Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (CPII) is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.[1]
The studio, founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.
With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.
In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989
There are many strategies that businesses use to retain high-quality employees. Some of these include good benefit packages, flexible scheduling, congenial work environments and family-friendly policies, but a key strategy is where a business sets its pay level. There are three choices: you can lead, match or lag behind your competition.
Those businesses that lead their competition in setting pay levels theorize that they are more likely to keep their employees because they have minimized the threat of dissatisfaction with pay. They also hope that higher pay levels can attract the best employees away from their competition. Although some businesses choose this strategy, most businesses tend to match their competition in setting pay, thinking that they can enhance employee retention with better benefits, flexibility and some of the family-friendly strategies previously mentioned.
Some businesses choose to lag behind their competition in pay. If a business requires many employees who can be trained quickly without a lot of expense, and the labor pool is large, this might be an appropriate strategy. The business with a pay level that lags the market might offer other benefits that employees perceive to offset lower pay. Job security might be one of those benefits because the freedom from fear of layoffs can be important to some employees. Not-for-profit businesses might offer the opportunity to work in a setting that matches with employee values or offers them a greater sense of meaning in their work lives
A recent poll by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests that up to 75 percent of employees will be looking to change jobs by the end of the year. According to a recent article about human resources issues, this is an increase from the normal 30 to 40 percent of the workforce that is looking to change at any one time. In addition, as the baby boomer generation begins to retire, the number of employees who can replace these retirees will be much smaller.
The pay level strategy your business has used before might no longer be appropriate as you consider the changing labor market. Re-examining your pay strategy in light of current conditions might help you keep the employees you don’t want to lose.
An employee can have traits of more than one personality type. John Holland's theory states that the best way to describe these types is to arrange them around a hexagon. A personality type that is next to another type on the hexagon has similarities with it. There is a mnemonic that makes the order of these personality types easier to remember, RIASEC, which stands for Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.
Recruitment
The employer should try to hire an employee with the personality type that the job requires. Many employers give personality tests to job applicants. If the employer can't find a qualified applicant who is an exact match, the employer should hire a similar personality type. For example, a realistic applicant should be a better bookkeeper than an artistic applicant, according to the theory.
Retention
If the employer is trying to retain a skilled employee who is not satisfied with the job, Holland's theory explains how the employer can offer benefits that will make the employee happier. A scientist who has the social personality type can go to a convention and talk to other scientists. An office manager who has an artistic personality can add decorations to the office.
In cooperation with the Saratoga Institute, Branham wrote The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late (AMACOM Books, 2005)--about the root causes of employee disengagement and turnover, based on post-exit surveys of more than 19,700 employees in 17 industries conducted from 1998 through 2003. Released in January, 2005 this book was selected by businessbookreview.com and The Library Journal as one of the top 30 business books of the year and was released in audio summary form by Executive Soundview.
His first book, Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business, was published by the American Management Association in 2001 and featured hundreds of innovative employee retention best practices. It was named by the Harvard Management Update as one of the top three books on the topic and has been published in several foreign-language versions.
Leigh received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Vanderbilt University, has two Master’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has 25 years experience in human resource consulting, including three years at General Dynamics, Pomona Division where he designed and implemented a comprehensive leading-edge retention initiative for engineers. Prior experience included six years as career advisor and faculty member at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, and at The University of Missouri-Columbia.
He speaks frequently on the topics of employee engagement/retention, career development in organizations, employment practices, workforce trends, leadership, and management development. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, published in The Harvard Business Review, and quoted in Business Week, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and many other newspapers through The Associated Press, as an expert on employee retention. He publishes a quarterly e-newsletter—Keeping the People Report, writes a periodic commentary on managing talent for The Kansas City Star.
1. Resist calling employees in to work
during scheduled time off. If conditions
periodically require more staff - resulting
from either seasonal demand or high
employee turnover - managers should
proactively engage employees in planning
how to distribute the workload.
While some individuals may find it
difficult to fit added hours into their
schedules, a planned workload increase
will be easier to manage than calling
employees in to work using an ad hoc
approach.
