Employee Retention of Berkshire Hathaway : Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, NYSE: BRK.B) is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. The company averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3% to its shareholders for the last 44 years, while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.[1] Berkshire Hathaway stock produced a total return of 76% from 2000-2010 versus a negative 11.3% return for the S&P 500.[2]
Warren Buffett is the company's chairman and CEO. Buffett has used the "float" provided by Berkshire Hathaway's insurance operations (paid premiums which are not held in reserves for reported claims and may be invested) to finance his investments. In the early part of his career at Berkshire, he focused on long-term investments in publicly quoted stocks, but more recently he has turned to buying whole companies. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including railroads, confectionery, retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, manufacture of vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales; newspaper publishing; manufacture and distribution of uniforms; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities.
Walker Information has been an Indiana based ADVISA client for more than 10 years and a successful international consulting company since its founding more than 70 years ago. We’re partnering with them on a marketing and sales effort for their employee loyalty program. It’s a natural match as Walker has unique tools to measure where problems exist within organizations and we have tools to help organizations fix those problems. We believe these efforts will bring benefit to our clients in those areas that are most important to both Walker and ADVISA – employee engagement, work satisfaction and ultimately, improved balanced scorecard metrics.
Our efforts will utilize a research study performed by Walker in partnership with Inside INdiana Business and the Indiana Business Council. The study sheds significant light on the current situation business environment in Indiana. Here are a couple of key statistics from the data:
58% of CEOs see morale improving while only 37% of their employees do
22% of staff say they’ll be looking for a new job in 2011
What’s my take-away, especially viewing other research that confirms top talent loyalty has dropped 20%?
In the recent recession, businesses have cut staff - leaving fewer people to do more work. While things are starting to look up, they’ve been reluctant to hire until it’s clear that both their business and the economy are over the hump. At the same time, some of their best employees are saying, “As soon as I can find another job, I’m outta here.” Companies have to start worrying now about keeping their best folks. If they don’t, when the economy turns they’ll have to replace their top talent as well as build new staff. That would be a disaster.
Berkshire’s apparel businesses include manufacturers and distributors of a variety of clothing and footwear. Businesses engaged in the manufacture and distribution of clothing include Union Underwear Corp. - Fruit of the Loom, Garan, Fechheimer Brothers and Russell Corporation. Berkshire’s footwear businesses include H.H. Brown Shoe Group, Acme Boots and Justin Brands. Berkshire acquired Fruit of the Loom on April 29, 2002 for $835 million in cash. Fruit of the Loom, headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a vertically integrated manufacturer of basic apparel. Berkshire acquired Russell Corporation on August 2, 2006 for $600 million or $18.00 per share.
Warren Buffett is the company's chairman and CEO. Buffett has used the "float" provided by Berkshire Hathaway's insurance operations (paid premiums which are not held in reserves for reported claims and may be invested) to finance his investments. In the early part of his career at Berkshire, he focused on long-term investments in publicly quoted stocks, but more recently he has turned to buying whole companies. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including railroads, confectionery, retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, manufacture of vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales; newspaper publishing; manufacture and distribution of uniforms; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities.
Walker Information has been an Indiana based ADVISA client for more than 10 years and a successful international consulting company since its founding more than 70 years ago. We’re partnering with them on a marketing and sales effort for their employee loyalty program. It’s a natural match as Walker has unique tools to measure where problems exist within organizations and we have tools to help organizations fix those problems. We believe these efforts will bring benefit to our clients in those areas that are most important to both Walker and ADVISA – employee engagement, work satisfaction and ultimately, improved balanced scorecard metrics.
Our efforts will utilize a research study performed by Walker in partnership with Inside INdiana Business and the Indiana Business Council. The study sheds significant light on the current situation business environment in Indiana. Here are a couple of key statistics from the data:
58% of CEOs see morale improving while only 37% of their employees do
22% of staff say they’ll be looking for a new job in 2011
What’s my take-away, especially viewing other research that confirms top talent loyalty has dropped 20%?
In the recent recession, businesses have cut staff - leaving fewer people to do more work. While things are starting to look up, they’ve been reluctant to hire until it’s clear that both their business and the economy are over the hump. At the same time, some of their best employees are saying, “As soon as I can find another job, I’m outta here.” Companies have to start worrying now about keeping their best folks. If they don’t, when the economy turns they’ll have to replace their top talent as well as build new staff. That would be a disaster.
Berkshire’s apparel businesses include manufacturers and distributors of a variety of clothing and footwear. Businesses engaged in the manufacture and distribution of clothing include Union Underwear Corp. - Fruit of the Loom, Garan, Fechheimer Brothers and Russell Corporation. Berkshire’s footwear businesses include H.H. Brown Shoe Group, Acme Boots and Justin Brands. Berkshire acquired Fruit of the Loom on April 29, 2002 for $835 million in cash. Fruit of the Loom, headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a vertically integrated manufacturer of basic apparel. Berkshire acquired Russell Corporation on August 2, 2006 for $600 million or $18.00 per share.
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