Tasty Traditions
Small towns are often known for their hospitality, especially with food. Some towns in Oklahoma show how seriously they take this tradition by hosting an annual community dinner that goes back generations in some cases.
The Frederick oyster fry began in Manitou in 1952, says co-organizer Betty Box, when resident Bramlett Johnson went fishing on the Texas coast and brought back a gallon of fresh oysters.
“Nobody in this part of the country (southern Oklahoma) had tried it,” Box says.
Tradition was born when one PTA member, after tasting the dish, suggested a fundraising oyster fry. After that, the fry was held every year until 1983, when it was discontinued, Box says.
But, in 1990, the Chamber of Commerce for the city of Frederick – 10 miles south of Manitou – restarted the fry, and the dinner is still held today, in support of the chamber.
“You either like oysters or you don’t, but more people seem to like them,” Box says.
The oysters used for the fry are transported by a local truck the night before and are never frozen.
Now, 800 to 1,000 people attend the fry, including bus tours that come from Tulsa, Oklahoma City and eastern Oklahoma.
The event’s popularity often causes long lines to form hours before the event, but this doesn’t discourage anyone, Box says.
“It’s worth the wait,” she says.
Another long-standing dinner takes place on the eastern edge of the state. In Tahlequah, a wild onion dinner organized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary has been going on as long as Faye Morrison can remember. And Morrison has been a member of the organization for 47 years, as a former president and as a current secretary.
“People won’t let us quit,” Morrison says of the annual dinner. “The community demands it.”
This annual event’s main course is wild onions and scrambled eggs.
“Wild onions are a traditional Cherokee food in this area,” Morrison says. “We fry the onions with bacon drippings and add them to the eggs.”
Proceeds from the wild onion dinner, which is actually held during lunchtime, go towards veterans’ needs.
“It’s something you just do here in the spring,” she says. “The money goes back to the community, and you won’t go away hungry.”
Tulsa might be a city, but the Tulsa County Democratic Party has taken a cue from small towns with its annual bean dinner Cowboy Bash, which marked its 45th anniversary this year.
Vice chairman and executive director of the party, Michael Whelan, says that the dinners help raise funds and give candidates a chance to meet and mingle.
“Bean dinners and bean suppers have been a mainstay throughout the Democratic Party across the state, and it is important for the party to continue to pay homage to that tradition,” Whelan says.
Community dinners can be found scattered all throughout Oklahoma, like newer bean dinners held by Wagoner’s Okay Senior Center and Norman’s American Legion, to Bartlesville’s wild onion dinner in its 58th year. All Oklahomans need to do is work up an appetite.
Radio Redux
For about a decade, from the mid-1950s until the mid- to late ‘60s, every town of any size had at least one. Most cities had more. Tulsa and Oklahoma City, for instance, each boasted a pair, competing hard for the burgeoning baby boomer teen market.
I’m talking about Top 40 radio stations, providers of the crazy kaleidoscopic soundtrack that swirled behind the adolescent lives of a half-century ago. Blaring the popular music of the day from cruising cars or tinny transistorized speakers, served up by fast-talking local heroes of the airwaves, these outlets connected teens and their culture in a brand-new powerful way.
To get an idea of how it all worked – or remember it all again – check out the current exhibit on radio station KAKC at the Tulsa Historical Society. While technically not a Top 40 station – its weekly printed playlists featured 50 songs instead of the more usual 40 – it was a great example of Top 40 radio, as was its crosstown rival, KELI. In Oklahoma City, a similar situation existed between WKY and KOMA.
KAKC and latecomer KELI vied for listenership with competitive giveaways and contests, radio-station sponsored sock hops and other teen-oriented events, and disc jockeys with machine-gun deliveries who could connect with the kids in what was almost a secret language. The KAKC-KELI competition played out in every city across America, as each Top 40 outlet in every market strove to be the hippest, the grooviest, the hottest purveyor of happening-now music in the area.
