I suppose the time could be spent rocking gently in a fishing boat on the bay, with a worm on the end of the hook of your fishing pole and the sun shining brightly; your chin slowly drooping towards your chest.
It could also be spent hitting that maddening little white ball on an emerald green fairway towards that impossibly small cup with a high tech carbon fiber club manufactured right here in town by a chamber member.
But, comp time at its best may actually be harder than work. If so, who would volunteer for that?
My good friend Karl Higgins told me the story of a recent ice tea he shared with Mayor Bud Lewis and a Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce company, Air Products. This may be a lesson for all of us.
Air Products is exactly what their name implies. They take the air around us and refine it into a variety of high tech products. Some include ultra pure materials used in the manufacturing of computer chips. Another of their products is hydrogen. In fact, they are the largest manufacturer of hydrogen in the world for customers like NASA and the Space Shuttle.
The company has about 200 employees at their Carlsbad plant and many other locations around the world. Their corporate HQ is in Allentown, PA. Who would have thought Carlsbad would have the world leader in specialty chemicals and gases in our own back yard?
Like many responsible and civic minded businesses, Air Products has a foundation and gives generously to worthy community needs. The Carlsbad Boys and Girls Club, The United Way and area schools have been recipients of their generosity.
But, the company practices another form of civic responsibility I thought you would enjoy learning about. In fact?I think it could be a model for all of us in the private and public sector.
Air Products recently asked the mayor if there was a list of worthy non profit organizations in our fair city that might benefit from the company's program called, "Community Day of Caring".
It seems Air Products has adopted a corporate philosophy that allows management to give employees paid comp time to volunteer at worthy neighborhood non profit agencies near their plants. The company does this worldwide. It's one way they connect to their communities.
The mayor responded that one list of community service agencies worth looking at might be those groups that applied to the city recently for what is known as CDBG funding, or Community Development Block Grant dollars.
These grant dollars are passed to the city from state and federal sources and designated for area non profits. According to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where block grants have been distributed since 1974, the purpose of such a grant is, "to develop viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and opportunities to expand economic opportunities."
Carlsbad's list of CDBG applicants includes more than two dozen groups. Examples include the Brother Benno Foundation, North County Food Bank, Casa de Amparo, the Boys and Girls Club and the Carlsbad Library Learning Resource Center.
Air Products employees review the list and then formulate a plan to identify two or three key agencies they would like to concentrate their labor and assistance efforts on.
Once the groups are targeted, management and labor contact the agencies and offer their services on projects the non profits may need such as general repairs, maintenance services, equipment updates or something as unique as installing a new roof or repairing a vehicle.
The point is this; by giving employees paid comp time to assist worthy groups in the community, the company has leveraged their dollar contributions with volunteer time from employees. It's a wonderful example of a Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce company that goes beyond the ordinary, to extraordinary in community commitment and commerce.
I know there are many other chamber members who do the same, without the limelight of the media. To each of them, all of us at the chamber offer our thanks, praise and admiration.
If your company hasn't thought about a comp time policy, why not brainstorm the idea with several key employees today? The rewards are numerous and tangible. They include team building, esprit-de-corps and leadership development. The cost is negligible. You might give each department the opportunity to identify their own agency and allocate them one afternoon for their comp time service project. Have a small team review the list of agencies and let employees vote on their favorites. Have one team leader contact the selected agency, explain the offer and ask what the needs of the organization might be. Create a materials list needed for the work, then a sign up sheet from your employees for each job. That's team building, delegation and leadership, all very valuable business skills.
Who knows, by the time you're done you may end up with newly identified supervisor candidates from a richly rewarding experience. The bonus? Some very fulfilled employees who were utilizing comp time for its best possible purpose. You are left with both employees and an effort you can be proud of.
If you'd like to learn more, feel free to email Karl Higgins at [email protected]. He'd be more than happy to share information about the process.
It could also be spent hitting that maddening little white ball on an emerald green fairway towards that impossibly small cup with a high tech carbon fiber club manufactured right here in town by a chamber member.
But, comp time at its best may actually be harder than work. If so, who would volunteer for that?
My good friend Karl Higgins told me the story of a recent ice tea he shared with Mayor Bud Lewis and a Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce company, Air Products. This may be a lesson for all of us.
Air Products is exactly what their name implies. They take the air around us and refine it into a variety of high tech products. Some include ultra pure materials used in the manufacturing of computer chips. Another of their products is hydrogen. In fact, they are the largest manufacturer of hydrogen in the world for customers like NASA and the Space Shuttle.
The company has about 200 employees at their Carlsbad plant and many other locations around the world. Their corporate HQ is in Allentown, PA. Who would have thought Carlsbad would have the world leader in specialty chemicals and gases in our own back yard?
Like many responsible and civic minded businesses, Air Products has a foundation and gives generously to worthy community needs. The Carlsbad Boys and Girls Club, The United Way and area schools have been recipients of their generosity.
But, the company practices another form of civic responsibility I thought you would enjoy learning about. In fact?I think it could be a model for all of us in the private and public sector.
Air Products recently asked the mayor if there was a list of worthy non profit organizations in our fair city that might benefit from the company's program called, "Community Day of Caring".
It seems Air Products has adopted a corporate philosophy that allows management to give employees paid comp time to volunteer at worthy neighborhood non profit agencies near their plants. The company does this worldwide. It's one way they connect to their communities.
The mayor responded that one list of community service agencies worth looking at might be those groups that applied to the city recently for what is known as CDBG funding, or Community Development Block Grant dollars.
These grant dollars are passed to the city from state and federal sources and designated for area non profits. According to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where block grants have been distributed since 1974, the purpose of such a grant is, "to develop viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and opportunities to expand economic opportunities."
Carlsbad's list of CDBG applicants includes more than two dozen groups. Examples include the Brother Benno Foundation, North County Food Bank, Casa de Amparo, the Boys and Girls Club and the Carlsbad Library Learning Resource Center.
Air Products employees review the list and then formulate a plan to identify two or three key agencies they would like to concentrate their labor and assistance efforts on.
Once the groups are targeted, management and labor contact the agencies and offer their services on projects the non profits may need such as general repairs, maintenance services, equipment updates or something as unique as installing a new roof or repairing a vehicle.
The point is this; by giving employees paid comp time to assist worthy groups in the community, the company has leveraged their dollar contributions with volunteer time from employees. It's a wonderful example of a Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce company that goes beyond the ordinary, to extraordinary in community commitment and commerce.
I know there are many other chamber members who do the same, without the limelight of the media. To each of them, all of us at the chamber offer our thanks, praise and admiration.
If your company hasn't thought about a comp time policy, why not brainstorm the idea with several key employees today? The rewards are numerous and tangible. They include team building, esprit-de-corps and leadership development. The cost is negligible. You might give each department the opportunity to identify their own agency and allocate them one afternoon for their comp time service project. Have a small team review the list of agencies and let employees vote on their favorites. Have one team leader contact the selected agency, explain the offer and ask what the needs of the organization might be. Create a materials list needed for the work, then a sign up sheet from your employees for each job. That's team building, delegation and leadership, all very valuable business skills.
Who knows, by the time you're done you may end up with newly identified supervisor candidates from a richly rewarding experience. The bonus? Some very fulfilled employees who were utilizing comp time for its best possible purpose. You are left with both employees and an effort you can be proud of.
If you'd like to learn more, feel free to email Karl Higgins at [email protected]. He'd be more than happy to share information about the process.