American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio[3] and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products (such as wrapping papers and decorations), and electronic expressive content (e.g., ringtones and images for cellphones). In addition to the American Greetings brand, the company owns the Carlton Cards, Tender Thoughts and Gibson brands of greeting cards.
American Greetings is also famous for their toy design and licensing division, Those Characters From Cleveland (now American Greetings Properties). The most-popular copyrighted properties owned by this division include Strawberry Shortcake, the Care Bears, The Get-Along Gang and Holly Hobbie. American Greetings also holds an exclusive license for Nickelodeon characters.
Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to remain
with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the
project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization as well as the
employee. Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have
good opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current
employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. It is the responsibility of the
employer to retain their best employees. If they don’t, they would be left with no
good employees. A good employer should know how to attract and retain its
employees.
Most employees feel that they are worth more than they are actually paid. There is
a natural disparity between what people think they should be paid and what
organizations spend
Employee Retention
In 1999 employee turnover shot to its highest level in nearly two decades. On average, 1.2 % of the workforce left their jobs each month last year. This did not include departures due to layoffs, downsizing, or departures of temporary staff. Job turnover is soaring for a few reasons. One is definitely the strength of the economy. If companies need to find workers they can raise salaries, which increases the likelihood that someone will leave a job for one that pays more. Another reason is the loosening of bonds between employer and employee. There are lower levels of loyalty in today's work environment. I believe money and perks can be used to attract people to a company but to retain skilled workers, it takes more then just tangible elements. In order to retain good employees, today's workplace must make the proper adjustments to meet their demands. Good employees will not continue to work for a jerk if they know they can find a good job elsewhere. Empowering employees, career advancement
The macro effect is balanced by one company losing its critical staff to another and a company getting critical resources in return. But aligning them to the organisation still remains a challenge," he said, adding there are hiring, training and maintenance costs associated with a new inductee, irrespective of the place in the hierarchy that the person assumes.
As per a NASSCOM survey, 2.3 million people are employed in India's IT and BPO sector.
"There has been an increased investment to retain the right talent and to keep the customer operations smooth. Infrastructure and maintenance costs go together to keep the organisations streamlined to their service delivery model and customer satisfaction. There have been steps taken to redefine the pricing model across organisations to keep their increase in the cost of operations low," Dhanarajani said.
He said as the world recoups from a recessionary phase, the cost of operations and alarming unemployment rates gave a boost to outsourcing around the globe.
"India, still a preferred location, is facing a threat from emerging geographies like China, Vietnam and Philippines," Dhanarajani said, adding that North America, South America, Eastern Europe and North Africa are other countries emerging as outsourcing destinations.
"There is a fierce competition in terms of the economies of scale of operations between various organisations or between India and emerging outsourcing destinations," he said.
Dhanarajani said India has been an investment option for various companies across USA, Europe and Australia for more than a decade with quality of people and output.
Employee Retention
------------------
Keep your promises
Build employees self-esteem
Good access to management Training and Cross Training
Staff events / Team building
React on employee suggestions
Regular staff meetings, parties Everyone is equal to each other
Employee motivation
-------------------
Ongoing staff training
Keep employees informed of status
Frequent /consistent rewards and recognition for performance
Set goals, review, evaluate, feedback
Lead by example
Mentoring programs
Be sensitive to personal issues
When you take a close look at these two areas, you can see a lot of overlap. What you do to increase employee motivation also applies to employee retention and vice versa.
Some of the main areas of employee retention and employee motivation that are commonly overlooked are orientation training, the establishment of team and individual goals, having ongoing reviews and providing constructive feedback.
Without these elements the employee is wandering around aimlessly, and doesn't get any feedback on their performance. How can you expect the employee to meet or exceed your expectations if they don't know what they are or how they are doing in relation to your expectations?
In a previous article that I wrote, I pointed out what motivated employees the most and how employee retention and loyalty faired out based on the results of National research study.
The three top elements were:
1.Full appreciation of work done
2.Feeling of being in on things
3.Help on personal problems
Full appreciation of work done is recognition. Recognition is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement of actions gets those actions repeated. Recognition and praise reinforces our beliefs about ourselves, and helps make us think we are better than we may have thought we were.
Positive reinforcement is what builds our self-esteem. Our self-esteem is the way we see and feel about ourselves either internally, through our own beliefs, or externally through what we accept as the beliefs of others. If we feel good about ourselves and we believe others feel good about us, we perform better than we would when we see the opposite side of the coin.
People perform in a manner that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually. So, the key is to help people build their self-esteem. This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
You cannot motivate another person to do anything. We all know we could only accomplish so much on our own and that everyone is a product of their environment. You have the opportunity to create the environment.
You can only provide the means and the atmosphere in which others motivate themselves. You are the leader and you must set the example by demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Take the time to define the appropriate behaviors you want to see in your employees, then start demonstrating them. This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
By bringing all employees together in a room for a meeting you create a team environment. By including them and sharing information with them, you are giving your employees an opportunity to share your perspective.
With inclusion, you are indirectly empowering them to contribute to the success of your whole operation, because it gives them a chance to see and understand the bigger picture. This in turn leads to them taking initiative and improving things in their own area of responsibility, particularly if they are recognized for it.
By sharing the results of the period with them and asking them what went well and what areas could use some improvement, you are obtaining a wealth of information, and including them in the overall success of your operation.
What do you think will happen when it comes time to implement some of their suggestions? Do you think they will object, or, do you think they might take ownership in implementing them beyond your expectations?
This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
What about personal problems, do you take the time to listen, to understand, to show you care?
