Ace Hardware Corporation is a hardware cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. Ace Hardware was founded in 1924 by Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke, and Oscar Fisher in Chicago, Illinois.
[edit]History
Ace Hardware, incorporated in 1928 as Ace Stores Inc., was founded to provide a centralized purchasing organization to supply the founders' and members' stores. Its retail network expanded to hundreds of dealers by 1949, when annual sales reached about $10 million.
After Hesse retired in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a cooperative,[1] and the headquarters moved to suburban Oak Brook. Independent owners became dealer-owners and shareholders in the company. Because it is a co-op and not a franchise, each Ace Hardware store looks different. Ace has placed a focus on Ace stores exhibiting some similar characteristics, such as signaled and core product lines. The Vision 21 program, as this is called, is aimed to make all stores look recognizable as an Ace Hardware.
As of 2005, the $13 billion retail hardware cooperative is made up of more than 4,600 independent stores in all 50 states of the United States and in 70 different countries. Ace Hardware was named after the Ace fighter pilots of World War I, who were able to overcome all odds.
An ACE Hardware store in Springboro, Ohio
Ace Hardware's long-time slogan The helpful hardware place has been replaced by The helpful place. Another change came when[when?] its longtime jingle — "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man" — was modified with the more gender-neutral "folks" replacing "man." Much of their advertising since 1987 features John Madden, a former NFL coach and announcer, In some commercials, he uses Football quotes.
Prior to Madden, Suzanne Somers was a spokesperson for Ace Hardware but was dropped because of a previously issued topless poster for Maheraja water skis.[citation needed] Home improvement expert Lou Manfredini currently serves as ACE's "Helpful Hardware Man" and media spokesperson.
The Chart Your Course International Retentionship Certification Program™ (RCP) was designed to train managers, business owners, supervisors, healthcare and human resource professionals not only how to retain their most talented performers, but also how to transform their entire workforce into a high-retention culture. The end result is an organization that will save countless thousands of dollars becoming a great place to work. Results are both immediate and quantifiable.
Money and benefits may bring employees through the front door, but poor work conditions and poor management skills drive them out the back. When it comes to recruiting and retaining, many organizations fail to see their own bad habits, faulty processes, and other inefficiencies leading to low productivity and high turnover.
Our program will provide you the knowledge, skills, tools, and processes to create a great place to work. We will certify your management team and help you design a unified strategy leading to low turnover and high retention.
Our Retentionship program has the following benefits:
A stable workforce with lower attrition. Retention programs are both more effective and less expensive than recruitment programs. Reduced turnover gives you more stability, which pleases both employees and customers alike.
Lower costs. The average cost to recruit and train one employee is estimated at 2.5 times an employee’s salary. It costs $4,000-$7,000 to replace an hourly, low-wage employee and up to $40,000 to replace a nurse. One Silicon Valley company estimates the cost of replacing an average employee is $125,000. The number of employees saved from leaving your organization after the first few months after training will easily pay for the cost of training.
Return on investment. The Gallup organization showed where employees who have an above average attitude toward their work and their employer will generate 38 percent higher customer satisfaction scores, 22% higher productivity, and 27% higher profits.
Improved performance and greater potential. Studies show only half of the workforce put effort into their job over and beyond what is required. Three out of four people said they had the ability to become more effective than they were. Our training will improve employee satisfaction, morale, enhance communications, and facilitate an increase in work/life balance.
Improved Customer/Patient Satisfaction. A satisfied workforce reflects a positive attitude toward others. They in turn will reflect a positive attitude toward customers and patients thus generating higher satisfaction scores, which will grow the profits of your organization.
According to a study by the Families and Work Institute, earnings and benefits have just a 2% impact on "job satisfaction." Instead, "job quality" and "workplace support" have a combined 70% impact!
Challenging traditional attitudes about retaining workers, author and consultant Gregory Smith outlines the new rules for dealing with worker shortages, the high cost of turnover, diminished work ethic, managing a diverse workforce and the increased importance of job satisfaction.
At a time when the workplace environment is critical to keeping workers, this is a proven system for having fun, communicating, rewarding employees and building loyalty. Here are practical solutions and ideas to implement that will:
Create great attitudes for making workers more reliable
Increase motivation and creativity to keep top people from jumping ship
Develop a flexible environment to boost productivity and satisfaction
Respond to changes while making continual improvements
Generate profits through increased customer satisfaction
Save money by not having to replace workers
There are also specific action steps to address such problems as absenteeism, getting teams to work together, and turning performance appraisals into positive opportunities. Incorporating examples from innovative companies such as SAS, Earthlink, Interstate Battery, Ace Hardware, USAA Insurance, Disney World and comments from workers in all kinds of workplaces, this guide to meeting the employee retention challenge helps managers and human resource experts be more effective in changing times.
Gregory P. Smith is the founder and president of Chart Your Course International, a training and consulting firm that shows businesses how to improve productivity, develop managers and attract, keep and motivate workforces. A popular speaker and professional management consultant, he spent more than 24 years in leadership positions, including 20 years in the military. There he was director of innovation and total quality management for the Army's medical and dental organization worldwide. His leadership development courses have been presented by Yamaha, Ace Hardware, Hallmark Cards, and other international organizations. He is a frequent contributor to such publications as Quality Digest and Journal of Innovative Management and has been featured in the business publications as well as the Christian Science Monitor and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
[edit]History
Ace Hardware, incorporated in 1928 as Ace Stores Inc., was founded to provide a centralized purchasing organization to supply the founders' and members' stores. Its retail network expanded to hundreds of dealers by 1949, when annual sales reached about $10 million.
