"Whether you think you can or can't, you are right."

Henry Ford

NO ONE WANTS TO WORK FOR A BAD BOSS

Lou Kaucic is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Applebee's International. Kaucic began developing retention programs using a comprehensive human resource system called “People Metrics”—an initiative that has helped to lower employee turnover dramatically. As a result he was named to Human Resource Executive’s 2004 Human Resources Honor Roll.

Because of these programs, the turnover rate among store managers had fallen to eight 8 percent. Applebee's discovered it costs $10,000 to replace and train restaurant managers. Turnover for all unit-level managers is around 14 percent annually, an astonishingly low figure in an industry where a 50 percent turnover rate remains the norm for management positions.

Employee retention begins by hiring the right people. Studies show restaurants with the lowest turnover have the strongest managers. As part of the hiring process, management candidates have four or five job interviews. They only get the job if their skills match established competencies, which include decision-making, integrity, employee retention, and managing relationships.

No one wants to work for a bad boss. So, they put in place a thorough annual review process to identify both low and high performing managers. Applebee's has over 2,000 managers in more than 400 restaurants. The process is called "Mix Management" and it assesses managers based on nine competencies. Once in place, the system gave Kaucic a way to organize managers into three groups: the top 20 percent, the middle 60 percent, and the bottom 20 percent. Once supervisors saw the breakdown and identified top and mid-range performers, they went to work retaining them. The top 20 percent were identified as future leaders within the company. The bottom 20 percent consists of new managers and those who may be in the wrong job. Those individuals are given the choice to improve or leave.

Learn more about employee retention by attending our workshop in Atlanta January 18, 2007. Sign up now and take advantage of the early bird rates. Prices increase soon.

http://www.chartcourse.com/Employee-Retention-Workshop.html

VISIT OUR NEW EMPLOYEE RETENTION RESOURCE CENTER

We have recently added a new page to our website where we have listed many of our employee retention resources including videos, CDs, reports, and books.

http://www.chartcourse.com/employee_retention_resourcecenter.html

ENGAGED EMPLOYEES HELP BOOST THE BOTTOM LINE

Those people who say soft skills and employee involvement programs cannot be measured, need to read this.

An ISR study shows employers with an engaged workforce help their businesses make more money.

The study gathered surveys from over 664,000 employees globally. The 12-month study analyzed three traditional financial performance measures including net income growth, operating income, and earnings per share growth (EPS).

Results showed:

Net income growth: High engagement companies had a 13.2 percent improvement while low engagement companies had a 3.8 percent decline.

Operating Income: High engagement companies showed a 52 percent performance gap. These companies improved 19.2 percent while low engagement companies declined 32.7 percent during the 12-month period.

EPS growth: Companies with high employee engagement had a 27.8 percent improvement, while low employee engagement companies experienced an 11.2 percent decline in EPS over the same period.

One of the easiest ways to engage your employees is by having a suggestion program in place. When people have the ability to submit and implement their ideas and suggestions--you have engagement. There are several types of suggestion systems; everything from the old fashioned suggestion box to more advanced idea campaigns.

For more information on the idea campaign please visit this link on our website.

http://www.chartcourse.com/bright-ideas-employee-suggestion-program.html

DON'T LET THE SHIP LEAVE YOU BEHIND:
BECOME A VOYAGEUR TODAY!

More and more people are jumping on board and taking the advantage of becoming a member. Members receive additional content, discounts, and access to me with call-in days, conference calls, and an unbelievable "members only" webpage containing the best we have to offer. Monthly or annual subscriptions are available. Here are just a few of the benefits:

--Consulting call-in days
--Free phone conferences
--Weekly articles and tips
--Copies of books
--Members Only website

Check us out at this webpage.

Building a Happy, Productive, and Talented Workforce

26th Hong Kong Institute of Human Resources

Nov 22-23, 2006

Management (HKIHRM) Annual Conference & Exhibition
More information

Designing an Employee Retention Strategy

January 18, 2007

More information:

Stay updated by visiting our "Upcoming Events" page:

http://www.chartcourse.com/upcomingevents.html

360-DEGREE FEEDBACK ASSESSMENTS

We now have a new program called Perceptions 360 for those clients needing an easy-to-use, and effective way to conduct 360 assessments.

Click here.

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Copyright 2006 by Chart Your Course International--reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "Chart Your Course International," by Gregory P. Smith, copyright 2006.  (770) 860-9464  (800) 821-2487

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