Benefits And Business At Aflac And L.L. Bean – Case Study 3

Case Study 3

 

This case study is focused on how 2 different companies use total rewards to support the organizations’ missions and values and achieve strategic outcomes. Select only 1 of the companies as the basis for your case study response. (This is not meant to be a comparison of the companies but an exploration of how 2 different companies use their compensation and benefits structures to achieve organizational outcomes). The paper must specifically address the following areas:

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  • How the company uses its own products or services to enhance the total compensation for its employees;
  • The internal and external strengths and weaknesses identified and how the company responded to these factors from a total rewards perspective;
  • Examples of traditional and non-traditional rewards and how they are used to meet organizational objectives;
  • How the company aligns its benefits with its corporate values; and
  • Recommendations regarding an expansion of the benefits programs offered at the company that would further align HR with the accomplishment of organizational goals and values.

    TOTAL REWARDS Student Workbook

     

     

    Benefits and Business at Aflac and L.L. Bean

     

    By Sandra M. Reed, SPHR

     

     

     

    Project team

    Author: Sandra M. Reed, SPHR

    SHR M project contributors: Bill Schaefer, SPHR

    Nancy A. Woolever, SPHR

    External contributor: Sharon H. Leonard

    Copy editing: Katya Scanlan, copy editor

    Design: Kellyn Lombardi, graphic designer

    © 2009 Society for Human Resource Management. Sandra M. Reed, SPHR

     

     

    Case overview

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 1

     

     

     

    In its 2008 annual Job Satisfaction Survey Report, the Society for Human Resource

    Management (SHR M) reported that for the past five years, employees rated

    compensation and benefits among the top three aspects most important to their

    job. But despite the importance of these aspects, employee satisfaction with their

    compensation and benefits packages remains low. According to a Conference Board

    report, “employees are least satisfied with their companies’ bonus plans, promotion

    policies, health plans and pensions”. Employers are missing critical opportunities to

    maximize employee job satisfaction and other organizational outcomes through their

    total rewards programs.1

    In the book Dynamic Compensation for Changing organizations: People, Performance

    & Pay, The Hay Group asserts that traditional pay structures no longer keep

    pace with the emerging, strategy-focused organizations that exist in today’s

    globally competitive market. “What shifted were organizational work values, work

    cultures and business strategies. Although they have been largely overlooked,

    dramatic changes in the organizational rules have frequently rendered traditional

    compensation strategies ineffective. Employees today are expected to work in teams

    rather than solely on their own. They are expected to keep learning new skills and

    to assume broader roles. They are expected to take more risks and responsibility for

    results. As a consequence, we are slowly coming to the realization that we may be

    paying for the wrong things, sending inconsistent messages about the company to its

    employees, or creating artificial expectations of continued advancement and raises,

    no matter how well the company performs.”2

    Furthermore, in its publication Implementing Total Rewards Strategies, SHR M

    notes that “the right total rewards system—a blend of monetary and non-monetary

    rewards offered to employees—can generate valuable business results. These results

    range from enhanced individual and organizational performance to improved job

    satisfaction, employee loyalty and workforce morale.”3

    Today, HR professionals are responsible for programs far beyond the profession’s

    administrative personnel roots. They are expected to measure the success or failure of

    HR practices based on the achievement of organizational outcomes. Brand identity,

    bottom-line profitability, employee job satisfaction and increased management focus

    are all outcomes that can be achieved in part through an organization’s total rewards

    program. This case examines two very different organizations and how they align

    their total rewards programs with their organizational goals and values.

     

     

    Aflac Insurance

    2 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

     

    Company Information

     

    Aflac is a Fortune 500 insurance company founded in 1955 by three brothers, John,

    Paul and Bill Amos. Today, Aflac employs more than 4,500 people and has more

    than 71,000 licensed independent agents throughout the United States and Japan.

    The following is an excerpt from the New York Stock Exchange business summary.