The format had a good run, but it was eventually done in by a number of factors. For one thing, as the youngsters became young adults, many were swept away by, or at least attracted to, the hippie movement, and the fast-talking jocks and their wacky takes gave way to a format called, in many markets, “fresh air.” That approach featured laid-back voices that sounded as though they were under the influence of something extremely mellow, introducing spacey rock-album cuts instead of the pop-oriented singles designed to play out in a radio-friendly three minutes or less. (A length that allowed for lots of songs per hour.) Also, the fast-rising FM radio format made the fresh-air stations more viable, as they offered better music reproduction than those on the AM band.
While they lasted though, the Top 40 stations were remarkably democratic and eclectic, much the opposite of both satellite and over-the-air radio today. Now, anyone can access an astounding variety of stations catering to just about any taste, from country-music oldies to jazz to R&B to hard rock. It’s been called “narrowcasting” instead of broadcasting, and while it definitely has its advantages – a listener can home in on exactly the kind of music he or she wants to hear at any given time – it lacks the grab-bag approach of the Top 40s, when you might hear a Buck Owens country record next to a Beatles rock ‘n’ roll tune, followed by a Motown soul number and then something by Frank Sinatra. A listener never knew exactly what musical style was going to jump out of the speaker when the dial was turned, and that element of surprise was, as much as anything, what made Top 40 such a joyous thing.
The point here is that while the format has technically been gone for decades, it still comes around once a year – this time of year – when at least one station in each major market devotes itself to playing nothing but Christmas music for a month or so. Those outlets are the last place left to find that great old Top 40 spirit; last year, in the space of 15 minutes, I heard holiday songs by Bruce Springsteen (rock), Gene Autry (classic country), Britney Spears (dance-pop), and Dean Martin (classic pop) all back-to-back on a Tulsa station devoting itself to all-Christmas music.
So, if you’re a baby boomer, or someone not of that era who wonders what radio was like then, give a good listen to the egalitarian lineup offered on a limited-time basis by those stations – and keep an ear out for a few of my own favorites from a variety of genres.
Best Christmas Song with Oklahoma Ties: There’s no shortage of these, but of course the nod has to go to “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” co-written by Broken Arrow’s own Ralph Blane. You’re liable to hear just about any vocalist giving it a whirl – it’s one of the most-recorded seasonal songs ever – but it was originally penned for Judy Garland to sing to in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. In her fine biography of the songwriter (Ralph Blane, published by TCS in 2008), Phyllis Cole Braunlich noted that some of the original lyrics, by Blane’s songwriting partner Hugh Martin, were just too sad. “Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be our last/Next year, we will all be living in the past,” for instance, which indeed can induce depression.
Garland thought those words were “too much” and complained. “Blane told Martin he thought he could fix it,” wrote Braunlich, “and Hugh then said, ‘Be my guest.’” The result? A holiday classic.
Honorable mention goes to “Swingin’ Home for Christmas” by Steve Ripley. Originally pitched to fellow Oklahoman Roy Clark, it was instead recorded by Ripley’s group the Tractors at Tulsa’s Church Studio for the disc Have Yourself A Tractors Christmas (Arista, 1995). The spirited tune manages to celebrate not only the season, but also Oklahoma and western swing, one of the state’s greatest contributions to popular music.
Saddest Christmas Song: This one has to be “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot,” which originated with British songstress and actor Vera Lynn in the 1940s. We’re most likely to hear the Nat “King” Cole version these days. What makes it so sad is that you keep hoping for something good to happen to this poor kid, and at the end of the song it turns out he really is the little boy that Santa Claus forgot. Bummer.
Best Christmas Song That’s Not About Christmas: Although it debuted in the famous 1954 holiday movie White Christmas (and lost a best-song Oscar to “Three Coins in the Fountain”), Irving Berlin’s “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” doesn’t contain lyric one about Christmas, or even winter. It’s a beautiful song with a laudable sentiment though, and the most popular version still seems to be by Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby’s White Christmas co-star.
