Office can be cool

News Story
- 20 Sep 2007 ( #328 ) - FARMINGTON HILLS, MI, United States
2 min read
Jervis B Webb staff at work
Jervis B Webb staff at work
Ice cream socials, 'Sports Apparel Day', sponsored health programs and an onsite barber are just some of the reasons Jervis B Webb Company is a great place to work.

The materials handling company, established in 1919 and employer to over 1,000 in US and overseas, has been selected by the American Society of Employers (ASE) as one of Michigan's 2007 'Cool Places to Work'.

Susan M Webb, company president & CEO, says the company believes in taking care of its "greatest assets".

"We have worked diligently to not only attract the best talent but also provide a positive environment that fosters creativity and high quality productivity."

The company's employee-friendly policies must work as the average employee tenure is 15 years and some have been there for decades.

Webb's incentives for its 500 Michigan employees include ice cream socials, lunchtime cookouts and special afternoon treats. There is also an onsite barber and a weekly massage service. Other perks include free sporting event tickets and concert ticket discounts.

But what is perhaps most revealing of the company's care for its greatest assets is its sponsorship of health programs.

Workers interested in healthier living can take advantage of the company's full-cost sponsorship of the American Lung Association's "Freedom from Smoking" program and the company undertakes half the registration fee of the "Weight Watchers at Work" program.

Employees are encouraged to join the American Cancer Society's annual "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk and those who are interested can go for free CPR training.

On "Sports Apparel Day", employees come to work in their favourite sporting team's jersey. Team-building and social functions include a company-sponsored golf league, a bowling league, employee hockey games and whirly ball and volleyball tournaments.

Privately owned Jervis B Webb Company designs, engineers and installs integrated systems used in the warehousing, manufacturing, airport, beverage and automotive industries. It has manufacturing locations in US, Canada, India and China.

The ASE of Southfield, Michigan, is one of the US's oldest and largest human resources-related organisations. It evaluates Michigan companies on their work policies, benefits and "talent management" practices. Sixty companies were designated "cool places to work" and ranked according to company size.
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It’s the year 2000. You’re in front of a boxy beige desktop waiting for the screeching ramblings of your dial-up to reach its finale. You go to Yahoo!, MSN, or maybe AOL, and start the mind-numbing process of finding your very specific needle in the digital haystack. And with web pages loading one image at a time, patience isn’t just a virtue – it’s a requirement!

As clumsy as this early iteration seems now, this technology was the great enabler that allowed Forkliftaction to connect to the industry across the globe.  

To everyone who has connected with Forkliftaction in the past 25 years, thank you for your contribution to our success! We feel deeply touched by your words of encouragement.

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