    “Aflac Incorporated is a general business holding company and acts as a management

    company, overseeing the operations of its subsidiaries by providing management

    services and making capital available. Its principal business is supplemental health

    and life insurance, which is marketed and administered through its subsidiary,

    American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac), which operates

    in the United States (Aflac U.S.) and as a branch in Japan (Aflac Japan). Aflac’s

    insurance business consists of two segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. Aflac Japan

    sells cancer plans, care plans, general medical indemnity plans, medical/sickness

    riders, living benefit life plans, ordinary life insurance plans and annuities. Aflac U.S.

    sells cancer plans and various types of health insurance, including accident/disability,

    fixed-benefit dental, sickness and hospital indemnity, vision care, hospital intensive

    care, long-term care, ordinary life and short-term disability plans.”

     

    AFLAC Corporate Philosophy

    “Since its beginning, Aflac has believed that the best way to succeed in our business

    is to value people. Treating employees with care, dignity and fairness are founding

    principles of Aflac.”

     

    Aflac’s mission

    To combine innovative strategic marketing with quality products and services at

    competitive prices to provide the best insurance value for consumers.

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 3

     

     

     

    Guiding Principles

    To offer quality products and services at competitive prices and use new technology

    to better serve our policyholders.

    n Build better value for our shareholders.

     

    n Supply quality service for our agents.

    n Provide an enriching and rewarding workplace for our employees.

    The case at AFLAC

    With a desire to be an employer of choice, Aflac Insurance is no stranger to the

    competition for talent among employers in the United States. In fact, according

    to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate in the insurance

    industry was at 3.3 percent in March 2008, a number consistently below the

    National and state levels in other industries (Exhibits A and B). This makes finding

    and retaining qualified individuals to deliver positive results to shareholders an

    ongoing challenge.

    Organizational outcomes related to human resources at Aflac reflect many of the

    basic functions, including recruiting, retention, diversity and training. At Aflac, the

    company strives to deliver quality service to its 4,500 employees while staying

    competitive in the insurance market. Aflac prides itself on being ahead of the curve

    From a consumer perspective and desires to mirror that philosophy in its treatment

    of employees. How does the company made famous by the duck maintain the

    integrity of its brand while delivering results through its people? How important are

    benefits and compensation to the company’s ability to compete in a growing

    industry?

    Casey Graves, vice president of human resources in charge of compensation and

    benefits at Aflac, says that the needs of the company’s employees continue to be the

    driving factor behind Aflac’s total rewards programs. As with most programs, it

    begins with an employee needs assessment and continues to be measured through

    outcomes, which have been directly influenced through the company’s enhanced

    total rewards efforts. The consistent thread throughout this process, according to

    Graves, is the quality of communication. Graves explains that Aflac’s total rewards

    statements have evolved from a one-page document to an in-depth review of the

    true value of the employment compensation and benefits.

    Employee satisfaction surveys and focus groups conducted in 2007 with Aflac

    employees and managers drove the needs identification process. A key focus of

    the survey was to help recruit talent and improve retention in an industry with low

    unemployment rates. Although survey results varied, Aflac’s response was consistent:

    to give employees what they need from a benefits perspective while balancing the

    cost, all within a rapid period of growth.

     

     

    4 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

     

    Throughout the process, the company focused on providing value-added programs

    that would improve employee job satisfaction, support organizational initiatives

    and provide opportunities for professional development. Aflac seeks to accomplish

    this by:

    N Providing Aflac products to employees at little to no cost—for example,

    offering employer-paid life insurance, a company-paid cancer policy and company-

    subsidized accident protection insurance.

    Providing total rewards in line with philanthropic goals. Aflac dedicates

    resources to efforts that support the community in four areas: health,

    education, youth and the arts. One benefit offered to Aflac employees is the

    recognition of a “Volunteer of the Month,” in which an employee is awarded

    for the time spent volunteering at his or her charity of choice.

    n Developing employees for their next career level through extensive

    employee training and leadership programs to keep pace with the strategic

    growth goals being executed company- wide. More than 91 percent of Aflac’s

    employees at the senior vice president level and above have been promoted through

    the ranks. Aflac’s corporate training department hosts two employee learning

    initiatives. The first is a leadership development program with on-site courses for

    all employees from entry level to senior management. There are three levels of

    classes; some classes require employees to have taken prerequisite courses that are

    a part of the offered curriculum. Instructor-led classes offer a variety of subjects

    for workers seeking both career and personal development and are designed to

    help employees achieve a quality work/life balance. Course topics range from

    “Managing Your Career” to “Preventing Diabetes.”

