Companies boost morale post-Katrina - New Orleans City Business

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32 2005 Best Places to Work 11 Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles THOMAS SANDERS, an administrative assistant with the New Orleans law firm Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, was getting too comfortable in his rented Lafayette house. “It was spacious; we had five bedrooms and only three of us living there. I really got comfortable there to tell you the truth and miss the accommodations.” But Sanders said he is happy to be home. Following Hurricane Katrina, Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles maintained payroll for its employees. The firm established temporary offices in Baton Rouge, Monroe, Houston and Hattiesburg, Miss., and a makeshift headquarters in Lafayette. The firm purchased and rented several homes in Lafayette to house evacuated employees and set up offices in cities where other employees had evacuated. Monica Kindscher, a legal secretary for 23 years with the firm, evacuated with her family to Houston. She rode a bus an hour and a half each way, five days a week to be the legal secretary for 10 New Orleans attorneys at Beirne Manard & Parsons, a firm from which Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles was renting office space. Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles officially reopened its downtown New Orleans office just one month after Katrina. Don Champagne, the firm’s director of administration, said the first thing they did upon their return was buy employees lunch and hang out for two hours to catch up on everything. “We’re all close here and it was so important for everybody to take time out of work and reunite,” Champagne said. Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles employees are volunteering their time on the weekends to clean out, gut and renovate other employees’ homes severely impacted by Katrina. The firm also set up a grants foundation through the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Network of Trial Law Firms to help employees receive financial assistance. The firm’s employee-friendly events include quarterly socials, summer snowball parties, Lenten fish fries, anniversary recognition programs and most recently, the annual tree-trimming party. “It’s all the little things that say let’s show you how much we appreciate you that makes us appreciate the firm,” said Kelle Cortez, who works in the information technology department. 12 Hibernia National Bank BEFORE HURRICANE KATRINA, Hibernia National Bank was preparing for the biggest step in the company’s history — a merger with Capital One. Katrina delayed the blockbuster merger for three months. Hibernia regrouped on the homefront, dealing with the relocation and assistance for 3,100 evacuated employees. Hibernia maintained payroll for its employees and sent each a $1,000 grant. A total of $3,000 for each employee was then provided for housing assistance in September, followed by $1,500 in October to employees still needing financial help. Employees received $525 a week for living expenses in September, followed by $175 a week in October for those The Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles staff holds its annual Christmas tree trimming party. Hibernia personal banker Katherine Shelton assists customers Erik Arnold and his wife, Kathryn Gsell. still evacuated. “We wanted to make them feel as comfortable as possible,” said Hibernia CEO Herb Boydstun. “They had so many things to worry about and we figured if we could just provide a little financial support, then it was a few things less they had to worry about.” Hibernia also had 600 employees evacuate from the Lake Charles area during Rita. They also received payments for
housing and living expenses. Boydstun said Hibernia employees evacuated to mainly four cities, Houston, Dallas, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Some worked in Hibernia branches in those cities, while others have returned to New Orleans as Hibernia reopened the majority of its branches and corporate downtown office. Hibernia started free bus service from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and from the North Shore to Baton Rouge to accommodate some employees. Hibernia has provided Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration assistance to employees in question-and-answer sessions about different available programs. Employees also have been able to receive on-site tetanus and Hepatitis A shots. 