And finally, Best Christmas Song You Won’t Hear: In 1984, country artist Loy Blanton recorded a straightforward but heart-wrenching number called “Christmas at the Jersey Lily Lounge” Released on the independent SoundWaves label, it inexplicably failed to make an impression nationally and faded away, as did Blanton’s career.
“That’s probably as good a song – not just a Christmas song – as I’ve ever heard,” says well-known Tulsa-based manager and booking agent Ray Bingham, who worked with Blanton during the ‘80s. “It’s just a great heart-wrenching song.”
The only other recording I can find of “Christmas at the Jersey Lily Lounge” is by country star Bobby Bare, who put it on his 1988 disc Merry Christmas from Bobby Bare.
I’ve never heard that version on any station, however, and the song remains a forgotten near-classic.
A sad situation – but still not as sad as “The Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot."
CNG MIO
Twenty years ago, Oklahoma Natural Gas converted its fleet of service vehicles to run off of compressed natural gas. With direct access to both the gas and the pipelines, it was a logical step. This led to a network of fueling stations across the state to service these vehicles, which then led to infrastructure that enabled general consumers to use CNG as a personal use everyday fuel.
CNG is one of the cleanest burning fuels and is abundant in the United States, especially Oklahoma. This ability to run cleaner engines and reduce dependency on foreign oil has been a driving force behind a number of incentive programs and pieces of legislation that seek to improve availability and infrastructure growth.
However, for most who have purchased CNG vehicles or converted vehicles to operate on CNG, the decision has been largely economical. Prices for CNG across the state range from 71 cents to $1.39 per gallon equivalent, according to www.cngprices.com. State averages for gasoline stand in stark contrast at about $3.25 per gallon, according to AAA.
In 2009 Paul Wood bought a Honda Civic GX, the only car that currently rolls off the assembly line fully fueled by CNG for the retail market. Wood’s daily commute takes him some 100 miles roundtrip from his home north of Depew to his job in Sapulpa. Because of the miles Wood travels each day, the return on the upfront investment of a CNG vehicle purchase made economic sense.
Since switching to CNG Wood has seen a decrease in his monthly gas bill from $520 to $225.
“You could make about six or seven car payments with the gas savings,” says Wood.
Mark Spraz, of Joe Marina Honda in Tulsa, says the gas prices drive the popularity of CNG vehicles.
“When gas prices are high, my phone rings off the wall,” says Spraz, who has driven the Civic GX since 2008.
Leader In Infrastructure
Wood would not call himself an early adopter. He waited until there was a proven and reliable infrastructure in place to make the switch.
Wood’s car gets about 190 to 200 miles per tank, which is less than a typical car. Even with the increased need to fill his tank, Wood has found CNG to be a feasible daily use fuel. He says the infrastructure is strong enough now that anyone can do the same as long as they pay attention to where CNG is available. Wood drives his CNG vehicle for shuttling his kids to school and any other driving.
There are a number of online resources like www.cngprices.com to help drivers locate CNG filling stations, see prices and even plan a trip.
The infrastructure in Oklahoma is one of the strongest in the nation for consumer use of CNG. Oklahoma had the unique opportunity to steadily build the infrastructure during the last two decades with the initial purpose of providing more economical fuel for industry and municipal fleet vehicles. By the time consumer demand for CNG was growing, the infrastructure and supply could support it.
Today there are 41 publicly available CNG fueling stations in Oklahoma. The skeleton of this network began with the ONG service stations. Companies like Oncue Express, Love’s and QuikTrip have further grown the retail infrastructure by adding CNG to some of their locations.
A number of factors play into Oklahoma’s unique position in this industry, says Don Sherry, communications manager at ONG.
“Part of it is that we are close in proximity to the natural gas. Part of it is that we are close to production,” says Sherry.
Sherry points to the creation of Oklahoma’s utility system during the early part of the last century as benefiting the success of natural gas. It established a network of natural gas delivery for home heat.
Oklahoma is one of the top three states in the nation for natural gas production and home to many leaders in the oil and gas exploration and drilling industries, including Chesapeake Energy, the most active driller in the United States.