2. Maintain an employee training
program. The survey results confirm
that businesses where training is
perceived as sufficient are more likely to
outperform their counterparts in
employee retention. Some respondents
emphasized that training promotes
much more than higher levels of
customer service - it also provides
employees with a realistic view of what
to expect on the job, limiting the
potential for unmet expectations and
resulting disappointment. In addition,
the earlier employees achieve full competence
in their tasks, the earlier they
become satisfied, engaged employees.
3. Offer competitive pay rates.
Compensation is - not surprisingly - a
factor in employee retention, but not as
powerful as many employers believe.
Competitive pay was the factor most
frequently cited in employers’ open-ended
statements about how to retain
employees. However, fair pay was
not a significant factor associated with
employees’ inclination to stay with their
employers. In any case, it is important
to ensure that the full value of compensation,
and particularly of benefits, is
clearly communicated to employees as
part of a competitive package.
4. Engage with employees, and recognize
and reward good behaviour.
This study confirmed that providing
recognition for a job well done and clearly
defining performance expectations
are important in boosting employee
retention. Clarifying procedures and
ensuring workplace efficiency are also
key retention factors. For example,
facilities where processes to address
work-related problems are clear, and
where job-critical equipment is repaired
quickly and efficiently, show the highest
levels of retention.
Non-management staff members who
see supervisors as accommodating
their conflicts between work and family
responsibilities are also more inclined
to remain with that employer.
Recruitment and retention of the right employees is one of the most difficult and critical aspects of the HR function in companies and organisations both large and small. Fortunately there are new ways for agencies and companies to select the right employees and retain them.
Lindi Dickinson, head of Pastel People Placements in Softline Pastel, says the procedural progress made in recruitment and retention is even more important in small to medium-size companies.
“An important differentiator in selecting job candidates in the current environment is the identification of talent, as people's skills may often differ from their degree or diploma qualifications.” Dickinson adds that a “Predictive Index®" (PI®) service available from a third party supplier provides a highly efficient means of identifying talent. It is based upon a checklist that candidates fill in and the resulting information is extrapolated to define each candidate's inherent characteristics.
“Each job specification is matched to a specific PI questionnaire, allowing the identification and measurement of key performance areas (KPAs), which in turn assists to match the job specification with an individual's talents. “A job-seeker may have the minimum qualification requirements for the position, but the talent evaluation is the real decider. The Predictive Index offers three 'pictures' of the candidates, which assists in identifying who they really are and what they perceive themselves to be. More importantly, it also reveals their 'displayed' behaviour, in other words defining the real person behind the interview façade.”
Dickinson stresses that this information is absolutely critical to enable the placement agency to determine the person best suited for a particular position. People with talent can be taught and their skills are easily modified. “Placing the wrong candidate can be costly, and identifying the fit within the company culture is also an important aspect that the PI system is able to check. This ensures that the candidate fits the general personality picture for the particular industry, which is important for employee retention. It is therefore also vital to conduct credit checks, criminal checks and reference checks. “It also pays to test the competency of employees in their specified skills and their ability in various software programs – whether they are beginners, have intermediate level skills or advanced skills.”
The recruitment environment has changed quite markedly in the past decade and Dickinson says job candidates are quite particular about what they require from their employment. “They will also bring their own conditions to the employment process, for example, they want to be able to work within a radius of 10km from their home; or they want a temporary contract for the first two to three months so that they can be sure it is an environment that suits them; and they are far more litigation conscious. “
“Loyalty is on the wane. Working for the same company for 25 years is not on the agenda and candidates want to advance quickly into senior positions. Offers of higher positions and better pay and conditions elsewhere are usually taken up.” Dickinson says in this environment SME companies with up to 200 employees have to get it right first time. To achieve the desired levels of employee retention, the company has to ensure candidates fit into the company culture and receive the right training and grooming; if not - time, effort and money are wasted. “Applicable training is most important. It allows new employees to settle in quickly and provide the company with an immediate return on investment.”
Employees are no longer totally motivated by remuneration. Dickinson says potential employees place a lot more emphasis on benefits that companies are able to provide. These include crèches, canteens, gymnasium facilities and flexible working hours. “Employees look for transparency and want to feel that they are an integral part of the business by being kept informed. They look for monthly staff briefings where they are given information on the company status – revenue per department, Profit Before Interest and Tax (PBIT), new industry trends, training courses available, opportunities for advancement and so on. The environment they seek is one of lifelong learning in terms of a career, not just a job, so succession planning is important.”
