Perks Playing New Role In Workplace Companies Hope To Boost Productivity By Helping Workers To Relax, Unwind

At least twice every year, Sandy O’Connell and her family take a 45-minute drive to a vacation site in the mountains near Santa Cruz, Calif. She and her husband fish and hike, while their daughter enjoys bike riding.

“It’s a beautiful area and a great way to relax,” O’Connell says.

What makes this vacation spot a little different from your average mountain hideaway is that it’s owned by O’Connell’s company, Hewlett-Packard Co. All the people who use it - free of charge - are Hewlett-Packard employees.

Some airlines offer their workers free travel, and other big companies give workers discounts on leisure activities ranging from theater tickets to hotel rooms. But the country’s second-largest computer company offers all its employees, their relatives and friends access to eight free vacation sites from the German Alps to Colorado.

“They are meant to be places where employees can go for fun and recreation,” Hewlett-Packard spokeswoman Mary Lou Simmermacher said.

The first of Hewlett-Packard’s sites was established in 1962. The philosophy behind them has only recently been embraced by other companies, said Emmett Seaborn, principal at Towers Perrin, the benefits consulting firm.

“Companies are beginning to understand that a healthy, happy employee will contribute more to the bottom line,” Seaborn said.

Most large companies in this decade have paid greater attention to helping employees balance their work and family lives. Employees who aren’t worried about family concerns such as child or elder care, the thinking goes, will be more productive.

And as companies move away from the massive cost-cutting and job layoffs of recent years, they are looking for other ways to enhance productivity and profits.

“Companies are moving away from a cost-based focus to a commitment-based focus,” Seaborn said. “There is a new belief that if you can unleash the discretionary performance of the employee it will improve their productivity and hit the bottom line.”