Ben & Jerry's

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Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's Joy Gang

History: The Ben & Jerry's Joy Gang was started in 1987 in response to the increasing demands upon our employees. Our first Joy activities included pizza and 15 minute massages for our manufacturing employees who were working 12 hour marathon shifts. Jerry suggested that we should try to make fun an official part of our company culture. The Joy Committee changed its name to the "Joy Gang" due to the fact that we felt the word "committee" was too official.

Mission: To infuse joy into everything we do.

The Joy Gang approaches fun at work in 3 ways:

Joy Grants: cash grants of up to $500.00 to accommodate an idea that will bring more joy to a particular department. (A hot cocoa machine for our freezer crew, a stereo for our production crew, etc.)

Joy Events: planned, announced, organized activities that are sponsored by the Joy Gang. They usually include food, fun & prizes.

Joy Guerilla Tactics: secretive activities that are not previously announced, which are intended to surprise employees.

Doing Joy: A Compendium of Gang Activities at Ben & Jerry's

Name That Face Contest: Employees brought in photos of themselves from their past which were displayed in a collage on the company bulletin board for other employees to guess who was who.

Holiday Gift Box Exchange: Every year Ben & Jerry's exchanges ice cream products for

products from our vendors and various other Vermont businesses. A small group of employees volunteers a few hours of their time to make up boxes filled with nuts, cheese, coffee, donuts, etc. for all of their coworkers to take home over the holidays. One of the items we always get is a package of smoked hamhocks -- most employees enjoy them as an ingredient for soups and stews, but there are always a few folks who seem totally perplexed when they receive their first hunks 'o hocks, so over the years the hocks have gained a sort of legendary notoriety.

Manufacturing Appreciation Day: To recognize the ongoing efforts of Ben & Jerry's

Manufacturing Cluster, non-manufacturing employees dressed up as their favorite production, freezer, or maintenance worker.

Barry Manilow Day: In celebration of Barry Manilow's birthday (an otherwise uneventful day), Manilow tunes were played in the lunchroom and occasionally over the paging system. Manilow buttons were distributed, pos...

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... all who did get involved received the same results - free breakfast for school children.

Reinforcement

Ben & Jerry’s employees maintain their motivation though continuous reinforcement. The motivation that drives the company and their employees is constantly reminded through their mission statements and through their business practices. Mission statements are written on the walls of every store and manufacturing facility to remind everyone involved that the business has certain values that is to be applied in all facets of the company. It also helps that the people who work for Ben & Jerry’s maintain their values intrinsically because they truly believe that what they are involved in are a worthy cause.

Job Design

Job rotation/enlargement allows Ben & Jerry to reinforce the motivations of the workers. Employees are paid to work in the community doing some kind of social service. The program known as Making a Difference Day allows a typical manufacturing employee to go out into the community to paint a fire house or plant trees. This allows the employee to realize that the money made by Ben & Jerry’s does indeed go to community services and reinforces their values.

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