Office Morale

Helen Giles was a curvy, mid-thirties woman with smooth black hair pulled back in a pearl brooch, wearing a navy skirt-suit with white trim and a blue-and-white anchor print blouse. A diamond ring sparkled on her left hand. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Hart," she said. "We've been looking forward to your arrival." Rick had first met her two years ago while barnstorming the branch offices, and briefly but intimately at last year's stressful company conference. Her eyes were brighter than he remembered, and her smile broader and more relaxed.

"Rick, please, Helen," he said, taking her offered hand and shaking it warmly, with a little squeeze. "I'm happy to see you again. Glad to make it alive through all that mess." Faint but constant traffic noise filtered in through the double-thick picture window.

"I'm sorry that the roads were so bad this morning," she said. "I understand you'll be staying in a company suite upstairs, so it shouldn't be a problem tomorrow."

"No problem," he said. He lowered his voice slightly and indicated her left hand. "What a beautiful ring. Congratulations to you and some very lucky fellow," he said.

"You can congratulate Andrew in person when he brings lunch today," she said. "He's helped me brainstorm some of our new initiatives. I couldn't have done it without his encouragement and support. Practically like free consulting." She laughed, smiled, and moistened her lips.

Rick laughed, then put his business face back on. "Yes, I've been looking forward to evaluating your human resource innovations. Sick time's down, absenteeism and turnover down, morale and productivity are up. HQ doesn't really believe it, but I think you've got something, and I'd like to bring your successes to the rest of the company. With the economy like it is..."

"Certainly," she said. "Though I imagine it may be easier to transplant the model to new offices than to bring to the rest of the company. We have a very special group of people here, and you would want to be selective in staffing. But if you're looking for help getting a new office going, you may find it hard to lure anyone away. In any case, let's take you around. It's getting close to morning break, and you should at least get introductions done."

Helen led Rick back to the reception area. "Of course you met Patty on the way in," she said. Patty was a pale, wispy young woman with a long neck, dressed in gray slacks and a white turtleneck. Her light brown hair was cut short and her pale pink lips pouted at her computer screen. Patty got up and bent down to fetch a binder from the side table. Rick admired the seat of her pants. Quite shapely for such a tall, slim woman, he thought.

Helen followed his gaze, and smiled when Rick looked up at her. "Yes, that's an attractive print we have hanging over the side table. We should run along and catch some more people before we lose them all to the break room."