GRDC Member News and Kudos

Kodak in the News
From the St. Louis Dispatch

How Kodak lets good things develop for employees
10/27/2003 --The photography giant sponsors employee networks in which employees cope with workplace traumas and develop as individuals and as corporate problem-solvers.

If you read the news you can get the impression that the last place you're going to find fulfilling work experiences, and values-oriented behavior, is at big multinational companies.

The tales of woe seem incessant as these behemoths lay off thousands of workers and struggle to keep pace with smaller, more flexible global competitors. Kodak seems to fit the profile.

It is undergoing profound change as photography shifts to digital and the markets become more global.

The company has 70,000 employees worldwide and has laid off about 8,000 employees since last December. When a company is that large and it's going through that kind of change, grumbling and unhappiness is inevitable. Employees can feel very small and insignificant in that kind of environment.

Kodak offers proof that a like-minded network of employees can make a large workplace better, more productive and more meaningful. Kodak sponsors several employee networks that allow employees to cope with workplace traumas and develop as individuals and as corporate problem-solvers.

One of those employee networks is called the Women's Forum. It has 1,600 members worldwide; 400 of those members work at Kodak's Rochester, N.Y., campus, which has 23,000 employees. Those numbers are small, but the Women's Forum has been an important oasis for people who want to learn more skills, develop their leadership talents and learn how to navigate the Kodak culture better.

The president of the organization, Tammi Flannery, a department manager for analytical services says, "The forum gives me a place in my life where I can get a completely positive network of people committed to self-development and to the development of people."

She adds that the program helps develop a passion for Kodak and it helps with long-term attitude and "it helps us get a broader view of the company."

Flannery says that everything the Women's Forum does is focused on developing members beyond their daily jobs and that makes people think more about the meaning of their work. "It takes them to a different place, Flannery said."

You may notice I am using the word people rather than women. That's because 20 percent of the Women's Forum membership is male. Rich Ruscio, a development manger in consumer marketing, was elected to the board of directors.

Ruscio is a blunt man who would never be mistaken for a Pollyanna, but he is an enthusiastic supporter of the Forum. He explains, "It has given me a valuable exposure to issues important to women that would never have occurred to me. It helps me appreciate what my three daughters will face in the workplace."

Ruscio also says the Forum is valuable because it makes the giant Kodak more human. He adds, "A network like this brings things to a more human scale." It makes the corporation less of the "classic corporate monster."

Ruscio thinks he was invited to join the board of the Forum because the membership values inclusiveness. Ruscio and Flannery are practical enough to know that their network involvement helps them develop, it improves Kodak and it enhances their own reputations in the company.

The first tenet of the Kodak Values statement is this: We show respect for the dignity of the individual. In a big company the best way to do that is to nurture small groups of people intent on developing themselves and their company.

The Kodak Women's Forum won't change Kodak single-handedly, but it is obviously making the work place better for active Forum members.

10/27/03