13 FARA (F.A. Richard & Associates, Inc.) CAMILLA DAVIS, vice president of Mandeville-based FARA, became a real estate investor overnight in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Days after the storm, Davis returned to the Covington area, found 17 condominiums for sale, ran the purchase by FARA president and CEO Todd Richard and bought all the condominiums to house displaced FARA employees. “It was mainly designed for our employees in the benefit services department at Lakeway III in Metairie, and they have really been put to good use by people who needed them,” Richard said. FARA, a third-party insurance services provider of risk management solutions and administration, maintained payroll and asked employees to return to work after Katrina to offices in Jackson, Miss., Baton Rouge and Nashville, Tenn., as FARA worked to reopen its Mandeville and Metairie offices. Richard said the organization never ceased operations as it established a data center and call of command for employees in the Baton Rouge office. Employees who returned to work within the first two weeks after Katrina were given additional compensation,said Richard. “We can’t pay them enough for returning to work as quickly as they did,” he said. “Our clients were blown away by the service level.” FARA is paying living expenses until Christmas break for employees’ families who evacuated and enrolled their children in out-of-state schools. Richard estimates FARA has spent more than $2 million in housing efforts since Katrina. 14 Apogen Technologies AFTER APOGEN Technologies instituted a Gulf Coast Employee Relief Fund, raising $615,000, the national security and federal technology firm uniquely put funding distribution in the hands of New Orleans employees. Apogen’s 156 employees were allowed to choose from partial or full share grants from the fund. Since 33 opted not to receive grants, full shares amounted to $6,200 for the remaining staff members who needed them. Apogen also worked with the Washington, D.C.-based Community Foundation for National Capital Region to make the grants tax-free. “We got a lot of positive feedback from letting employees self-select,” said Dave Mize, senior vice president of Apogen Technologies, headquartered in McLean, Va., with nine offices nationwide. “It meant a lot to them that we trusted them to make a decision with the money that was raised for them.” Apogen Technologies maintained payroll during and after Katrina and did not lay off any New Orleans workers. Employees are scattered at five temporary offices, two in Mandeville and Baton Rouge and one in Luling, while the New Orleans office is renovated after rainwater and mold damage. Mize said the site on Lakeshore Drive should be ready by late March or early April. Mike Goff, president of Apogen Services, said the hurricane response was just an extension from the already employee-friendly environment. “Our relationships here go beyond work and we followed that mechanism through all of this,”Goff said.“We had a chance to step up and walk the walk after talking the talk all these years.” Apogen offers nationwide company relocation assistance and regularly recognizes employees through an Awards and Recognition program, in which managers recognize individuals or teams with financial contributions, and a Milestone awards program for time with the company. 15 St. Tammany Parish Hospital PRESIDENT AND CEO Patti Ellish transformed St. Tammany Parish Hospital into more than just a hospital during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina. “We were a bank, Laundromat, grocery, clothing center, home away from home — any service we had to provide we December 19, 2005 33 just adjusted to do it each and every day because we had to take care of our employees,” Ellish said. St. Tammany Parish Hospital paid employees who stayed disaster pay and paid evacuated employees “engaged to work” pay, or minimum wage. The hospital raised $350,000 in donations for a hurricane relief fund, distributed in grants ranging from $250 to $3,000 based on need. The hospital cashed employees’ checks, bought seven washers and dryers for employees and their immediate families to do laundry in the hospital and worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get gasoline to employees so they could commute to the hospital. A church in Texas and hospital in Alabama donated trucks full of housing supplies to STPH employees. “We took care of our employees, and in turn, they provided tremendous care to our patients during the brunt of everything,” Ellish said. Regular employee-driven programs at St. Tammany Parish Hospital include “Ambassador of the Quarter,” town hall meetings, gift cards to employees who go the extra mile and birthday lunches where employees are invited to lunch with senior management to talk about their jobs. “Employees are the heart of the hospital,” Ellish said. 16 Keating Magee AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA, New Orleans marketing firm Keating Magee found a rallying point for its employees in the form of what they do best — marketing. The firm relaunched its “New Orleans Proud to Call it Home” campaign, an idea developed a decade ago in a partnership with the Young Leadership Council to support the city’s economic development. The post-Katrina campaign will tour nine cities along See 17-20 continued on page 34 Keating Magee staff includes bottom from left: Melissa Guidry and Katherine Staiano. Middle: Reneiri Turcois, Betsie Gambel, Holly McCollum, Justin Bonura and Carrie Fox. Back row: Angela Daviston, Karen Rupp, Janet Fabre Smith and Libby Wunsch.
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Companies boost morale post-Katrina - New Orleans City Business

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