Way to go ABC Des Moines, IA!!

Our Des Moines office team members were recently mentioned in the Des Moines Register.  Interstate All Battery Division rewarded their entire North Des Moines workforce to a “shopping day” at the Jordan Creek Town Center. Now that’s outrageous!  Read some of the article below as well as see some pics of our team members enjoying the spree.

“D.M. employees get big charge out of battery company’s bonus”

By DONNELLE ELLER
deller@dmreg.com

May 16, 2009

“Debbie Haws plans to shop Friday until she sees dots. Yellow dots, preferably at Younkers, indicating large discounts.
“I’m shopping smart,” said Haws, one of 140 Interstate Batteries employees in Des Moines who will hop on three buses Friday and head to Jordan Creek Town Center.
Haws and her co-workers will all have $500 in their pockets, thanks to Interstate Batteries, after pushing sales 10 percent higher from January to April.

While other companies are laying off workers, Interstate Batteries will give its employees a half-day off from work and extra money to spend.
“The sales goal was aggressive, so the incentive had to be big, too,” said Brian Weber, the company’s sales director.
The operation at 1700 Dixon St. houses sales, a warehouse and some manufacturing. Interstate Batteries’ family-owned parent is in Dallas.
Weber said the company provided a similar incentive last year but took only the sales staff. This year, Interstate decided to up the ante, taking the entire north Des Moines work force if each department met certain goals.

Haws, a sales team leader, said meeting the sales goal was difficult, especially during a recession.
“It’s been hard on everyone” - from Interstate Batteries’ mom-and-pop customers to big corporations, she said.
Working for the incentive helped boost morale, though, when the economic news was depressing, she said.
“Everyone has something negative in their lives,” Haws said. “It gave us something else to think about.”
Haws and Lynette Johnson, a sales trainer, said they have come to expect cool incentives and events from Interstate.

The company gives away trips, holds an employee appreciation day and puts on other events for workers and their families.”