Jim Constable was in a fix.
His pickup truck died outside Lexington, Ky., and he had no money to fix it. His shift at Control Works Inc. in Milford was upon him, and he had no idea how he was going to get back to Milford in time.
Mr. Constable called the boss, Doug Strief, owner of the Miami Township company, to tell him about the predicament. Mr. Strief asked a couple of questions and then got right to the point: How much money do you need? He would wire Mr. Constable the cash.
"I had to go down to Madisonville to find a wire service," Mr. Strief said later. "I'd never done it before."
These days, small businesses find themselves taking unusual actions to keep the workplace humming, said Jane Galloway Seiling, a Lima, Ohio, author of "The Membership Organization: Achieving Top Performance Through the New Workplace Community," a book that won the 1998 book-of-the-year award from the Society for Human Resource Management. It makes sense, too, she said.
In Mr. Constable's case, the money was paid back during the next few months, and while Mr. Constable is no longer with the company, which expects to post $5 million in sales in 1998 from making electrical controls for machine tools, pumps, hydraulic equipment and power pack manufacturers, the memory of that busted truck and how it got fixed remains.
"That is one great company," he said.
Mr. Strief said there is no mystery why he sent truck repair money to an employee: "That kind of thing happens all the time.
"I've loaned employees money for a down payment on a house, for down payments on cars. We've gone so far as to make a deposit for an attorney for a divorce," he said.
While small-business owners face plenty of hurdles, having committed workers shouldn't be one.
"Most people have a real belief that their work should be valued in the workplace," Ms. Seiling said. "It's easier to create that atmosphere in a smaller company -- an owner can project that what his workers do really matters."
Control Works Inc. has humble roots, born in the basement of a building in downtown Milford with Mr. Strief logging 12-hour days and his wife, Cathy, raising a family at home and learning how to keep books. She soon became something of a human resources director as well as a chief financial officer.
"The compassionate side of the business comes from her," Mr. Strief said. "Running a small business today, you run into every situation in life you could possibly face."
While Mr. Strief wants all workers to believe they are an irreplaceable part of the enterprise, he steers clear of the workplace cliche that his company is a big family: "I used to work for a guy who always said that, and everybody hated that guy."
He admits that being sensitive to employee needs is in the company's self-interest. The firm has benefits that include profit-sharing and a 401(k), health insurance and disability policies -- human resource goodies that rival monoliths.
"It is critical today to secure good employees when you are a small privately held company," he said. "The longer I'm in business, the more I realize that it may not be a family here, but everybody's interest needs to be focused on the success of the company."
John Eckberg covers small-business news for The Enquirer. Call him at 768-8386 or e-mail him at jeckberg@enquirer.com.
