AFS finds it pays to have an ‘open-book’ policy

Patricia Resende

09/01/2007

ADVANCED FINANCIAL SERVICES is a great place to work, employees and managers say, because of its culture of honesty and open communication. /

Kurt Noyce, president of Advanced Financial Services Inc., needs to clear another spot on the company’s trophy shelf. For the second year in a row, the Newport-based firm has been chosen as one of Rhode Island’s Best Places To Work by Providence Business News.
Noyce attributes the mortgage company’s success as an employer to respect, communication and honesty.
“We have made a conscious effort to define a great place to work and to have an open-book culture, to share knowledge and to invoke participation,” he said.
Three times a week, Noyce meets between six and seven employees for breakfast to discuss anything that is on the employees’ minds. And each month, Noyce takes a series of questions from the meetings, compiles them into a printed document and shares them with the rest of the organization.
This helps decrease employees’ anxieties and allows management to be upfront about company issues, Noyce said. “Give people respect,” he added. “The mistake you make is not giving enough people respect to deal with the information.”
The open-book policy goes back eight years, to a time when AFS was not profitable. The choice helped cement strong relationships with employees, and the company has enjoyed a less than 2-percent turnover in leadership positions.
Currently, the greatest deal of concern and anxiety among employees is how the company will fare during a time when the mortgage industry is in trouble.
“I feel an enormous responsibility to share the good and the bad,” Noyce said. “That one principle – in sharing our knowledge – has been the bind that has connected leaders of our organization with employees.”
Sabra Perpall, senior loan officer and one of AFS’s 290 employees, said communication is imperative in this kind of business, which is constantly changing. Her bosses, she said, are always available for questions and concerns.
“Having that open-book policy, I can always knock on his door and he’s always there to answer [my questions],” Perpall said of Noyce.
As a sales organization, AFS also provies incentives to its 190-person sales staff, recognizing their achievements and rewarding them.
But Perpall, who has been with AFS for six years, said that while the parties are great and the incentive trips are wonderful, AFS offers a lot more. For instance, it provides top-notch “clinics” for career development.“We are constantly learning and shadowing each other,” she said.
AFS employees also give back to the community. Every year since 2000, the company has held a Community Outreach Day when it shuts down so workers can volunteer.
For the first two years, employees cleaned and renovated Camp Grosvenor for the Girls and Boys Club. In 2002 it was Miantonomi Park, and in 2003, Newport’s historic Cardine’s Field. The Salvation Army offices benefited from the outreach in 2005, and the Norman Bird Sanctuary last year. AFS also donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross last year to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Employees gave another $12,000.
“I have to say, they take such fantastic care of the employees here,” Perpall said. “It’s a small community and a family environment at AFS, and family comes first at AFS.”

Rhode Island’s Best Places to Work 2007
Follow the links below to read about the Providence Business News’ second annual Best Places to Work competition – sponsored by Cox Business and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce – and about each of this year’s winners.

Introduction: This contest makes all the entrants better

Large Companies (150 or more local employees)
First Place: Advanced Financial Services
Second Place: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
Third Place: Perspectives Corp.
Fourth Place: Cox Communications
Fifth Place: Collette Vacations
Sixth Place: Amgen Inc.
Seventh Place: Cintas Corp.
Eighth Place: BankNewport