Valerie Perlowitz spends a lot of time traveling for her work. As President and CEO of Reliable Integration Services – a Vienna, Va.-based systems integration provider – she oversees a geographically dispersed staff. With many of her employees working at client sites, some as far away as Texas or West Virginia, instilling a sense of culture or shared purpose in her workforce can be a challenge. That's why she can frequently be found traveling to meet with her employees, wherever they may be, to learn more about their needs as both workers and people.
"Trust is of the utmost importance, when you have so many people working outside of the office," explains Perlowitz. "Perception is reality, and trust comes from not trivializing communication."
Reliable Integration Services commitment to communication begins with Perlowitz and her willingness to make herself available to her people. Each quarter, she holds President's Lunches with every team working off-site. She also sends out regular e-mails to the staff recognizing employees' key accomplishments and updating the firm on important developments.
The company provides an intranet that employees can access remotely. The site not only keeps employees informed of new developments within the firm, but serves as a repository of technical and proprietary information. As such, it has proven to be a valuable resource.
"We have expertise in Novell, Microsoft and Cisco, but they aren't all in any one person," says Perlowitz. "Our engineers can go to the intranet and solicit information from someone better versed in the problems they are encountering, thereby allowing us to provide better service to our clients."
The firm also publishes an internal newsletter called The Integrator. The human resources department oversees the publication with several of the firm's top executives contributing content. A typical issue will include everything from sales updates to employee anniversaries to acknowledgment of important accomplishments to technical tips.
Every six weeks the firm holds a companywide "All-Hands Meeting" featuring teambuilding exercises, a sales briefing and updates on human resources issues such as benefits and policies. The organization brings in employees from nearby satellite offices and client sites, while those working out of state are linked to the meeting via a conference call. The first meeting of the year includes a "State of Reliable" address from Perlowitz.
Recently, the All-Hands Meeting included an arctic survival teambuilding exercise. Employees were divided into teams and asked to consider a scenario where they have survived a plane wreck in a remote area. Participants dealt with issues such as whether they should remain at the crash site or go off in search of help. Each team had to reach consensus on their decisions. The exercise ended with a discussion of the groups' conclusions, how they arrived at them and how they would've fared in an actual survival situation.
"Teams had to work on coming to agreement, and as a result, they really learned a lot," says VP of Human Resources Lisa Burzynski.
The newsletters and All-Hands Meetings often touch on a key element of the company's culture: the "Fish! Philosophy." The Fish! Philosophy comes from a bestselling corporate education video entitled Fish!, which tells the tale of how the fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market turned their operation around by adhering to four dictums: choosing to have a positive attitude, actively engaging others (be it a co-worker or customer), being attentive to what others say, and having fun at work.
The fact that Reliable's employees have internalized this philosophy is evident in the various fish-related items that can be found in each employee's workspace, whether they work out of corporate or on location at a client site, and is a testament to the organization's emphasis on communication and teambuilding. These include such items as fish posters or Nerf balls with fish on them.
"We really embrace the Fish! Philosophy and that's even carried over to our clients," says Burzynski. "One of our clients, Titan [a large government contractor], has really embraced the Fish! Philosophy and that's in part because of us."
Delivery Manager of Network Services Barbara Washington was in the military prior to joining Reliable and she says that the teamwork is comparable to what she experienced in the service. Washington says that the organization has helped further foster this sense of shared purpose and responsibility by going beyond communication to including employees in key decisions. For example, the company regularly assembles employee task groups to evaluate their benefits package and issue recommendations to HR. Reliable recently increased their dental coverage at the behest of an employee task group. As a result, employees believe that they have a voice in the company's direction.
The firm also invests heavily in the development of their employees' technical skills. Burzynski estimates that she spends about 90 percent of her time on issues of learning and development.
Reliable provides employees with regular training on the latest technologies and provides incentives to encourage enrollment in certification programs.
According to Help Desk Manager Tim Lockwood, the firm's dedication to employee development plays a key role in attracting and retaining talent. "Everyone in the technology field likes to stay on the cutting edge," he says.
Burzynski says that Reliable's programs have had a positive impact on both the firm's bottom line and its performance. Turnover is only 5 percent as opposed to the industry average of 8 percent. This provides the organization with a competitive advantage working in an industry in which their people work closely on a day-to-day basis with their clients. The firm consistently scores well on client surveys, helping them to win repeat business. In fact, Lockwood's help desk team at Titan received the client's Satisfaction Award in their most recent annual vendor review, grading 100 percent on key areas such as quality, reporting, scheduling, communication and cost.
On a personal level, Perlowitz says that the real benefit of creating a healthy workplace culture is that it makes going into work more enjoyable. "Peers police quality and effort, which makes managing easier," she says.
Company: Reliable Integration Services
Web site: www.risi.com
Industry: Network integration services
Location: Vienna, Va.
Number of employees: 60
Sales: $11-25 million
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