Toy Firm Keeps Its Workers Happy

When Phyllis Brody and Evelyn Greenwald began selling burlap bags filled with pieces of wood and fabric 20 years ago, they just wanted to add some creativity to children’s lives.

What they’ve ended up with is a toy company the federal government has recognized for being as creative with its 90 employees as it is with children.

“I guess you could say we have tried to extend creativity to all parts of our business,” Brody said.

The two co-owners of Creativity for Kids were among about 100 corporate executives President Clinton honored at a National Economic Council conference in May for their commitment to their employees and communities.

In July, U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich toured the Cleveland-based company and praised it for being employee-friendly. He said it even passed his “pronoun test”--employees who say “we” and “our” when talking about the company.

That’s exactly the way Brody, 60, and Greenwald, 55, hope their employees feel about the company they began in 1976.

“We started with our families’ help, and we just think like family people,” Brody said. “We’ve tried to incorporate that feeling in the company whenever possible.”

Sharon Matovich, a purchasing agent, has a list of ways the innovative policies have helped her. She is able to work four-day weeks, and she takes three extra weeks of unpaid leave in the summer to spend more time with her children.

“You always feel like you can talk to Evelyn and Phyllis about problems that come up on the job or elsewhere,” said Matovich, 35. “And they let you know when they think you have done a good job on some project.”

Unlike some employers, Creativity for Kids will hire workers’ family members. It also provides extra leave to employees when a child or other family member is sick, and it will help pay for taxis home for second-shift workers.

“Not everyone takes advantage of that, but it is available for any worker who is concerned about taking a bus late at night,” Greenwald said. “They pay what they normally would for a bus, and we pay the rest of the cab fare.”

Even the sunshine yellow walls are friendly: Photos of employees’ children are posted in collages throughout the building.

Matovich said the good environment has kept her there for two years.

“I’ve quit other jobs because they were such miserable places to work,” Matovich said. “Here, everyone feels like they are sharing in the company’s success.”

Such policies can go a long way toward inspiring employee loyalty at a time when many workers are dissatisfied with their jobs, said Paul Salipante, a professor in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

“Creativity for Kids is definitely bucking what has been the trend of treating employees more as transients,” he said. But he said it’s too early to say whether such employee-friendly policies are catching on throughout corporate America.

Brody and Greenwald never thought of themselves as trend-setters when they met in 1972.

Both women, who had given up careers to stay home with their children, shared an interest in art and a frustration with the lack of creativity in schools.

They began by putting together activity kits packaged in burlap bags--one kit contained pieces of wood, one had bits of fabric and another had assorted material for puppet-making. They put them together in their homes with the help of family and friends.

The company now offers hundreds of kits. Using materials such as sand, beads, feathers and clay, the kits challenge the imagination and encourage problem-solving, self-expression and hand co-ordination skills.

“The bottom line is that we are a business, and we have to make a profit,” Brody said. “It’s not that we can do everything employees want us to do, but we have found employees are more productive and do a better job if they are asked for their opinions and valued as employees.”

So far, mixing business with a helping hand is paying off.

Creativity for Kids now occupies 60,000 square feet of a former warehouse, and its products are sold to more than 3,000 gift shops, museum stores, independent and specialty toy stores and art supply stores nationwide.

The company, which also supplies retailers in Canada, Mexico, Australia and Spain, sold about 1.5 million kits last year and expects to sell about 2 million this year.

Shipping Supervisor Shawn Harris, who started out as a part-time employee in 1991, said there isn’t just one reason why he and others enjoy their work.

“It’s mostly just the little things that make you feel wanted and needed,” said Harris, 28. “Everyone wants to feel needed and a part of things.”

For example, a cake is brought out every quarter to honor those who had a birthday during the past three months. They used to have a cake for everyone, he said, but the company just got too big.

Greenwald and Brody are concerned that some of their other policies may have to be scaled back as the company continues to grow.

“We do worry about the negative side of growth, but I think even large companies can do more than they think they can for their employees,” Brody said. “We constantly try to be as creative as we can and keep the spirit going.”