CHICAGO COMPANY STAYS AHEAD OF FIELD IN WORKER COUNSELING : CAREER PATH.

Byline: Carol Kleiman Chicago Tribune 

Many companies are providing in-house career counseling to help employees take charge of their professional progress and have something to fall back on when downsizing strikes again.

Particularly the latter.

But Fel-Pro Inc., the international automotive parts manufacturer that does $450 million in annual sales, once again is at the forefront of well-thought-out, employee-friendly programs: Fel-Pro has established an on-site career development center, and its purpose is not to get rid of employees.

``We're not downsizing, and we're not right-sizing,'' said Arlis McLean, vice president of human resources for Fel-Pro, which has 1,800 employees at its Skokie, Ill., headquarters and 3,000 globally. ``We have flattened our organization and now have fewer layers of management and more teams, rather than a hierarchal structure, but there are opportunities. We see a benefit in our employees' continuous improvement and learning.''

McLean, who has a master's degree in business administration from DePaul University, says another corporate concern is ``moving Fel-Pro to a partnership with employees rather than a paternalistic relationship.''

That's why the company listened when employees ``began talking about the need for career development, asking where do I go, what are the mechanisms to move ahead and wanting to know more about our organization,'' McLean said.

So, the new (and free) career development center opened in May. It's staffed three days a week by Robin A. Sheerer, president of Career Enterprises Inc., and Peter LeBrun, president of LeBrun Consulting. Both are well-known and respected career consultants.

``We decided to have outside consultants to demonstrate to employees we respect their confidentiality,'' McLean said. ``Some may decide they want to build their careers elsewhere and need help to do it. The majority, we know, want to stay with us, and we want to let people take risks by moving into unfamiliar territory.''

The purpose of the career center, she says, ``is to show you how to get to where you want to be.''

When Fel-Pro does anything in the area of employee relations - and it does a lot - people take notice. The company is known for doing things right: Administrators and workers served as advisers for the new career center.

Sixty percent of Fel-Pro's employees are blue collar; the others are professionals in such areas as engineering, technical specialties, marketing, sales, finance and distribution.

That means there are ``diverse personal career needs in a highly diverse workplace,'' as LeBrun describes it.

McLean's purpose is clear: ``We're coming at this from a different place. To protect your good assets, we invest a lot in hiring, training and getting people up to speed, and it's crazy not to continue to fund that investment by helping employees see their options and to give them the tools and access they need to get there. We're simply nurturing our investment.''