As it turned out, it wasn’t a heart attack but a sign of stress – a signal she needed to balance life and work the way she had been telling employees to do. “My husband for many years said, ‘Yeah, you talk a lot about life balance, but when you’re here, you’re not here,” she said during a presentation at the Wharton Leadership Lecture series March 18.
Today, as president of IKEA North America, she avoids business travel on weekends, and tries to keep regular hours at work and leave the job at the office. “The number one priority is my family,” said Spiers-Lopez, who has two children. “It’s so important for me to keep that in the forefront of everything I do.”
That, too, is the priority she expects of her employees. Many executives talk about the benefits of worker-friendly policies, but Spiers-Lopez has clearly put them into practice at IKEA North America’s stores – 18 in the U.S. and 11 in Canada.
Last fall Working Mother magazine named IKEA North America one of the 100 best companies for working mothers and singled out Spiers-Lopez for its Family Champion Award. Under the Danish-born executive, the home-furnishings company provides benefits not widely offered retail workers in the U.S: full medical and dental insurance for those who work as little as 20 hours a week, including coverage for domestic partners and children; paid maternity leave; tuition assistance; a 401(k) matching plan and flexible work schedules.
Spiers-Lopez was named president in 2001, when sales staff turnover was 76%.
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