Sears Does Not Discount Its Workers

I saw a wonderful report on the NBC Nightly News last night that gave me hope there really are some corporations out there that understand its employees really are its most valuable product. And a handshake wishing you well when you go off to serve really means something.

Brian Williams reported the story that Sears guarantees its employees called up for National Guard service in Iraq and Afghanistan they will have their jobs when they return. The law mandates that, but Sears goes a lot further.

It pays any differential between their Sears salary and their often lower National Guard paycheck. And it keeps them on its Sears company medical plan which is better than the government plan. All this costs Sears an estimated $10 million dollars a year. But Sears does not seem to mind.

For more than century, Sears has been taking good care of its employees who have gone off to fight in wars to protect America. In doing to, it has helped protect a way of life.

There is an age old saying in military service that “We take care of our own”. Apparently Sears feels the same way. And I sure feel the same way about Sears.

(Brian Banmiller is a national Business Correspondent for CBS News Radio, free lance writer and public speaker. The former television business news anchor in San Francisco can be reached at brian@banmilleronbusiness.com .)