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What's an "engaged" employee?

And what do Cows have to do with any of that??

Way back in the day there was a company that promoted its brand of dairy products by saying that it came from “Contented Cows”.  The message implied that those cows that were “content” would produce better milk.  And apparently this bit of folk wisdom was pretty widespread.  It seems that you could ask many farmers and they would agree that happy cows were more productive.

Would you believe that in 2001 a business guru actually wrote a book called “Contented Cows Give Better Milk”?  The premise of the book is that one of the best things a company can do for its overall business is treating its employees right.  Until recently, I had never heard of the book; but I can tell you that I could not agree more with the thought.

Tim and I learned from watching our dad, Dale Koontz, take care of the people working for him.  He was fair, honest and generous.  He paid for vacation, gave time off and tried to support his workers in the ways that were important to them.  What Dale knew intuitively was that these happy workers would take good care of the company's customers.

Today we try to carry on that tradition with our team.  We make every effort to be fair in wages and benefits.  We seek to be flexible in work arrangements and we support events and causes that our people find important.  We are sending people to trade shows as well as doing trips or picnics or other social outings – all in the name of building camaraderie and that “team” feeling.  Our results show that by trying to treat our people well, they will also treat our customers well.  And our customers love it!

Dale Koontz didn’t realize that they would write a book with a cow metaphor that described what he has been doing since 1973.  But for almost 45 years Dale Koontz Builder has been a place that tries to treat its people right.  I guess those old-time farmers DID know a thing or two…

Thanks for reading,

Scott