Letter from the President
Dear Friends:

I’m proud to announce that April 4 marked LifeCare’s official 20^th anniversary!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Peter and Jeff Burki, my very good friends and business partners. Having met two people with such great vision and enthusiasm, I consider myself to be one of the luckiest individuals in the world. From the day we first opened our doors at LifeCare, their passion and good humor has made our work a tremendous amount of fun. Peter and Jeff, thank you for 20 great years!

I’d also like to recognize the entire LifeCare team. Without their unfailing hard work over the years, LifeCare simply wouldn’t have grown and thrived as we have. I find my LifeCare teammates to be among the most supportive, dedicated people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. And it’s an honor to be in their presence each day.

Finally, I’d like to recognize our clients, who have been equally critical to LifeCare’s success over the years. I’ve always said that LifeCare has the best clients in the world, and that’s definitely not idle praise. Our clients have always willingly shared ideas and opinions and collaborated with us in ways that have made us a better and stronger organization. The ideas and suggestions they’ve given us have inspired some of the industry’s most innovative services including the world’s first work/life web site … the first work/life oriented employee discount program … and the industry’s first corporate lactation program. For two decades, our clients have been a source of endless creativity and inspiration. What a wonderful gift, and I thank them for it.

Looking back over the past 20 years has made something abundantly clear to me. Work/life is much more than a set of employee benefits (as important as that is). It is one of the strongest tools that an organization can use to help it create and maintain what I call a “culture of support”—an environment in which employees feel valued, respected and rewarded not just as “workers” but as people. Corporate culture may be intangible in some respects but it is very real. As so many experts have pointed out, your culture has the power to dictate your organization’s ultimate success or failure. So it’s essential to build a culture in which employees can contribute at their highest personal levels. And this is the very aim of work/life.

By providing work/life programs you show your respect for employees’ personal and family needs in clear, unmistakable terms. And study after study has shown, when you help your employees manage their personal needs, they reward you with their loyalty, dedication and hard work. Bottom line, a culture of support works both ways—support your people and they’ll support your organization. All of you who work in the work/life discipline should be proud to be part of something that impacts the quality of people’s lives and the bottom line of their employers with equal power.

On behalf of everyone here at LifeCare, let me close by saying that the past 20 years have been incredibly fun and fulfilling. And we believe that the next 20 will be even better! Thanks to all of you who have contributed to the success of an important industry—and to the success of our company!

Sincerely,

John B. Place, President