“Oklahoma is really setting the standard and setting the bar. Everyone is talking about Oklahoma’s great expansion of the fuel,” says James Roller, manager of corporate development and government relations at Chesapeake Energy.
Lack Of Vehicles
Even the auto industry is taking notice, says Roller. Companies like Ford, GM and Chrysler are paying attention to what is happening in Oklahoma.
This is good news. While availability of the fuel is abundant in Oklahoma, the availability of the vehicles that run on it is not.
Spraz has been selling the Honda Civic GX for about five years. The vehicle is generally affordable, at around $26,000, but Honda doesn’t produce many. They must be specially ordered and availability is spotty, Spraz says.
Oklahoma was initially one of only four states authorized by American Honda to sell the CNG vehicle. Last fall Spraz says American Honda opened this up to all 50 states. However, due to lack of infrastructure elsewhere sufficient to support general consumer use of CNG, there have not been any other states jump on the bandwagon.
Another option for those interested in CNG is conversion. This is done with an EPA-certified conversion kit by a certified technician typically on new or nearly new vehicles. It can be expensive, ranging from $8,000 to $16,000.
“As the market grows, you will see more and more vehicles offered,” says Roller.
GM recently released a cargo van that runs on CNG. Roller expects the introduction of a CNG-fueled heavy-duty pick-up sometime in 2013. These vehicles could be used as oil and gas and telecommunications work trucks. He points out that small businesses, such as plumbers and florists could also benefit from the fuel savings of these vehicles. This increases demand for the fuel, which encourages infrastructure growth. Roller says this will eventually spur the creation of more light duty vehicles for personal use.
This would in turn generate yet more infrastructure growth.
“The more cars we can get on the road, the more fill stations we can get. The more fill stations the more cars,” says Spraz
CNG producers, distributors, retailers and users alike are passionate about expansion of this market in Oklahoma and nationwide. For some it is to make full use of Oklahoma’s natural resources. Two-thirds of the natural gas produced in Oklahoma is currently exported. Keeping it here supports local industry and could serve to reduce the operational costs of industry and government. For some it is all about the cost savings. Others look to promote independence from foreign oil. And still the individuals who drive the cars look forward to widespread installation of CNG filling stations.
A Sampling Of Great Companies to Work For
American Airlines
Tulsa
International Airliner
Employees (OK): approx. 7,000 Hiring in 2012: Yes
In Oklahoma, American Airlines focuses on maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft, engines, landing gear, components and APUs for American Airlines and third parties.
Good Neighbor
American Airlines Maintenance and Engineering Center supports Tulsa and surrounding communities extensively by supporting more than 100 agencies through volunteerism, corporate donations or in-kind donation of airline tickets. Among numerous other efforts, AA employees are the largest blood donors in the Tulsa area, and employees adopt the largest number of Salvation Army Angel Tree children each year.
American Fidelity Assurance Company
Oklahoma City
Insurance
Employees (OK): 1,070 Hiring in 2012: Yes
American Fidelity Assurance Company provides insurance products and financial services to education employees, trade association members and companies throughout the United States and across the globe.
Healthy and happy colleagues
AFA is devoted to the health of colleagues, and a free on-site medical clinic, on-site fitness center complete with a personal trainer, on-site Weight Watchers classes and companywide walks and programs all contribute to the culture. Colleagues also participate in fun activities sponsored by senior management as a way to express appreciation for a job well done.
The Bama Companies, Inc.
Tulsa
Commercial Baking
Employees (OK): 960 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Since the 1960s, Bama has been an innovator of wholesale bakery products that cater to the needs of the largest and most well known restaurant chains on the planet. Today, the company supplies innovative culinary and product development services and custom-made, oven-ready products to customers in more than 20 countries.
Investing in its assets
Bama focuses on improving the length and quality of life of its team members and their families. Programs include a free on-site health clinic, fitness centers, wellness programming and chronic condition management, allowing Bama to invest in the respected company’s number one asset: its team members.