    Cost-containment is on every HR professional’s mind when discussing employee

    benefits. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, the cost of offering

    health insurance continues to outpace inflation. In fact, “in 2007, employer health

    insurance premiums increased by 6.1 percent, which was two times the rate of

    inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four

    averaged nearly $12,100. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over

    $4,400.” And, as Graves points out, that is added to the cost of steadily growing the

    business each year, which includes adding staff. Suddenly, employee benefits become

    a conspicuous line item on profit and loss statements and must therefore enhance the

    achievement of organizational outcomes in order to be justified. An important

    theme in Aflac’s communication to its employees is that the health care cost

    containment is an employer and employee shared responsibility.

    Aflac seeks to administer benefits in a cost-effective manner while staying

    true to the concept of employee service. Aflac recognizes the actual value of

    employee benefits, and as a result, its overall philosophy is that “it’s all about the

    employee.” For Aflac, in addition to competitive salaries, it includes designing

    benefits packages that reflect the needs of a multi-generational workforce—some

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 5

     

     

     

    seeking portability, others seeking stability. It is about creating a positive work

    environment that is conducive to productivity—by offering one of the largest on-site

    child care facilities in the United States. Aflac sponsors outdoor adventure days,

    on-site fitness centers and service discounts. It pays 100 percent of the employee

    premium for its ground-breaking cancer insurance, in line with the company’s

    philanthropic commitments as a socially responsible organization, positioning

    Aflac to lead its industry to enhanced service levels. These benefits, according to

    Graves, send the message to employees that they and their lifestyles are important

    to the organization. The proof continues to be demonstrated in recent employee

    survey results:

    n Approximately 90 percent of employees were attracted to and remain at Aflac

    because of company reputation.

    n Employees are happy with the profit-sharing bonus, with 81 percent of employees

    saying they believe it is better than that of other companies.

    n Eighty-nine percent of employees consider Aflac’s total rewards statement an

    effective communication tool.

    Perhaps most telling of all in the competitive world of insurance—employee turnover

    fell below 10 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

     

     

    6 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

    data series dec. 2007 jan. 2008 feb. 2008 mar. 2008

    Employment (in thousands)

    Employment, all employees

    (seasonally adjusted)

    2,316.8 2,313.9 (P) 2,310.2 (P) 2,314.1

     

    Initial claimants for unemployment 514

    benefits

    1,022 468

    Footnotes (P) Preliminary

     

     

    exhibit a: the bureau of labor statistics April 2008

    Insurance carriers and related activities: NALCS 524

    employment, Unemployment & Layoffs:

     

    Employment, nonsupervisory workers 1,848.0 1,836.0 (P) 1,839.7

    Unemployment

    Unemployment rate 2.3% 2.9% 2.6% 3.3%

    Layoffs

    Mass layoff events 9 13 7

     

    (Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

     

    exhibit b: the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States

    Civilian Unemployment rate, all Industries

    Labor Force statistics from the Current Population survey

    year jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec

    1998 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.4

    1999 4.3 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.2 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.0

    2000 4.0 4.1 4.0 3.8 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.1 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9

    2001 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.9 5.0 5.3 5.5 5.7

    2002 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 6.0

    2003 5.8 5.9 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.8 5.7

    2004 5.7 5.6 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.4

    2005 5.2 5.4 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.9 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.8

    2006 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4

    2007 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.8 4.7 5.0

    2008 4.9 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.5 5.6 5.8 6.2. 6.2 6.6 6.8 7.2

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 7

     

     

     

     

    L.L. Bean company Information

     

    L.L. Bean is a privately held outdoor apparel specialty catalog and retail store

    founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, an outdoor enthusiast and entrepreneur.

    In his autobiography, My Story, Bean wrote that nothing eventful occurred before

    his 40th year when he created a leather-topped, rubber-bottomed hunting shoe.

