Here's an excerpt from a News-Leader article that talks about how SDC is trying to help employees who commute. You can read the full artcile here:
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/NEWS01/806080361/1007Silver Dollar City
With so many of its employees working on a seasonal basis, retention is a year-round focus for Herschend Family Entertainment Corp., said spokeswoman Lisa Rau.
"We have to be creative, because it's a tough economic environment, with competition," she said. "You've got to watch out for your employees all the time."
About 80 percent of the 2,300 employees at Silver Dollar City and the other five HFE properties in Branson return year after year, Rau said. "But like everyone else, that 20 percent that don't return are sometimes hard to replace."
With gas prices of increasing concern, the company has stepped up efforts to help employees share rides, she said. "But it's tough for people to hook up together for carpooling in these hills."
The majority of HFE employees live in Stone County, Rau said, and an increasing number have been using the Way 2 Go bus operated by OATS.
Unlike traditional OATS service, which offers door-to-door transportation on certain days, the Way 2 Go bus runs a regular route from Galena to Silver Dollar City with stops along the way in Branson West and elsewhere.
"It's 25 miles in each direction," said Scott Kosky, OATS regional director. "It has stops in Abesville, two of them in Galena, Reeds Spring, Branson West and then Silver Dollar City, trying to hit the major employment areas ... and still providing access on the return trip to the county seat."
The bus is funded by a federal grant, so riders pay just $1.
"We're looking now to see if we could run a southern route, initially as far as the Kimberling City bridge, and feed back up into the route we already have established," Kosky said.
Rau said Herschend also is looking at the possibility of gas coupons for employees, but also tackles commuting costs indirectly.
"We want to think about people all the time -- we have to. It's the nature of working in a business that's seasonal," she said, pointing to the company clinic launched last year as one example.
Called Mary's Well House, "it is a real clinic with a real doctor," Rau said. "Employees can go there for $15, their dependents for $20."
Other worker-focused programs include subsidized meals offered in the employee lounge and an emergency fund, called Share It Forward, that is supported by worker donations with a company match.
"You just bottom line have to be clever," she said. "If we fixed the gas prices today, what would it be next month? When you can save a family money by going to Mary's Well House, you save them money they can use to better deal with gas prices."