Bank of Oklahoma
Tulsa
Banking, Financial Services
Employees (OK): 2,900 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Bank of Oklahoma was founded more than 100 years ago and is part of BOK Financial, a $24 billion financial services company. Its operations include commercial and consumer banking, investment and trust services, mortgage origination and servicing and an electronic transfer network.
Committed to communities
Bank of Oklahoma employees are extremely committed to their communities. As a company and as individuals, BOK works to make communities the best they can be. Executive team members in Tulsa and Oklahoma City are fixtures with both cities’ United Way chapters, and BOK employees organize fundraisers and make annual contributions.
Cardinal Engineering
Oklahoma City
Consulting Services
Employees (OK): 68 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Cardinal Engineering is a consulting firm providing environmental, engineering, surveying and GIS services.
Supporting social responsibility
Through its Cardinal Social Responsibility Program (CSR), employees may request that Cardinal donate money to a nonprofit organization of their choosing and with which the employee is actively involved. The CSR program is run by employees, not management. This has encouraged Cardinal employees to be more active in the community and resulted in a wide diversity of charitable donations. In 2010 the CSR program resulted in 2,765 hours worked and nearly $15,000 in monetary and in-kind donations alone, helping better the community and anchor the company in it.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Oklahoma City
Oil and Natural Gas Production
Employees (OK): 6,648 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Chesapeake is the second-largest producer of natural gas, a top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the most active driller of new wells in the U.S. The company has also vertically integrated its operations and owns substantial midstream, compression, drilling and oilfield service assets.
Nurturing the next generation
In its 17th year, the Chesapeake Mentoring Program provides Oklahoma City students with caring adults who serve as positive role models and promote academic success. Nearly 500 Chesapeake employees volunteer weekly in four inner-city schools on company time. After starting with just one school and a handful of employee volunteers, the Chesapeake program has grown to become the largest corporate mentoring program in the state of Oklahoma.
Continental Resources
Enid
Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
Employees (OK): 400 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Continental Resources focuses its exploration activities in large, new or developing plays that provide the opportunity to acquire undeveloped acreage positions for future drilling operations. Continental currently holds the largest acreage position in the coveted Bakken resource play in North Dakota and Montana, and it is the largest producer of oil in the Williston Basin region.
Gifts for angels
Continental Resources employees are known for their generosity. For seven years, Continental families have participated in the Garfield County Angel Tree project, providing toys and warm clothing to local children. Each holiday season, Continental employees provide for gifts for 75 to 150 Angels. This is in addition to the many United Way fundraisers employees contribute to annually.
Devon Energy
Oklahoma City
Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
Employees (OK): 1,700 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Devon’s operations are focused onshore in the United States and Canada. It also owns natural gas pipelines and treatment facilities in many of its producing areas, making Devon one of North America’s larger processors of natural gas liquids. The company’s portfolio of oil and gas properties provides stable, environmentally responsible production and a platform for future growth.
Lending a helping hand
Employees raised more than $350,000 plus vast quantities of food this year for the Regional Food Bank’s annual food drive. Combined with the company’s match, they contributed $700,375, which represented the majority of the agency’s total collection during its annual campaign. Additionally, employees responded in droves for the Food Bank’s “Stuff the Truck” event.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group
Tulsa
International
Automobile Rentals
Employees (OK): approx. 957 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Driven by the mission, “Value Every Time,” the company’s brands, Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental, serve value-conscious travelers in more than 80 countries by providing budget-friendly rental cars. Dollar and Thrifty have approximately 1,575 corporate and franchised locations worldwide, including approximately 600 in the United States and Canada. The company maintains a strong presence in domestic leisure travel in virtually all of the top U.S. and Canadian airport markets.
Employee loyalty
In its toughest times, Dollar Thrifty found its strongest support in its own employees, who one prominent business observer in Oklahoma credited for the company’s notable turnaround.
Good Year Tire & Rubber Company
Lawton
Tire Manufacturing
Employees (OK): approx. 2800 Hiring in 2012: No
Good Year’s Lawton plant manufactures radial passenger and light truck tires.