    As the legend goes, he sold his first 100 pairs by mail order with a 100 percent

    satisfaction guarantee. When 90 pairs were returned defective, he kept his promise

    and made the refunds. Bean borrowed $400 from his brother to perfect the design

    and went on to become a clothing consultant for the military during World War II,

    an author and, of course, the president and founder of a retail giant. As described by

    Yahoo finance online:

    “With L.L.Bean, you can tame the great outdoors—or just look as if you could.

    The outdoor apparel and gear maker mails more than 200 million catalogs per year.

    L.L.Bean’s library includes about 10 specialty catalogs offering products in categories

    such as children’s clothing, fly-fishing, outerwear, sportswear, housewares, footwear,

    camping and hiking gear, and the Maine hunting shoe upon which the company

    was built. L.L.Bean also operates about a dozen retail stores and some 15 factory

    outlets throughout the Northeast. In addition, it sells online through English- and

    Japanese-language Web sites.”

    L.L.Bean’s annual sales grew from $616.8 million in 1990 to $1.169 billion in

    2000, with an average annual growth rate of 6.8 percent. In 2000, L.L.Bean paid a

    10 percent company-wide bonus.

    More than 11,000 people worked for the company during the 2006 holiday

    season, and in 2007 the company reported $1.5 billion in sales, with approximately

    80 percent of those sales coming from Internet and catalog sales. The company

    continues to evolve into a multi-channel sales giant through mail order, telephone,

    Internet and in-store sales.

    the brand

     

    L.L.Bean has always been a marketing professionals’ dream of creating a brand into

    an institution. Strategists, marketing specialists and other business professionals

    (including the competition) have tried to duplicate the company’s achievements

    with varying degrees of success. A brand is built on perceptions about quality,

    service and status created by using a particular product or working with a specific

     

     

    8 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

     

    company. A brand can be built using marketing techniques such as visual imagery,

    wording that identifies what the organization does, and advertising campaigns

    targeted to a desired demographic. Strong brand identity can build a relationship

    with the consumer. In L.L.Bean’s case, this is a relationship with Maine and the

    great outdoors. The company operates on the belief that the brand should reflect

    Bean’s values, not just the products it sells. This case examines how L.L.Bean built

    the brand by using employees as the critical channel through which to accomplish

    strategic directives.

    When Leon Gorman, grandson of Leon Leonwood Bean, assumed the presidency of

    the company in 1960, he sent a message to employees defining their stakeholders—

    those to whom L.L.Bean was ultimately accountable in a values-driven business.

    L.L.Bean’s stakeholders were its customers, employees, vendors, communities and

    the natural environment.

    In addition to a strong customer focus, the company sought to solidify the brand

    through social responsibility. Social responsibility is a business concept driven by

    the principles of ethically sound practices, awareness of the business imprint on the

    environment, and improvement of the quality of life of the company’s employees and

    the communities in which it operates. Social responsibility at L.L.Bean is divided

    into four categories:

    n The environment

     

    With company products geared for outdoor use, L.L.Bean focuses its

    philanthropic efforts on preserving the environment. Examples include green

    building, charitable giving and employee participation in preservation activities.

    n Paper procurement

     

    L.L. Bean is committed to sustainable, responsible paper procurement, an

    important consideration because the company mails more than 200 million

    catalogs each year. It uses recycled fiber, and suppliers are required to have

    programs in place to support sustainable management of natural resources.

    n Labor rights

     

    When the company decided to move some operations offshore, it made a

    commitment to labor rights, including human rights monitoring. In fact, the

    company terminated at least three offshore vendor relationships that did not meet

    its human rights standards. Included in Bean’s Vendor Code of Conduct are

    standards for safety, non-discriminatory practices, and fair compensation

    and benefits. This code of conduct includes processes for auditing and

    investigating complaints.

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 9

     

     

     

    n Charitable giving

    Charitable giving at L.L.Bean is based on Gorman’s concept of the stakeholder

    and the company’s heritage in the outdoors. The company has donated more than

    $5 million toward environmental conservation efforts to groups like The National

    Park Foundation and Ducks Unlimited. It sponsored the Peace Climb up Mt.