Personal problems often interfere with work performance. Take the time to help your employee with their personal problems. Coach them to look for solutions and they will feel closer to you. In turn, they will perform better because you showed you care.
American Greetings is also famous for their toy design and licensing division, Those Characters From Cleveland (now American Greetings Properties). The most-popular copyrighted properties owned by this division include Strawberry Shortcake, the Care Bears, The Get-Along Gang and Holly Hobbie. American Greetings also holds an exclusive license for Nickelodeon characters.
Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to remain
with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the
project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization as well as the
employee. Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have
good opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current
employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. It is the responsibility of the
employer to retain their best employees. If they don’t, they would be left with no
good employees. A good employer should know how to attract and retain its
employees.
Most employees feel that they are worth more than they are actually paid. There is
a natural disparity between what people think they should be paid and what
organizations spend
Employee Retention
In 1999 employee turnover shot to its highest level in nearly two decades. On average, 1.2 % of the workforce left their jobs each month last year. This did not include departures due to layoffs, downsizing, or departures of temporary staff. Job turnover is soaring for a few reasons. One is definitely the strength of the economy. If companies need to find workers they can raise salaries, which increases the likelihood that someone will leave a job for one that pays more. Another reason is the loosening of bonds between employer and employee. There are lower levels of loyalty in today's work environment. I believe money and perks can be used to attract people to a company but to retain skilled workers, it takes more then just tangible elements. In order to retain good employees, today's workplace must make the proper adjustments to meet their demands. Good employees will not continue to work for a jerk if they know they can find a good job elsewhere. Empowering employees, career advancement
The macro effect is balanced by one company losing its critical staff to another and a company getting critical resources in return. But aligning them to the organisation still remains a challenge," he said, adding there are hiring, training and maintenance costs associated with a new inductee, irrespective of the place in the hierarchy that the person assumes.
As per a NASSCOM survey, 2.3 million people are employed in India's IT and BPO sector.
"There has been an increased investment to retain the right talent and to keep the customer operations smooth. Infrastructure and maintenance costs go together to keep the organisations streamlined to their service delivery model and customer satisfaction. There have been steps taken to redefine the pricing model across organisations to keep their increase in the cost of operations low," Dhanarajani said.
He said as the world recoups from a recessionary phase, the cost of operations and alarming unemployment rates gave a boost to outsourcing around the globe.
"India, still a preferred location, is facing a threat from emerging geographies like China, Vietnam and Philippines," Dhanarajani said, adding that North America, South America, Eastern Europe and North Africa are other countries emerging as outsourcing destinations.
"There is a fierce competition in terms of the economies of scale of operations between various organisations or between India and emerging outsourcing destinations," he said.
Dhanarajani said India has been an investment option for various companies across USA, Europe and Australia for more than a decade with quality of people and output.
Employee Retention
------------------
Keep your promises
Build employees self-esteem
Good access to management Training and Cross Training
Staff events / Team building
React on employee suggestions
Regular staff meetings, parties Everyone is equal to each other
Employee motivation
-------------------
Ongoing staff training
Keep employees informed of status
Frequent /consistent rewards and recognition for performance
Set goals, review, evaluate, feedback
Lead by example
Mentoring programs
Be sensitive to personal issues
When you take a close look at these two areas, you can see a lot of overlap. What you do to increase employee motivation also applies to employee retention and vice versa.
Some of the main areas of employee retention and employee motivation that are commonly overlooked are orientation training, the establishment of team and individual goals, having ongoing reviews and providing constructive feedback.
Without these elements the employee is wandering around aimlessly, and doesn't get any feedback on their performance. How can you expect the employee to meet or exceed your expectations if they don't know what they are or how they are doing in relation to your expectations?
In a previous article that I wrote, I pointed out what motivated employees the most and how employee retention and loyalty faired out based on the results of National research study.
The three top elements were:
1.Full appreciation of work done
2.Feeling of being in on things
3.Help on personal problems
Full appreciation of work done is recognition. Recognition is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement of actions gets those actions repeated. Recognition and praise reinforces our beliefs about ourselves, and helps make us think we are better than we may have thought we were.
Positive reinforcement is what builds our self-esteem. Our self-esteem is the way we see and feel about ourselves either internally, through our own beliefs, or externally through what we accept as the beliefs of others. If we feel good about ourselves and we believe others feel good about us, we perform better than we would when we see the opposite side of the coin.
People perform in a manner that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually. So, the key is to help people build their self-esteem. This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
You cannot motivate another person to do anything. We all know we could only accomplish so much on our own and that everyone is a product of their environment. You have the opportunity to create the environment.
You can only provide the means and the atmosphere in which others motivate themselves. You are the leader and you must set the example by demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Take the time to define the appropriate behaviors you want to see in your employees, then start demonstrating them. This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
By bringing all employees together in a room for a meeting you create a team environment. By including them and sharing information with them, you are giving your employees an opportunity to share your perspective.
With inclusion, you are indirectly empowering them to contribute to the success of your whole operation, because it gives them a chance to see and understand the bigger picture. This in turn leads to them taking initiative and improving things in their own area of responsibility, particularly if they are recognized for it.
By sharing the results of the period with them and asking them what went well and what areas could use some improvement, you are obtaining a wealth of information, and including them in the overall success of your operation.
What do you think will happen when it comes time to implement some of their suggestions? Do you think they will object, or, do you think they might take ownership in implementing them beyond your expectations?
This is an important employee retention and employee motivation discipline.
What about personal problems, do you take the time to listen, to understand, to show you care?
Personal problems often interfere with work performance. Take the time to help your employee with their personal problems. Coach them to look for solutions and they will feel closer to you. In turn, they will perform better because you showed you care.