviewed some 400 companies, visiting each firm to in- terview employees from the assembly line to the chief executive's office, before whittling the list to 100. The companies were not ranked. When Levering visited A.G. Edwards, he found employees who clearly were having fun — wisecracking and joking — sometimes great-grandfather, the brokerage employs 9,446 people with 25 percent of the work force based in St. Louis. It has brokers in cities in 48 States, including, of course, Carefree, Ariz. Because of the working environment, turnover at A.G. Edwards is lower than average for the industry. a foreign concept in the serious Fel-Pro Inc. in Skokie, Ill, a world of stockbrokers. Chairman Ben Edwards said after he took over the firm from his father in the late 1960s, the company replaced profit with fun as its leading maker of auto and industri- corporate goal. “It seems silly, but if we dedicate our lives and savings to make a companygood, we ought toatleast enjoy it,” he said. Founded in 1887 by Edwards’ al gaskets, drew kudos partly for the generous benefits it offers to workers with families. When a “Fel-Proite” baby is born, the company sends the mother flowers, gives the baby a pair of inscribed leather shoes and buys a $1,000 savings bond in the child’s name, payable at age 21. Fel-Pro See WORK on 8B * 140 high-paying jobs to the local economy. Parker Hannifin last October announced plans to build another 100,000-square-foot plant at its We- * ber Industrial Park location, nearly * doubling its size by 1994. The state Business and Economic Develop- ment Board last week agreed to a * $500,000 grant/loan package to assist in the expansion. The money comes fromthe controversial Industrial Assistance Fund, which was established in 1991 to assist expansion plans by McDonnell Douglas Corp. in Salt « Lake City. The state since has com- i mitted $4.4 million to McDonnell : Douglas; $1.1 million for Morton ‘International Inc. in Ogden; ; $350,000 to Unisys in Salt Lake City and $900,000 to DODElectronics in Murray. Richard Nelson, administrator of the Industrial Assistance Fund, said Parker Hannifin’s expansion eventually will net $8 million in taxes to state and local governments — making it a 16-1 return on invest- the expansion will create 140 engineering, fabrication and other technical jobs at an average wage of UTAH/LOCAL Oveson to head $38,341 — far above the state average salary of $20,520. “The IAF was set up to create tax commission higher paying jobs in Utah. The IAFloan with Parker Hannifin is another example of howthe IAF can help the state’s economy,” Nel- son said. Nelson acknowledged the $500,000 is a relatively insignificant sum compared to the multim- illion dollar cost of the expansion. And he agreed Parker Hannifin doesn’t really need the money, since it earned $63.5 million in its fiscal year 1992. “In this case the $500,000 was an important factor because they had other states vying for this business,” Nelson said. “The Industrial Assistance Fund doesn’t have to be the factor, it has to be a factor.” Nelson said the incentive is similar to that awarded to Morton for expansion of its airbag operations ‘Standard-Examin Ogden businessmanJarry Novak said his dealings in the Ukraine were often frustrating. panded in states closer to its customers — auto manufacturing plants — but chose to expand in Utah partly due to state andlocal government incentives, Nelson Visitor to Ukraine finds lack of business sensefrustrates said. See PARKER on 8B By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN OGDEN — He couldn’t find postcards, couldn’t Eider County find a fur hat, and even the souvenir stand was hard to locate, but what Jarry Novak really had trouble finding in Ukraine earlier this year was what it was officials there wanted him to do. May '92 total May '93total _ Monthly sales of residential ater County BH Build thema capitalistic system? Make them all homes in number of units: a rich? They didn’t know,he said. Or rather, they knew they wanted something like that, but not specifically how they wanted to go about it. Novak, a former Weber State University business management professor, said that was the big stumbling block during the month he spent in the former Soviet republic in February. He could talk all they wanted about management practices, he said, and how to market products or seek out markets, but until the people of Ukraine decide what they want to accomplish with those skills, there’s no sense in him going back. Novak has considerable experience helping countries like Ukraine. He is a member ofthe International Executive Service Corps, a group of business leaders like himself who voluntarily travel to countries around the world to help developing econo- g Hill AFB a aie Davis County c 3 j Great § ih Salt 5 ASONDJFMAM Rank, area May sales Avg. price 1. East Ogden 78 $50,145 2. S. Weber, E. Layton, Kaysville, Fr. Heights 61 $102,414 1 3. Roy 47 4 4, Riverdale, Washington Terrace, $. Ogden 43 $94,779. 4. 