    Everest, during which more than three tons of trash was collected. In addition,

    quality of life of the Bean employee and customer is reflected in the company’s

    charitable giving efforts to groups such as United Way and the Portland Symphony

    Orchestra.

    the Problem

     

    The company spent the 1970s and 1980s developing the brand into an American

    institution. L.L.Bean operated on the premise that profits are an outcome of strong

    customer service. Profits, therefore, were a byproduct rather than a corporate

    focus. Growth was strong, particularly in mail order. By 1990, however, sales were

    stagnating, productivity was declining and the mailing list was not growing. The

    U.S. economy slipped into a recession, and as a result, 1990 was the worst year for

    L.L.Bean in a decade. Sales growth improved in 1992 when the company expanded

    into the Japanese market. In 1995, Bean launched their e-commerce web site.

    There was significant upper-management turnover, though, and Gorman believed

    that because of the rapidly changing external environment, the company had lost

    direction. In 1996, sales flattened again, and for the first time under Gorman’s

    leadership, the company reported a decline in sales. It was the first time the board of

    directors voted to not award annual bonuses to employees.

    the case at LL.bean

     

    L.L.Bean launched a strategic review. The 80+-year-old company had been through

    decades of change, yet its core business model had consistently provided excellent

    growth and profit. This was no longer the case by the 1990s when the competitive

    landscape reflected a more technically savvy and cost-conscious customer and global

    employee market. The need to reorganize became obvious to Gorman.

    The strategic review process began in 1996 and included analyses of both

    strategic and operational processes, including brand identity, target markets and

    operational competencies (employees). HR was one of the strategic business units

    (SBUs) developed as an outcome of the review process. The SBUs were part of

    a decentralization process in which each unit had responsibility for its profit and

    loss and was held accountable to a balanced scorecard approach in performance

    metrics. This designation for the HR department allowed it to develop operational

    tasks such as compensation and benefits into a strategic process with measurable

    outcomes—for example, linking pay to performance and increasing employee job

    satisfaction. In addition, total rewards were used as strategic solutions to many of the

     

     

    10 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

     

    issues identified in the review process, including global outsourcing, multi-channel

    marketing initiatives, employee recognition and the redefining of the brand.

    Multi-channel marketing was another outcome of L.L.Bean’s strategic review.

    Multi-channel marketing is the ability to offer customers more than one way to

    purchase a product. The company decided to expand their brick-and-mortar stores

    and capitalize on the opportunity presented by the Internet (Exhibit A). According

    to Gorman, Internet retail sales doubled each year since 1996.

    A weakness identified in the strategic review was that the company’s financial and

    human resources were geared to grow the catalog business but not retail expansion

    or Internet sales. The diversification initiative took staffing to another level. For

    example, the decentralization of the management team to other locations required

    concentrated efforts by the company to infuse the non-corporate facilities with

    L.L.Bean values. The development of new jobs required thorough market research,

    including a comprehensive job analysis process. The lack of technical skills such as

    data processing threatened to topple the organization if it didn’t acquire the staff

    with the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform in a highly competitive

    market at an organization that was used to setting the standards for quality.

    Developing job descriptions and conducting salary surveys allowed the company

    to develop a comprehensive compensation and benefits framework to manage this

    period of rapid growth and diversification.

    As a result of the strategic review process, total rewards at L.L.Bean became a core

    business practice critical to the accomplishment of organizational goals. Traditional

    benefits offered at L.L. Bean include performance-based bonuses and cafeteria-

    style health care. Non-traditional benefits include store discounts, on-site fitness

    programs and the use of company-owned outdoor gear such as tents and canoes.

    The company continues the tradition of outdoor adventure days and trips as a way

    to connect employees with the L.L.Bean values—the love of the outdoors. L. L.

