If people are Nice, Trusted, Proud, and Included, then the Recognition will certainly follow. And that doesn’t mean strictly dollars and cents.

Our strong feeling is that money is not the main reason people choose where they work for life -- for a career. After all, money can’t compensate for your boss’s ignoring you and it surely can’t cancel out having to work beside boorish and ill-mannered colleagues. That’s why people say of an offensive boss, "I wouldn’t work with him for a million bucks." And so we don’t believe in a money-rules-the-day mentality.

At the same time, however, if the money and the fringe benefits are not commensurate with the job performance -- and then some -- in the context of the local market and the living standards in the community, then associates feel "used" or that the owners and management are "chintzy" and just raking in the bucks for themselves.

We believe that if you don’t pay people enough, it negates everything else -- all the other four principles. So money is sort of a wild card. I insist that I don’t work only for the money -- and I do believe this -- yet if I were not recognized or rewarded fairly within our business, I wouldn’t have the passion that I have to do what I do.

When people go home to share with their families, at the end of the day they want to arrive with a smile and with a good feeling and with a wallet that is filled with enough, or in many cases more than enough, to make them believe that the investment that they have made of their time, energy, and talent has been recognized and recognized a lot. Especially when the associates can see that the business -- in our case, the stores -- currently are doing so well.

Therefore you can’t forget money.

My feeling has always been very straightforward. I like to pay our people very well -- extremely well. Of course, you have to be realistic and stick within the financial parameters and playing field of your business and industry. The expectations have to be set accordingly. I believe all associates should feel that they have the opportunity to earn more if they hit their goals and the stores hit their goals, and if they are constantly raising the bar and becoming better.

The way we operate most of the time is we pay associates more to start than they were earning elsewhere. That immediately makes them feel great. Since we have fewer people than our competitors of equivalent size -- but great people -- they produce more, and that enables us to pay them more each year. So far this has worked well. Every time I’ve compared our numbers to the few industry studies I’ve seen of sales divided by total associates, we have the most productive ratio by far.

At performance review time, most of our associates are extremely satisfied, which naturally makes us feel pleased. Now and then, a few are disappointed, and so we listen and explain and reset goals and expectations.

We’ve had only one really tough time, from 1989 to 1991, when we were forced to freeze wages and eliminate bonuses. I remember during a tailor shop meeting explaining why no one was getting raises or bonuses. Vicki Batsu, one of our valued tailors, spoke up with conviction and emotion: "Jack, we all understand. We’re lucky to have a job. We trust you and your family. We recognize that when times get better we’ll not only have a job but we will move forward again." When I think back on those years, our associates understood and they applauded our prudent moves because we had invested in them. We strongly believe that if we have a downturn tomorrow, the vast majority of our team will be just as supportive as they were during that turbulent period.

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