If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Because you get the same level of passion, without all the crazy…
And yes, of course, I’m joking. This is just a funny spoof called “A few good creative men” featuring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Should be humorous to those in the advertising business… Hope you enjoyed.
We bought a great new building here in Cary, NC (between Raleigh and Durham) back in June of 2007. Apparently the prior owners felt no need to tell people where they were, so there was no signage.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a sign installed in Cary? (It ain’t easy, from finding a sign maker to even give you an estimate to getting the concrete base made…) But for all of you who have driven around for 15 minutes before finding our new digs, so sorry. This should help all future visitors, eh?
Employee retention is a key issue for all companies. It is important to plan for turnover pressures and consider implementing a formal employee retention program.
Why is employee retention a hot topic for 2008?
- Gen-X, Gen-Y and Millennials are a mobile group. According to a survey by Manpower subsidiary Right Management in 2007, 61 % of college students and recent grads plan to stay no more than three years in their first job.
- Boomers are starting to retire. The huge loss of knowledge workers forcasts a potential shortfall in 2010 of 10 million workers by the Labor Bureau.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the cost to replace a worker in private industry to be $13,996. Add on the that the value of lost knowledge and we’re talking real money.
Finally, consider this issue from a MARKETING point of view. Employee retention should be a critically important issue for any company’s marketing plan. Simply stated, employees are (or at least, should be) any company’s number one brand ambassadors. Every single employee of a company is an invaluable marketing asset, growing in value each year they are with a company. Employee turnover is MORE than an administrative cost. Employee turnover literally drains a company’s marketing budget. Now, that’s an attention-getting concept.
So, plan to deal with the factors affecting turnover in the near future. Talk with Boomers who may be considering retirement soon. Develop plans to allow these valuable workers to move into new roles, where their knowledge, ambassadorship and mentoring skills can be utilized in flexible and mutually satisfying arrangements. Recognize what is important to Gen-X, Gen-Y and Millennials; develop a culture of recognition and appreciation, offer work-life balance, involve workers in decision-making and be sure to schedule and budget just plain FUN. Check out www.EmployeeRetentionStrategies.com for more information. Forward this to your Marketing Director and tell her/him that you want part of the company’s marketing budget to go towards employee retention! It all about marketing!
Are you celebrating your employees or encouraging them to bury themselves in their work and their heads in the sand?
As an advertising, marketing and PR firm, anything to do with branding is of deep interest to us. The concepts of “personal branding” and “employee branding” are being talked about more and more lately. The interest in career coaching has made “personal brand coaching” something that professionals are looking at.
How can companies support and encourage this interest? What is in it for a company? Here are some ideas and suggestions:
Embracing personal brands as part of your company culture can help build your business and your productivity.
Encouraging, recognizing and deploying individual skills and talents creates positive energy
Actively committing to creating a culture of mutual respect and celebration allow employees to more fully contribute
How to encourage personal brands?
Suggest that employees create personal brand statements— who are they, what do they stand for?
Instead of nameplates, how about encouraging employees to post pictures of themselves?
Encourage employees to create their own branded secondary titles, branded email signatures, voicemail messages.
Celebrate the individuals who power your organization, celebrate and develop their individual strengths and abilities. In the end, people do business with both a company and the wonderful individuals who are a part of it! Power to the BRAND!
Brogan & Partners may be a great advertising agency, but I sure am not going to try to sell you a $2,288 manicure. Nor did I ever pay that for one. But I am going to tell you why manicures are worth that to me. I am talking employee turnover. Something we work hard at managing.
So what do manicures have to do with this? And why $2,288? One can calculate the cost of employee turnover using some handy dandy calculation tools available on the Internet - www.uxex.edu/CES/cced/economies/turn.cfm - is one. Adding up the costs associated with turnover can add up in the thousands. A sample calculation shows the cost of one departed employee is $2,288. Some writers will even say that the cost of turnover is 150% of the employee’s salary… averaging $75,000! Can something like a company-paid weekly manicure impact this cost? You bet it can!
Believe me, workers are not so naive as to accept a paid manicure in lieu of superior benefits and competitive pay. They are, however, keenly attuned to a workplace that respects and appreciates their time. It ain’t the $15 we pay for an on-site manicure, it’s the fact that we are giving our valued staff (men and women!) the gift of time. It is more than the simple act of paying for a manicure, it is a signal to everyone that the agency truly practices what it preaches— “Creativity At Work” — that’s our themeline and it goes beyond being a creative organization and creating smart and effective marketing and advertising. We are creative in our workplace, in our perks and in our expressions of appreciation.
Our creative perks all work in concert to keep our employee turnover well below 5%— against a national average of over 12%. On-site manicures, company-paid out of town weekend mystery trips, paid lunches and other creative perks all let workers know they are valued and respected. And most important, workers know they are in a supportive organization.
So the manicure may cost $15 but can be worth $2,288 to our bottomline. Because an award-winning creative advertising agency runs on the talent, time, creativity and passion of its workers. And that’s priceless.
