Dayton firms honored for flexibility
Finding a balance between professional and personal demands is a challenge many employers see their workforce tackle every day. In the greater Dayton region we have several forward-thinking employers that recognize the value in making work “work.”
The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to congratulate 10 regional winners of the 2016 When Work Works Award, which is given by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Applicants are evaluated on six research-based ingredients of an effective workplace: opportunities for learning; a culture of trust; work/life fit; supervisor support for work success; autonomy; and satisfaction with earnings, benefits and opportunities for advancement — all factors associated with employee health, well-being and engagement.
The Southwest Ohio recipients of the 2016 When Work Works Award are:
BDO USA, LLP – Cincinnati
BDO USA, LLP – Cincinnati
BDO USA, LLP – Columbus Cornerstone Research Group – Dayton KPMG LLP – Cincinnati KPMG LLP – Columbus
Naval Medical Research Unit - Dayton – Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Pillar Technology – Columbus
Strategic HR, Inc. – Cincinnati
TACG, LLC – Beavercreek
If you are interested in applying for the 2017 When Work Works award, visit DaytonChamber.org for upcoming application information. The application window opens Sept. 26.
Dave Brandon has been inside a Toys “R” Us in Secaucus, New Jersey, for all of five minutes before he spots a problem. At the entrance, there’s a display of small cardboard bins filled with $1 playthings that look messy, and even worse — cheap.
“It kind of reminds me of a garage sale,” says Brandon, who became chief executive officer of the world’s biggest toy chain 14 months ago. “We’re not the dollar shop. We’re a toy store.”
In the Star Wars section nearby, a Chewbacca chair has tumbled over into the aisle. The 64-year-old CEO grabs it and turns it right-side up. Dressed in black pants and a blue long-sleeve shirt — a deliberate attempt to connect with store workers by wearing their uniform — Brandon then walks through a display of Pokemon toys, snapping pictures of empty shelves with his iPhone that he’ll send to one of his executives. It’s Friday afternoon before the crucial weekend rush.
“This doesn’t make me happy,” says Brandon, who estimates that he’s been to 200 stores since taking the reins in July 2015.
There hasn’t been much to smile about at Toys “R” Us Inc. More than a decade after a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout by Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust, the retailer remains saddled with annual interest payments approaching $500 million and no clear path for its owners to exit the investment. The company registered for an initial public offering in 2010, only to withdraw it a few years later. Since the buyout, Amazon.com, which once ran the Toys “R” Us website, has become a powerful competitor. And shoppers are abandoning the suburban malls that helped make the big-box pioneer one of the most dominant retailers of the 1980s and 1990s.
Brandon, who oversaw a turnaround at Domino’s Pizza last decade, knows he has no easy task. For years, the Wayne, New Jersey-based toy chain has bought time by refinancing its debt, which now totals about $5 billion. It did so again last month with a swap that pushed out maturities on notes due in 2017 and 2018 by five years. While Brandon’s first year has brought signs of progress, with holiday sales gaining for the first time in four years, the deal wasn’t necessarily a full vote of confidence because many investors had bought the bonds at distressed levels and made a profit. But it did buy Brandon more time — probably the next two Christmas seasons
Back in the Secaucus store, Brandon is looking over several empty shelves. He ticks off a list of retail basics, such as improved inventory management, that are sorely needed. Then he boils down the company’s woes to one fundamental problem: The experience needs to be more fun. The big-box advantages of selection and price that made the format so successful have been obliterated by the web. There needs to be more reasons for people to go to a store.
“The biggest change you are going to see over the next year is that we want to bring our toy stores to life,” Brandon says. “I want kids to be dragging their parents to our stores because they want to see what’s going on at Toys ‘R’ Us this weekend.”
How well Brandon’s strategy works may say a lot about the future of specialty retailing. If any big-box chain can transform itself into an experiential destination, it’s Toys “R” Us. The retailer has a huge inherent advantage — kids already love the place.
It will be a massive undertaking. The company has almost 600 stores in the U.S. and 700 more overseas. It still racks up almost $12 billion in annual sales — about 10 percent from the internet — and employs 62,000 workers. The retailer generates more revenue than Under Armour, Lululemon Athletica and Chipotle Mexican Grill combined.
Brandon’s plan is already under way in the run-up to the holiday season, when the retailer generates 40 percent of its revenue and all its operating income. Whether it’s letting shoppers fly drones or take target practice with a Nerf blaster, all the changes Toys “R” Us is implementing or considering recall an era when retail was more theater than science. Apple is doing it well today, and Brandon says Toys “R” Us can do the same.
“I want kids to come in here and not know where to go next because there are so many things going on,” says Brandon, who has seven young grandchildren.
Toys “R” Us is also doing more to highlight major brands. Mattel Inc.’s American Girl will have its own department with dedicated staff.Cash has been a concern since the 2005 buyout, making it harder for Toys “R” Us to invest in its stores. Brandon says the retailer has the resources it needs and will keep capital expenditures where they’ve been, at about $250 million a year.