workers, and refused to recognize the labor contracts of those who remained.

Since then, about a dozen large national organiza- tions that support labor unions have refused to hold conferences in Denver. The labor agreement came as Denver prepared to submit a proposal to the Democratic National Committee to host the convention in the year 2000.

Union Health Plan Will Use Only Unionized Drug Stores

New York City’s largest union, 1199, the National Health and Human Service Employees Union, has reached an agreement to steer virtually all of its mem- bers’ prescription drug business to Rite Aid and other unionized drug stores. In return, Rite Aid agreed not to fight organizing drives by the union. The union repre- sents 150,000 health care workers in the greater New York area and its health plan covers 400,000 people, spending close to $60 million a year on prescription drugs. Union president Dennis Rivera said 1199 ex- pects to get 4,000 new members in the next six months through the new agreement, while Rite Aid will get close to $40 to $50 million worth of pharmaceutical business.

Under the plan, Rite Aid will recognize 1199 as the collective bargaining agent a t any of its pharmacies once more than half of a store’s employees have signed autho- rization cards.

Rivera said he planned to start a nationwide cam- paign to urge other unions and union health plans to steer all their drug purchases to unionized stores. Over the next year, 1199 hopes to unionize 100 Rite Aid stores in northern New York and in New Jersey. Rivera said 1199 may urge its parent union, the Service Employees International Union, to reach similar agreements with Rite Aid in other states.

I Preventive Tactics I What Drives Employee Loyalty?

The best way for employers to gain employee loyalty and increase productivity is through policies and prac- tices that recognize the importance of their employees’

personal and family lives, a recent survey concludes. Such recognition was the workplace factor with the greatest correlation to employee commitment to a com- pany in the survey by Aon Consulting, Chicago.

Other top factors affecting employee loyalty and commitment were the direction the organization is head- ing, opportunities for personal growth, the satisfaction an employee derives from the work, and the extent to which the organization encourages employees to chal- lenge the status quo.

Aon conducted telephone interviews with 1,800 workers for its “America @ Work” study and found 17 possible key drivers of workforce commitment. The study measured employee commitment based on the WorkForce Commitment Index that Aon developed after conducting focus groups with more than 600 American workers in 1996. Commitment was defined as:

Teamwork behavior Willingness to recommend an employer and its prod- ucts and services Intention to continue working for a current employer

Aon categorized the 17 drivers into five areas: workAife balance; benefits and compensation; organi- zational culture, leadership, and direction; manage- ment of change; and employee selection, training, and development.

Influences on Commitment Within the area of worMife balance, management’s

recognition of the importance of personal and family life most significantly influenced commitment. Also show- ing a high correlation to employee commitment were how well coworkers support the employee’s needs as a person and not just as a worker, and how well the balance between the job and other parts of life met workers’ expectations.

Among benefits-related factors that drive com- mitment are how well benefit expectations are being met, satisfaction with the company’s benefits commu- nications, and the employee’s perception that his or her benefits are competitive with what other organi- zations offer. About 66 percent of the survey respon- dents said they were satisfied with their employers’ benefits communications; those who were satisfied were significantly more committed t o their employers’ success.

The survey also lists 23 specific benefit offerings that have a significant correlation to commitment. In descending order, those that had the most significant

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correlation with commitment were: employer-paid pen- sion or retirement plans, employee assistance programs that provide individual counseling for personal prob- lems, flexible work schedules, the freedom to choose benefits that best fit an employee’s needs, and employer- matched retirement savings plans. The five benefit offerings that ranked at the bottom of the list were prescription drug cards, long-term care insurance, vi- sion insurance, dental insurance, and on-site or near- site day care for children.

“Initially, it was surprising that employee assis- tance counseling ranked so highly,” said David Stum, president of Aon Consulting’s Loyalty Institute. “But as you look at the other parts of the study, you see that employees are more stressed out than ever, so those programs would be important,” Stum said.

The employees surveyed tended to consider tradi- tional benefits such as medical coverage to be entitle- ments which they took for granted, according to Stum. For that reason, non-traditional benefits, such as individual counseling and flexible work schedules, do a more powerful job of retaining employees, Stum said.

The low correlation between commitment and pro- vision of day care facilities is not a contradiction to the finding that management’s recognition of family life is the factor most correlated with commitment, Stum noted. On-site day care is a specific service that is a priority only to a relatively small percentage of the workers surveyed, primarily those who would use it. But many employees, regardless of what type of family they have, want management to recognize the impor- tance of their home lives.

Stressed Out Job stress, often due to overwork, depresses em-

ployee commitment, the survey showed. And job stress has jumped 14 percentage points in only three years. Fifty-three percent of respondents in this year’s survey reported feeling burned-out and showed less commit- ment to their employers; it was 39 percent in a 1995 Aon survey. The additional stress is correlated with the finding that those working more than 50 hours weekly jumped from 13 percent in 1995 to 23 percent this year. In the same period, personal life stress was reported by 28 percent of employees, up from 27 percent in 1995. Since 1995, the number of work days missed for job- related stress has increased 36 percent, according to Aon.

Absences from work for sick days and to handle personal and family matters also increased, from 13.6 days in 1995 to 15.1 days in 1998. No correlation was

found between time missed from work to deal with personal issues and employees’ commitment to their employers.

Preventive medical care benefits, flexible work schedules, employee assistance programs, and family/ employee-friendly time-off programs are the benefits the survey’s authors suggest can do the most to lessen work absences and foster employee loyalty.

Copies of “America @ Work are available at no charge. To request a copy, call 1-800-438-6487. The study is also posted on Aon Consulting’s World Wide Web site at http://www.aon.com.

Questions & Answers

Dealing with an Employee Committee

Q: We are dealing with an employee liaison committee on an arm’s-length basis. I have been advised by our attorneys that the existence of the committee, the way it is structured, and the way it functions do not violate NLRB rules concerning illegal dealings with in-house employee committees. However, the meetings are held on company time and all employees are paid for what- ever length of time it takes to conduct business. Is this a violation of the law? A Holding meetings of an employee committee during working hours is extremely common. It is difficult for employees to volunteer for such committee work if they must do so on their own time after their scheduled work is concluded, or if they are not paid for time spent during the day. Under NLRB rulings, holding meetings of legal committees during paid work time would not by itself be a violation of the Act.

Supervisor’s Anti-Union Remark

Q: One of our supervisors noticed an employee wearing a pro-union insignia and commented, “I like that. I can’t wait to make your life miserable.” We recognize that the supervisor should not have said this, but how bad is it, since there was no specific threat involved? A Unfortunately, statements by managers, supervi- sors, or company officials do not have to be specific to be considered threats. In a situation such as the one you described, we are confident the Board would find your supervisor made a n unlawful threat against the employee in reprisal for the employee’s lawful activity of expressing support for a union. For a case similar to this, see Excel Corp., 324 NLRB No. 76.

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