All Aboard for Racine

Samuel C. Johnson, the fatherly chairman of Johnson Wax, wants his employees to be happy, all 12,000 of them. Says he: "They're part of a global family." Thus he was dismayed on a trip last June to a subsidiary in Frimley Green, England, to discover that the 520 workers there felt like stepchildren. Johnson's solution: invite them all to the company headquarters in Racine, Wis., for a morale-boosting party.

So instead of going to work last week, 480 of the British employees got aboard a 747. During their 2 1/2-day visit to the medium-size city (pop. 82,000), they toured the Waxdale complex, where Johnson makes household products ranging from Pledge furniture polish to Agree shampoo. In the Wisconsin tradition, the visitors were wined and dined on beer and bratwurst at picnic outings in the company park and in the homes of Johnson Wax employees. Said Jeff Simmons, a warehouse manager: "It's one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. Now I feel more like part of the company." The Britons then flew east for a two-day tour of New York City before returning home. Estimated cost of the family reunion: in excess of $500,000.