As the recruitment arm of Softline Pastel Accounting and Softline Pastel Payroll, Dickinson says the division not only conducts internal placements, but also placements for its national customer base. While there is an emphasis on bookkeeping and payroll skills, recruitment and retention services for sales and administrative posts are also conducted.
The studio, founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.
With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.
In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989
There are many strategies that businesses use to retain high-quality employees. Some of these include good benefit packages, flexible scheduling, congenial work environments and family-friendly policies, but a key strategy is where a business sets its pay level. There are three choices: you can lead, match or lag behind your competition.
Those businesses that lead their competition in setting pay levels theorize that they are more likely to keep their employees because they have minimized the threat of dissatisfaction with pay. They also hope that higher pay levels can attract the best employees away from their competition. Although some businesses choose this strategy, most businesses tend to match their competition in setting pay, thinking that they can enhance employee retention with better benefits, flexibility and some of the family-friendly strategies previously mentioned.
Some businesses choose to lag behind their competition in pay. If a business requires many employees who can be trained quickly without a lot of expense, and the labor pool is large, this might be an appropriate strategy. The business with a pay level that lags the market might offer other benefits that employees perceive to offset lower pay. Job security might be one of those benefits because the freedom from fear of layoffs can be important to some employees. Not-for-profit businesses might offer the opportunity to work in a setting that matches with employee values or offers them a greater sense of meaning in their work lives
A recent poll by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests that up to 75 percent of employees will be looking to change jobs by the end of the year. According to a recent article about human resources issues, this is an increase from the normal 30 to 40 percent of the workforce that is looking to change at any one time. In addition, as the baby boomer generation begins to retire, the number of employees who can replace these retirees will be much smaller.
The pay level strategy your business has used before might no longer be appropriate as you consider the changing labor market. Re-examining your pay strategy in light of current conditions might help you keep the employees you don’t want to lose.
An employee can have traits of more than one personality type. John Holland's theory states that the best way to describe these types is to arrange them around a hexagon. A personality type that is next to another type on the hexagon has similarities with it. There is a mnemonic that makes the order of these personality types easier to remember, RIASEC, which stands for Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.
Recruitment
The employer should try to hire an employee with the personality type that the job requires. Many employers give personality tests to job applicants. If the employer can't find a qualified applicant who is an exact match, the employer should hire a similar personality type. For example, a realistic applicant should be a better bookkeeper than an artistic applicant, according to the theory.
Retention
If the employer is trying to retain a skilled employee who is not satisfied with the job, Holland's theory explains how the employer can offer benefits that will make the employee happier. A scientist who has the social personality type can go to a convention and talk to other scientists. An office manager who has an artistic personality can add decorations to the office.
In cooperation with the Saratoga Institute, Branham wrote The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late (AMACOM Books, 2005)--about the root causes of employee disengagement and turnover, based on post-exit surveys of more than 19,700 employees in 17 industries conducted from 1998 through 2003. Released in January, 2005 this book was selected by businessbookreview.com and The Library Journal as one of the top 30 business books of the year and was released in audio summary form by Executive Soundview.
His first book, Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business, was published by the American Management Association in 2001 and featured hundreds of innovative employee retention best practices. It was named by the Harvard Management Update as one of the top three books on the topic and has been published in several foreign-language versions.
Leigh received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Vanderbilt University, has two Master’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has 25 years experience in human resource consulting, including three years at General Dynamics, Pomona Division where he designed and implemented a comprehensive leading-edge retention initiative for engineers. Prior experience included six years as career advisor and faculty member at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, and at The University of Missouri-Columbia.
He speaks frequently on the topics of employee engagement/retention, career development in organizations, employment practices, workforce trends, leadership, and management development. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, published in The Harvard Business Review, and quoted in Business Week, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and many other newspapers through The Associated Press, as an expert on employee retention. He publishes a quarterly e-newsletter—Keeping the People Report, writes a periodic commentary on managing talent for The Kansas City Star.
1. Resist calling employees in to work
during scheduled time off. If conditions
periodically require more staff - resulting
from either seasonal demand or high
employee turnover - managers should
proactively engage employees in planning
how to distribute the workload.