Pillar of the community
Oklahoma’s two largest cities have scores of corporate citizens to support community initiatives. But in Lawton, Good Year – the city’s largest employer, second only to Fort Sill – has stepped in to fill that void consistently over the past 30 years with holiday programs for area children and support of numerous charities and community events, including raising more than $730,000 for the Lawton United Way last year. The plant’s employees are equally looked after with an on-site medical center, a recreation association to plan events and even on-site college courses for associates.
Kimray Inc.
Oklahoma City
Energy Sector Manufacturing
Employees (OK): approx. 957 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Kimray is an Oklahoma-based manufacturer of control valves and related equipment for oil- and gas-producing companies worldwide.
Charity begins at work
Each year, Kimray donates to flagship organizations that support arts, youth, community, health, education and ministry. Kimray also matches employee contributions to charitable nonprofit organizations up to $2,500 per employee per calendar year. Kimray believes its greatest asset is its employees. For that reason, the company offers first-class benefits and pay. Employees enjoy a paid vacation day on their birthday, tuition reimbursement and access to an on-site wellness coordinator, in addition to numerous other benefits.
NORDAM
Tulsa
Aerospace
Employees (OK): 1,705 Hiring in 2012: Yes
NORDAM is one of the world’s largest, independently owned aerospace companies.
Healthy stakeholders
The people-oriented aerospace giant doesn’t have “employees;” it has “stakeholders” who enjoy specialized health and wellness offerings, including such perks as financial reimbursements for check-ups and screenings; discounts for fitness programs; organized exercise and dance clubs; on-site screenings, health fairs and wellness courses and other ad hoc events. The company is also a driving force behind Tulsa Charity Fight Night, with stakeholders helping create this event to raise awareness and funds each year for multiple local charities.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City
Professional Sports
Employees (OK): 152 full-time and 198 part-time Hiring in 2012: Yes
The Oklahoma City Thunder is the National Basketball Association’s Oklahoma City franchise. The team plays in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The Thunder’s home court is the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Work hard, play hard
In addition to great traditional benefits, the Thunder keeps staff fresh, rewarded and in good spirits with such things as staff appreciation events on average once a month, numerous three-day weekends in NBA offseasons, quarterly happy hours, in-season lunches, holiday events, gym membership subsidies, education reimbursement and numerous other benefits and incentives, in-season and off-season.
ONEOK Inc.
Tulsa
Diversified Energy
Employees (OK): approx. 2,400 Hiring in 2012: Yes
ONEOK is among the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, serving more than two million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.
Supporting one another
ONEOK’s ONE Trust Fund is a unique way for employees to support their co-workers in times of need. The ONE Trust Fund is a voluntary assistance program created to help employees in times of personal crisis due to natural disasters, medical emergencies or other hardships. Employees support the fund by donating money or unused vacation days. An Oklahoma City employee who benefited from donated vacation time during a serious illness put it this way: “I cannot thank ONE Trust and the employees who donate their vacation time enough. This is a great company!”
QuikTrip
Tulsa
Gas Stations,
Convenience Stores
Employees (OK): 1,200 Hiring in 2012: Yes
QuikTrip is a gasoline marketer and operator of convenience stores in numerous states around the U.S.
Check Your Egos
QuikTrip corporate employees know that egos must be checked at the door of this company, whose offices are as upbeat as its individual stores’ staffs. QuikTrip boss Chet Cadieux is known to walk around in a Hog’s Breath t-shirt and shorts, tripping up the occasional visitor who’s unaware that while employees work hard at QT, they also have a good time. Of course, good cheer is easy for a company as generous and supportive as this Oklahoma icon, with tremendous benefits for staff, from store team members to executives, and a record of promoting from within.
Samson
Tulsa
Natural Gas Production
Employees (OK): 770 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Founded in 1971, Samson is the largest privately held producer of natural gas in the United States. Samson is a leader in horizontal drilling and completion methodologies utilizing sound engineering technologies. It operates more than 4,000 oil and gas wells and holds interest in more than 11,000 additional producing properties.
