Marsha Serlin, chief executive officer of United Scrap Metal Inc., a metal buying and recycling company based in Cicero, is an enthusiastic supporter of flexible hours.
But her transition three years ago to a true believer wasn’t easy for Serlin, who founded her firm in 1978 with $200 and made it a success with hard work and long hours.
“In 1998, the industry was consolidating, companies were being bought up, more personnel was needed–and I saw my employees weren’t engaged,” said Serlin, whose company has annual revenues of more than $40 million, 100 employees and a branch office in Chicago. In March, she will open a facility in Cicero that will buy recycled materials.
A savvy businesswoman who is energetic and committed to good management, the CEO says she used to run her company “with an iron fist and insist on set hours. But after I lost two managers and an assistant because of work/life issues, I asked myself, `What’s wrong with this picture?'”
The answers, she found, were that “employees didn’t want to be watched every minute, they had family demands in addition to work responsibilities–and it’s not the hours, it’s the quality of work.”
The CEO introduced flexible hours to her office and supervisory staff of 40 people. “Today, the company is doing great, turnover is low, and employees are excited and loyal,” she said. “We’ve learned how to treat our employees.”
And Serlin herself, who has two adult children, proudly says that she is “finding more balance for myself, too. Now I travel, do community work and run fundraisers.”
Serlin, nowadays a work/life balance zealot, emphasizes to other businesses–small and large–that “workers are looking for more than a paycheck.”
Ana L. Beltran, an accounting manager at United Scrap Metal, is a worker who fits Serlin’s description. Beltran previously worked at another manufacturing plant that didn’t allow flexibility, and she had to quit after two years.
“It was very difficult,” said Beltran, a single parent with twin daughters, age 12.
In 1999, she started her present job. On paper, the hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “The position used to include Saturdays, but I don’t have to work that day because I have an understanding boss,” Beltran said. “My work schedule allows me to drop my daughters off at school at 8 a.m. and still get here on time. If I’m held up in traffic, the company understands. And I also have the flexibility to pick them up after school and take them to their activities, such as basketball practice–as long as the work gets done.”
Beltran said her life is much easier now. “I don’t have to justify where I am every minute because when emergencies arise, I can deal with them and do my job, too,” she said. “It takes so much pressure off me. It’s a comfort.”
Relieving that pressure is something all businesses should do, according to V. Sue Molina, national director of the women’s initiative program for global consulting and accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, based in New York.
“For the last five years, everyone has been fighting for the best employees out there, and companies that want to be the employer of choice have to be better than their competitors, with both their customers and workforce,” Molina said.
Since flexibility was offered as part of a package at Deloitte & Touche to retain female employees, the difference in turnover between women and men at the firm now is 2 percentage points, compared with 10 percentage points eight years ago.
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“It’s extremely important for employers to understand that flexibility is the No. 1 issue and concern of employees,” Molina said. “But implementing it has to come from the top, as it did at our company.”
And as it did at United Scrap Metal.
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Carol Kleiman’s column also appears in Sunday’s Jobs section. Watch her Career Coach segments Sunday and Tuesday mornings on CLTV. E-mail [email protected].