Top 100

What does it mean to be a Top 100 employer? Yesterday at the Oklahoma State Human Resource conference, attendees had the opportunity to find out straight from the horse's mouth. We heard from American Fidelity Senior VP of Human Resources, Jeanette Rice, and from Quick Trips' VP of HR, Kimberly Owen.

There were a couple of themes I recognized throughout the session that both companies on this Fortune 100 list had in common. First of all, both companies take having fun seriously... meaning it is a part of their strategy. They expressed importance in a camaraderie between employees and went a step further to include the families of employees in many of the fun team building activities. Quick Trips went so far as to take every employee with 25 years in the company AND their significant other on a trip to Hawaii for the company's 50th anniversary celebration!

Although that is not a sustainable day-to-day team building strategy, it certainly had a very positive impact and made lasting memories for their long term employees. With more realistic budget constraints in mind, American Fidelity talked about ways to have fun and boost moral while keeping the cost at under $30 per employee per year! (Talk about being frugal!) We all know in this day and age, you have to do
more with less. American Fidelity proves that it can be done and that their is no reason to skip employee recognition or engagement because of cost... you just have to be creative! Judging by the stories, photos, and videos shown... they certainly know how to be creative and original at AF. I loved the photo of the execs dressed like Elvis and the Blue Man Group! The photo to the left is courtesy of Jeanette Rice and is just another example of employees having fun at work.

Another strategy shared by both of these Top 100 employers is the foundation in the knowledge that their companies' success is based on the employees that help drive it. I agree with the quote shared by AF from Bill Cameron, the grandson of the original founder of American Fidelity, “It is critical to recognize that the success you are credited with is the result of the combined members of your team.”

These were just a few gems of wisdom shared at the OK HR Conference. If you couldn't make it to the conference this year, follow me on Twitter @HR_Lisa for live tweets throughout the conference on other great topics.