After Hesse retired in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a cooperative,[1] and the headquarters moved to suburban Oak Brook. Independent owners became dealer-owners and shareholders in the company. Because it is a co-op and not a franchise, each Ace Hardware store looks different. Ace has placed a focus on Ace stores exhibiting some similar characteristics, such as signaled and core product lines. The Vision 21 program, as this is called, is aimed to make all stores look recognizable as an Ace Hardware.
As of 2005, the $13 billion retail hardware cooperative is made up of more than 4,600 independent stores in all 50 states of the United States and in 70 different countries. Ace Hardware was named after the Ace fighter pilots of World War I, who were able to overcome all odds.
An ACE Hardware store in Springboro, Ohio
Ace Hardware's long-time slogan The helpful hardware place has been replaced by The helpful place. Another change came when[when?] its longtime jingle — "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man" — was modified with the more gender-neutral "folks" replacing "man." Much of their advertising since 1987 features John Madden, a former NFL coach and announcer, In some commercials, he uses Football quotes.
Prior to Madden, Suzanne Somers was a spokesperson for Ace Hardware but was dropped because of a previously issued topless poster for Maheraja water skis.[citation needed] Home improvement expert Lou Manfredini currently serves as ACE's "Helpful Hardware Man" and media spokesperson.
The Chart Your Course International Retentionship Certification Program™ (RCP) was designed to train managers, business owners, supervisors, healthcare and human resource professionals not only how to retain their most talented performers, but also how to transform their entire workforce into a high-retention culture. The end result is an organization that will save countless thousands of dollars becoming a great place to work. Results are both immediate and quantifiable.
Money and benefits may bring employees through the front door, but poor work conditions and poor management skills drive them out the back. When it comes to recruiting and retaining, many organizations fail to see their own bad habits, faulty processes, and other inefficiencies leading to low productivity and high turnover.
Our program will provide you the knowledge, skills, tools, and processes to create a great place to work. We will certify your management team and help you design a unified strategy leading to low turnover and high retention.
Our Retentionship program has the following benefits:
A stable workforce with lower attrition. Retention programs are both more effective and less expensive than recruitment programs. Reduced turnover gives you more stability, which pleases both employees and customers alike.
Lower costs. The average cost to recruit and train one employee is estimated at 2.5 times an employee’s salary. It costs $4,000-$7,000 to replace an hourly, low-wage employee and up to $40,000 to replace a nurse. One Silicon Valley company estimates the cost of replacing an average employee is $125,000. The number of employees saved from leaving your organization after the first few months after training will easily pay for the cost of training.
Return on investment. The Gallup organization showed where employees who have an above average attitude toward their work and their employer will generate 38 percent higher customer satisfaction scores, 22% higher productivity, and 27% higher profits.
Improved performance and greater potential. Studies show only half of the workforce put effort into their job over and beyond what is required. Three out of four people said they had the ability to become more effective than they were. Our training will improve employee satisfaction, morale, enhance communications, and facilitate an increase in work/life balance.
Improved Customer/Patient Satisfaction. A satisfied workforce reflects a positive attitude toward others. They in turn will reflect a positive attitude toward customers and patients thus generating higher satisfaction scores, which will grow the profits of your organization.
According to a study by the Families and Work Institute, earnings and benefits have just a 2% impact on "job satisfaction." Instead, "job quality" and "workplace support" have a combined 70% impact!
Challenging traditional attitudes about retaining workers, author and consultant Gregory Smith outlines the new rules for dealing with worker shortages, the high cost of turnover, diminished work ethic, managing a diverse workforce and the increased importance of job satisfaction.
At a time when the workplace environment is critical to keeping workers, this is a proven system for having fun, communicating, rewarding employees and building loyalty. Here are practical solutions and ideas to implement that will:
Create great attitudes for making workers more reliable
Increase motivation and creativity to keep top people from jumping ship
Develop a flexible environment to boost productivity and satisfaction
Respond to changes while making continual improvements
Generate profits through increased customer satisfaction
Save money by not having to replace workers
There are also specific action steps to address such problems as absenteeism, getting teams to work together, and turning performance appraisals into positive opportunities. Incorporating examples from innovative companies such as SAS, Earthlink, Interstate Battery, Ace Hardware, USAA Insurance, Disney World and comments from workers in all kinds of workplaces, this guide to meeting the employee retention challenge helps managers and human resource experts be more effective in changing times.
Gregory P. Smith is the founder and president of Chart Your Course International, a training and consulting firm that shows businesses how to improve productivity, develop managers and attract, keep and motivate workforces. A popular speaker and professional management consultant, he spent more than 24 years in leadership positions, including 20 years in the military. There he was director of innovation and total quality management for the Army's medical and dental organization worldwide. His leadership development courses have been presented by Yamaha, Ace Hardware, Hallmark Cards, and other international organizations. He is a frequent contributor to such publications as Quality Digest and Journal of Innovative Management and has been featured in the business publications as well as the Christian Science Monitor and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.