5. Clearfld, Sunset, Clinton, W. Point, Syracuse 37 $62,931 $72,500 mies, The ISEC pays their way, and the host pays their room and board, but Novak receives no pay beyond trips to exotic places. The ISEChas been busy since the fall of Commu- a iJ...Source: Greater Ogden Association of Realtors nism. Novak has made numerous trips to his naStandard-Examiner ‘Buyers abound,but units are :scarce in local home market ‘ . + Stafidard-Examiner staff and wire services ««. OGDEN — Two newreports ‘confirmed today what real estate agents already know: home buyers are plentiful but homes for sale are scarce. The Greater Ogden Association But the Brigham/Tremonton Board of Realtors reported 56 sales of single-family dwellings during the quarter, down from 69 in 1992, The average sales price for the Brigham/Tremonton area was Sales also dropped for the Cache/Rich Association of Realtors, which reported 60 sales compared to 73 in the same period of 1992, The average price was The average sales price has jumped from $69,967 in May 1991 «to $76,630 last month in the Ogden Realtors in Brigham City and Logan reported the sales declines were due to a shortageof listings, rather than a decline in the number of 420 in May 1991, area, the realtors reported. ® In April, the association reported #349 sales at an average price of ¥$84,929; up from 132 sales and an «average of $73,703 in April 1991 Sand 277 sales averaging $68,782 in April 1992, Eommere a the departments of ‘Commerce and Housing and Urban evelopment reported that for the “first four months of 1993, home @eales nationwide were 7.5 percent ‘above those of the same period a Tycar ago and juniped 22.7 percent inwApril as the nicer weather unleashed pent-up demand. * Quarterly statewide reports for Utah were not available due to in| Stallation of a new computerat the j Salt Lake Board of Realtors. 4 ’ _ tive Czechoslovakia in the last two years, working to teach the capitalist way. Czechoslovakia had a reasonably robust economy before the 1989 revolution, so he sees good progress being madethere. But when he went to Ukraine, he said, he found a far different situation. Ukraine, is in the southwest corner of the former Soviet Union, It was the breadbasket of that former nation — producing 25 percentof its food. It was a memberof the Soviet Union since 1920, however, and subject to all the economic games-playing of Stalin, plus the ravages of a centralized economy. That means Ukraine has few self-supporting industries since Stalin wanted all Soviet countries to depend on each other for parts, and a workforce that doesn’t know how to work because in the past, workers always got paid the same whether they worked or not. Businesses didn’t have to, andstill don’t haveto, show a profit. Those still making products can’t sell them because nobody outside the country will buy them, and few in the country can afford them, but as long as the government keeps them propped up with loans they keep on going. Novak figures the country is 50 years behind Czechoslovakia. “It’s horrible,” Novak said. “When you look at a people and what they went through the last 70 years,it’s horrible.” Novak spenthis time in Kharkov, a city in northeast Ukraine near the Russian border. He had to figure out not only Ukrainian ways, but Ukrainian language and writing. Ukraine uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and most of the people speak Russian, so Novak found himself reaching back to his earlier studies of Greek (Cyrillic uses both Greek and Roman alphabet characters) and Czech and Polish along with a little Russian he picked up in World WarII. “I would speak Czech and mix in Russian and Polish and, lo and behold, they understood me,” he said. His job consisted of lecturing at various universities on management and marketing. He found the job frustratingly hypothetical. They wanted money, he said, but he had to keep asking “‘What would you do? Do you have a business plan? How do you See VISIT on 7B Miller cools flap over baseball park $62,278. of Realtors reported sales of 404 homes in May, up from 289in . May 1992 and 169 in May1991, ut just 395 homes came on the emarket as new listings in May, “eompared to 373 in May 1992 and $72,165. buyers. “Our lower sales figures can be largely attributed to the tight inventory of houses available for sale in the Logan area, However, many new homes and developments are being started which should start to relieve the tight housing situation ‘later this year,” said Cache/Rich Association President Dianne Hall. Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.48 percent in April, down from 7.5 percent a month ‘earlier and 8.85 percent a year ago, said the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The government reported home sales increased in the first quarter 13.4 percent in the West, Auditor Val Oveson as Utah Tax Commission chairman. Ovesonis to assumeOffice July 1, succeeding R.H. Hansen, whois retiring after two four-year terms. test successful in Ogden. Morton could have ex- ie! 2: SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Mike Leavitt has appointed former Lt. Gov. and State Booster rocket Standard-Examiner staff ” BULLETIN BOARD Service Office, 5735 S. Redwood Road, Salt Lake City. Free. Information, 269-4797. May Realtor homesalesreport "| Techmeyer ation of Credit Management Intermountain chapter. process. South County Job ote tracting operations in Weber Coun“ty — a program expected to add 1 Compa- nies, has received the Credit Executive of the Year award from the National Associ- Department speaks at 11 a.m. SR ORR eTthon ® m am a YN @ wn to help expand its aerospace con- . son ment for taxpayers. That’s because min er staff OGDEN — state board has agreed to provide Parker Hannifin €orp. with $500,000 in assistance fg meyer, corporate credit manager for Jack B. Par- at the Forty Plus of Utah weekly meeting on increasing success in the job search to add 140 jobs GREEN BUSINESS PEOPLE Clint Tech- | June 11. Norma Middleton of the Utah Human Resources Parker Hannifin y TEVE tan a fr BRIEF CASES SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Larry H. Miller has agreed to pay to settle a dispute over who should be construction manager for the city’s new baseball stadium. In an agreement signed last week, Miller said he would give the city $80,000 to settle with Jacobsen Construction Co. in exchange for the company's pledge not to sue. “Larry Miller decided he wanted to buy peace,” city attorney Roger Cutler said Wednesday. The city rejected all private bids for construction manager April 23 after Jacobsen threatened a lawsuit. Company President Ted Jacobsen maintained thecity’s selection process was unfair and illegal, Because of the settlement, city officials have awarded the contract again to Sahara Construction Co. Mayor Dede Corradini chose Sahara for the first time in February. However, Jacobsen officials maintained Sahara's bid was up to Larry H. | Miller He agrees to pay $80,000 to settle stadium dispute with Salt Lake City $300,000 higher than theirs, Jacobsen also claimed that Sahara Construction Management, which is an affiliate of Sahara Construction Co., did not have the proper state licenses at the time the bid was awarded. The city had rated the two companies equally capable of building the $18.5 million stadium, The new agreement with Sahara allows up to $2.1 million for managing contractors who will build the stadium and maintaining site conditions, said City Engineer Jerry Lyon, Sahara will have to prove it has incurred valid costs before the city pays for them, he said. Those expenses are laid out in the contractitself. Corradini in February said she chose Sahara because the company had worked with Larry Miller before. Miller told the Deseret news on Wednesday he felt he had been in- sensitive to the process cities must go through in awarding bids. He said he wanted to use Sahara Construction Management, not Jacobsen, because Sahara helped him build the Delta Center. Sahara was a 25 percent partner in the Delta Center construction management, Los Angeles-based Obayashi America, Inc. was the managing partner. EDWARDSAIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A Utah-built and upgraded booster rocket for the Titan IV launch vehicle, which carries U.S. spy satellites into orbit, was successfully test fired on the ground Wednesday, the Air Force said. The upgraded booster is made by Hercules Aerospace Corp. in Magna. PST van lines files bankruptcy SALT LAKE CITY — PST Van Lines, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcyin federal court Wednesday to restructure a debt of more than $11.5 million. PST spokesman Tim Brown said the debt was incurred by the company’s previous managementin a leveraged buy-out in 1988. No layoffs are expected in connection with the debt reorganization, Brown said. NATIONAL Wage hike push delayed by Clinton NEW YORK — TheClinton administration is delaying its push for a higher minimum wagefor fear of antagonizing conservatives in Congress while trying to getits economic plan passed. Clinton advisers said proposing an increase now also would open the administration to charges that it was undermining job growth, the newspaper said. Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich told the Times the presidentis still committed to fulfilling his campaign pledge to raise the minimum wage, now $4.25. WORLD U.S. warns Japan to open markets PARIS — For a second day running, the United States criticized Japan today forwillful failure to rein in its soaring trade surplus and openits markets to foreign goods. U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen demanded in a speech to the Anglo-American Press Club that Japan make a “fundamental change”in the way it deals with trade, The U.S, trade deficit hit $84.5 billion last year, with about $50billion of that with Japan. there CONSUMERTIP Plate renewal Annual renewals began in Mayfor disabled windshield placards and law enforcement statewide is stepping up enforcement of this special privilege, according to the state Division of Motor Vehicles. For more information, call (800)DMV-UTAH, — Standard-Examiner staff and wire services ‘ |