    Bean himself believed in profit-sharing with employees long before it became a

    strategic compensation practice. Back in the days when pay was 18 cents an hour,

    paid in brown envelopes of cash, Bean surprised employees with bonuses calculated

    as a percentage of profits—Bean’s employees were paid when the company

    performed. These practices reflect the L.L.Bean philosophy that the employees’

    passion for the company and its products will translate to the customer. As far as

    Bean was concerned, the company had an obligation to stakeholders, and it began

    with employee satisfaction. As Leon Gorman put it:

    “Our stakeholders have invested their patronage, careers, finances, social services

    and outdoor values in our enterprise. They trust us to tell the truth, to sell quality

    products, to guarantee satisfaction, to pay fair wages and provide opportunities

    for growth, to secure their investment, to participate in society, and to sustain our

    natural environment. They trust us to grow to the extent that we can enhance our

    benefits to them. They trust us to go the extra mile in everything we do.”4

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 11

     

     

     

    Global outsourcing of operations brought intense scrutiny to the function of

    compensation and benefits. This resulted in Gorman leading the challenge for fair

    wages at the company’s global subsidiaries and vendors and, in some cases, firing

    those who failed to comply.5 In addition, global benefits were markedly different

    from U.S. benefits because they were infused with cultural purpose. For example,

    among Japan’s official holidays are Respect for the Aged Day, a Cultural Day,

    the Emperor’s Birthday and Physical Fitness Day. In addition, although Japan’s

    retirement system was similar to the United States (a combination of Social Security

    and employer-sponsored plans), Japanese employees typically collect one lump-sum

    severance payment at the time of retirement based on years of service. Commuter

    costs and housing subsidies are also common fringe employment benefits in Japan.6

    Did the 1996 strategic review work? Were employees rewarded for their continued

    excellence, loyalty and dedication to the corporate objectives? Let’s look at

    L.L.Bean’s 2006 Year in Review press release, as reported by PR Newswire:

    LL Bean Inc. reports 2006 net sales results

     

    “For the 2006 fiscal year ending February 25, 2007, L.L.Bean reported record

    annual net sales of $1.54 billion, a 4.6 % increase over 2005. The company also

    announced that its Board of Directors approved a cash award of 7.5% of annual pay

    to eligible employees, a payout of approximately $25.5 million. An additional $8.8

    million will be allocated to the pension plan, keeping the plan fully funded.

    “It’s a well-deserved bonus,” said Leon Gorman, L.L.Bean’s Chairman of the Board.

    “2006 was a year in which we made excellent progress on a variety of strategic

    initiatives important to the future of our business. We are pleased to be in the

    position of rewarding Bean employees for their achievements.”

    Chris McCormick, L.L.Bean’s President and CEO, expanded on the year-end

    results for 2006. “We had a strong start and strong finish to the fall and winter

    selling season,” he said. “Although unseasonably warm weather had an impact

    on sales in December and early January, our business performed very well and

    the product line continues to hit the right mark with our customers. I am very

    proud of all that we accomplished in 2006 through our employees’ hard work

    and dedication,” he continued. “It was an exciting year with a lot of energy and

    growth, including the opening of three additional stores, launching $90 million

    in investments in our hometown of Freeport, and making further progress on the

    international side of our business.”

     

     

    12 © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR

     

     

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    exhibit a: LL bean-bureau of labor statistics for electronic

    shopping & mail-order houses, establishments Primarily

    engaged In retailing all types of merchandise using non-store

    means such as catalogs or electronic media

    The eight industries with the highest productivity growth rates over the

    1990–2000 period, each experienced growth in output per hour of more

    than 12 percent per year, on average.

     

    Industries with highest labor productivity growth rates, 1990-2000

    35%

     

    30%

    25%

    31.7

     

    27.0

     

     

    20%

    15%

    10%

    5%

    0%

     

    16.2

     

     

    14.5 13.9 13.8

     

    13.4

     

    12.4

     

     

    © 2009 society for Human Resource Management. sandra M. Reed, sPHR 13

     

     

     

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    3. Heneman, R. L. (2007). Implementing total rewards strategies. Alexandria, VA: SHR M Foundation. Retrieved

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    4. Gorman, L. (2006). L. L. Bean: The making of an American icon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School

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    http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/Documents/07RewardsStratReport.pdf

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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