Giving back
Samson supports a litany of community causes, including the United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters, American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels and numerous other charitable causes and charities. Samson’s support also includes a variety of local drives and projects that provide encouragement and support to the arts and for community development in Tulsa and beyond.
TD Williamson
Tulsa
Pipeline and Piping System Maintenance and Repair Solutions
Employees (OK): approx. 524 Hiring in 2012: Yes
TDW delivers a comprehensive portfolio of safe integrity solutions for onshore and offshore applications, including hot tapping and plugging, pipeline cleaning, integrity inspection, pigging, rehabilitation and non-tethered plugging pig technology for any pressurized piping system, anywhere in the world.
Friends in need
TDW gives back to its employees internally through the LifeTAPP program, an emergency disaster relief program that provides emergency grants for temporary assistance to its employees for situations like hurricanes, tornadoes, fire damage, death in the family or prolonged illness of a loved one. The LifeTAPP dollars that employees donate are matched dollar for dollar by the company, and are managed through a fund at Tulsa Community Foundation.
Williams Companies
Tulsa
Natural Gas Exploration, Production, Transportation
Employees (OK): 1,300 Hiring in 2012: Yes
Williams is an integrated natural gas company focused on exploration and production, midstream gathering and processing and interstate natural gas transportation primarily in the Rocky Mountains, Gulf Coast, Pacific Northwest, Eastern Seaboard and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania.
United Way is the Williams way
In 2011, Williams’ United Way campaign in Tulsa topped $2 million for the first time. It marked the 21st straight year the company raised more than $1 million for the Tulsa Area United Way. In the early 1990s, Williams employees also helped establish the first Day of Caring volunteer event, which since has been replicated in many other cities. This year, more than 560 Williams employees participated in the Tulsa Area United Way Day of Caring.
Great Companies To Work For
When we first sat down six months ago to plan our debut of Great Companies To Work For, it seemed like a reasonably straightforward project. We’d work with academic types to create a formula by which we could analyze data presented to us by companies that applied for appearance in the special report, and subsequently reveal our findings.
Early on in the process, though, we discovered that the complexity and diversity of Oklahoma’s economy defied mathematical analysis. We found that based on statistical analysis, any such special report would end up showcasing only a handful of industries and present a weighted, inaccurate portrayal.
We found out many other things too, as we threw out a broader net and began consulting with business leaders across the state and researching surveys and reports. We found that you simply can’t compare apples and oranges. How does one evaluate employers in fields undergoing epic, unprecedented change (medicine)? How does one compare industries with atypical company structures (law firms), those that require the participation of different types of companies to achieve a shared goal (construction), or those that perform highly specialized services (employment firms)? Even though the special report was intended to focus exclusively on the private sector, how does one present an accurate portrayal of the state of employment in Oklahoma without discussing its public university employers and employment in the state’s great sovereign nations? How does one accurately represent the great employers in the energy sector without letting other types of companies slide from notice?
What we found is that there is no clear definition of what makes an employer a great company to work for. In fact, that question is addressed specifically in the pages ahead. However, we know one when we see one. Or, in our case, we know one when it comes recommended from expert sources, and subsequent research supports the nomination.
That’s what else you will find in this report – scores of great companies to work for, revealed in a number of articles that examine the impact of some sectors on the state’s economy, others that discuss how great companies in some sectors are structured or how they compete to recruit and retain top talent, and more.
In the end, Oklahoma Magazine is proud to present a nuanced portrait of the state of employment in Oklahoma, as seen through the perspectives of numerous great companies to work for.
– the Editors
CONTENTS
At The Peak – Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon knows a fair share about building a great company.
What Makes A Great Company?
A Sampling of Great Companies To Work For
Great Companies Spotlight: Energy
Great Companies Spotlight: Sovereign Nations
Great Companies Spotlight: Public Universities
Great Companies Spotlight: Law Firms
Great Companies Spotlight: Employment Firms
Great Companies Spotlight: Healthcare
Great Companies Spotlight: Construction
