Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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An alternative to corporate insensitivity

Businesses that work with Northwestern alumna Marci Koblenz know supporting their employees and community is good for their bottom line.

Members of Koblenz’s national nonprofit organization, the Center for Companies That Care, portray a much different corporate image than the one Americans expect in a post-Enron world. They emphasize building a comfortable environment for employees and contributing to the communities they work in. The businesses aspire toward these goals by focusing on a set of statements — the “10 Characteristics of Companies That Care” — which can be found on the organization’s Web site at www.companies-that-care.org.

Koblenz said companies have not adapted to the change in American families. When both parents work, employers must be more flexible.

“The workplace is the one that needs to adjust (to society),” Koblenz said. “Ultimately the company that adjusts quicker will be the one that has the competitive edge.”

Companies going out of their way to address the personal needs of its employees become stronger by attracting qualified employees from a larger applicant pool, she said.

“(Caring) enhances their reputation,” she added.

It also helps retain employees.

Employees stay with companies that allow them to be dedicated to their work and their family, Koblenz said.

Koblenz is recognized nationally for expertise in workforce effectiveness. She is president of the Evanston-based human resources and organizational development firm MK Consultants, which she also founded.

“She’s just always been self-directed,” said Koblenz’s co-worker at MK Consultants and former NU roommate, Nili Yelin.

Yelin works alongside Koblenz at MK Consultants as a corporate storyteller. Koblenz creates realistic situations many companies face and Young presents them in the form of a first-person monologue for client focus groups to discuss. Yelin said the pair’s contrasting skills make them compatible as a team.

“She picks up much more of the rational, solid data, and I pick up a lot on the emotion,” Yelin said.

Koblenz, now a mother of four children ages 10 to 16, graduated in 1980 with a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in communication studies. She has warm memories of her time at NU but is unable to immediately recall how she spent her time. She pauses for several awkward moments, diverting her brown eyes, and slowly she remembers waitressing at The Keg of Evanston and teaching Sunday school at Beth Emet synagogue on Dempster Street. She said she studied at night at her hideaway in the library.

“I had a favorite place where I looked over the Lagoon,” she said.

Koblenz met her husband Glen Cornblath, Weinberg ’80, at NU. The two studied abroad in Israel in their junior year.

Koblenz said the idea of starting a nonprofit organization had been “percolating for awhile,” but a conversation with Companies That Care co-founder Mary Ellen Gornick on the plane ride back to Chicago from a Boston College conference on work environment and communities made Koblenz realize it was time to put her ideas into action.

“We both said, ‘Now is the time to start doing something,'” Koblenz recalled.

Companies That Care, based in Chicago, was founded May 2002.

A major initiative of the nonprofit organization is Companies That Care Day, held nationally on the third Thursday in March. Member companies celebrated the first annual Companies That Care Day on March 20, 2003, by hosting on-site massages, sending “caregrams” to fellow co-workers to demonstrate appreciation and a volunteer fair to highlight opportunities in the local community. The goal of the day is to highlight the 10 characteristics of a responsible company and then to incorporate them throughout the year, Koblenz said.

Each Companies That Care Day, an honor roll of companies is recognized for responsibility to its employees and community.

Companies That Care also encourages communication among member businesses through an exchange of practice ideas. It organizes listservs and teleconferences with experts so organizations can collaborate on programming ideas.

Koblenz said organization members are involved at a variety of levels. They make matching contributions during fundraisers and give employees paid time off to volunteer. Member organization Convergint Technologies, based in Buffalo Grove, Ill., gives its entire staff one day off each year to volunteer at a site each local office selects.

“It’s harder to be viewed as credible when you’re doing something that’s perceived as being good for people,” Koblenz said. Because Companies That Care’s three founders are female, they face additional challenges because of the stereotype that women are more concerned about caring for personal needs than finances.

Koblenz said companies should realize helping others does not have to be at the expense of profits and that conscientious companies are valued by stockholders.

Koblenz, who lives in Evanston, devotes about half of her work hours to Companies That Care providing unpaid service.

“Marcy will just really challenge (clients) about the way they see things,” Yelin said. “That’s just a real gift that she has for facilitating discussion between all types of people.”

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881
An alternative to corporate insensitivity