About 1,650 state employees will share in $4.6 million in incentive pay.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., the Tulsa-based rental car company that posted net income of $50.8 million last year, a 156 percent increase over 2003, is sharing its good fortune with employees.
Dollar Thrifty executives said Tuesday that the company has paid out $10.89 million in profit sharing and incentive compensation to its employees for their contributions to the company's 2004 financial performance.
Dollar Thrifty includes Dollar Rent A Car, Thrifty Car Rental and Thrifty Car Sales, which are based at 5330 E. 31st St.
"We have been very successful in achieving strong revenue growth while still maintaining our position as a low-cost provider in the car rental industry," said Gary L. Paxton, Dollar Thrifty's president and chief executive officer.
People are also reading…
"Our employees are the key to those efforts and the success we enjoyed during 2004 in increasing shareholder return. We're happy to be able to show our appreciation for their steadfast efforts of ensuring the company's profitability every year since its public offering in 1997."
With the exception of 2001, when the company earned $13.8 million but failed to hit the profit-sharing trigger of a 4 percent pre-tax margin, Dollar Thrifty has paid out bonuses each year since 1997.
During the past eight years, Dollar Thrifty's largest profit-sharing payout was $17.1 million in 2000 for its performance in 1999. The second-ranking payout was $14.3 million in 2001 for the company's performance in 2000.
Of the total distribution this year, $4.6 million has been paid to Dollar Thrifty's 1,650 Oklahoma-based employees for an average payout of $2,787.88 per person, company officials said. The checks received by Oklahoma employees may be less than the average because the $4.6 million includes incentive compensation paid to executives, most of whom are based in the state.
The Oklahoma employees support the company's brands at its headquarters and reservations centers in Tulsa and Tahlequah.
In profit sharing alone, Dollar Thrifty's 8,300 employees worldwide received 71/2 days of pay, company executives said.
"The tendencies of corporations recently has been to reduce these benefits," Paxton said. "We're going the other way. It's our idea to keep employees motivated."
It's a solid concept, said Susan M. Heathfield, a self-employed management consultant who has observed the effectiveness of such programs at companies such as Southwest Airlines.
Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman of Southwest, says if you create a company culture where people feel they are striving together to reach success, the company will profit and employees will prosper.
"If you create an environment where people truly participate, you don't need control," Kelleher said recently. "They know what needs to be done and they do it."
Paxton and Don Himmelfarb, Dollar Thrifty's chief administrative officer, said their company tries to model itself on Southwest.
"We have a unique company where everybody pitches in to get the job done," Paxton said.
"In this community," Himmelfarb said, "there are not many success stories. We're proud of ours, and we're talking about it."