While some individuals may find it
difficult to fit added hours into their
schedules, a planned workload increase
will be easier to manage than calling
employees in to work using an ad hoc
approach.
2. Maintain an employee training
program. The survey results confirm
that businesses where training is
perceived as sufficient are more likely to
outperform their counterparts in
employee retention. Some respondents
emphasized that training promotes
much more than higher levels of
customer service - it also provides
employees with a realistic view of what
to expect on the job, limiting the
potential for unmet expectations and
resulting disappointment. In addition,
the earlier employees achieve full competence
in their tasks, the earlier they
become satisfied, engaged employees.
3. Offer competitive pay rates.
Compensation is - not surprisingly - a
factor in employee retention, but not as
powerful as many employers believe.
Competitive pay was the factor most
frequently cited in employers’ open-ended
statements about how to retain
employees. However, fair pay was
not a significant factor associated with
employees’ inclination to stay with their
employers. In any case, it is important
to ensure that the full value of compensation,
and particularly of benefits, is
clearly communicated to employees as
part of a competitive package.
4. Engage with employees, and recognize
and reward good behaviour.
This study confirmed that providing
recognition for a job well done and clearly
defining performance expectations
are important in boosting employee
retention. Clarifying procedures and
ensuring workplace efficiency are also
key retention factors. For example,
facilities where processes to address
work-related problems are clear, and
where job-critical equipment is repaired
quickly and efficiently, show the highest
levels of retention.
Non-management staff members who
see supervisors as accommodating
their conflicts between work and family
responsibilities are also more inclined
to remain with that employer.
Recruitment and retention of the right employees is one of the most difficult and critical aspects of the HR function in companies and organisations both large and small. Fortunately there are new ways for agencies and companies to select the right employees and retain them.
Lindi Dickinson, head of Pastel People Placements in Softline Pastel, says the procedural progress made in recruitment and retention is even more important in small to medium-size companies.
“An important differentiator in selecting job candidates in the current environment is the identification of talent, as people's skills may often differ from their degree or diploma qualifications.” Dickinson adds that a “Predictive Index®" (PI®) service available from a third party supplier provides a highly efficient means of identifying talent. It is based upon a checklist that candidates fill in and the resulting information is extrapolated to define each candidate's inherent characteristics.
“Each job specification is matched to a specific PI questionnaire, allowing the identification and measurement of key performance areas (KPAs), which in turn assists to match the job specification with an individual's talents. “A job-seeker may have the minimum qualification requirements for the position, but the talent evaluation is the real decider. The Predictive Index offers three 'pictures' of the candidates, which assists in identifying who they really are and what they perceive themselves to be. More importantly, it also reveals their 'displayed' behaviour, in other words defining the real person behind the interview façade.”
Dickinson stresses that this information is absolutely critical to enable the placement agency to determine the person best suited for a particular position. People with talent can be taught and their skills are easily modified. “Placing the wrong candidate can be costly, and identifying the fit within the company culture is also an important aspect that the PI system is able to check. This ensures that the candidate fits the general personality picture for the particular industry, which is important for employee retention. It is therefore also vital to conduct credit checks, criminal checks and reference checks. “It also pays to test the competency of employees in their specified skills and their ability in various software programs – whether they are beginners, have intermediate level skills or advanced skills.”
The recruitment environment has changed quite markedly in the past decade and Dickinson says job candidates are quite particular about what they require from their employment. “They will also bring their own conditions to the employment process, for example, they want to be able to work within a radius of 10km from their home; or they want a temporary contract for the first two to three months so that they can be sure it is an environment that suits them; and they are far more litigation conscious. “
“Loyalty is on the wane. Working for the same company for 25 years is not on the agenda and candidates want to advance quickly into senior positions. Offers of higher positions and better pay and conditions elsewhere are usually taken up.” Dickinson says in this environment SME companies with up to 200 employees have to get it right first time. To achieve the desired levels of employee retention, the company has to ensure candidates fit into the company culture and receive the right training and grooming; if not - time, effort and money are wasted. “Applicable training is most important. It allows new employees to settle in quickly and provide the company with an immediate return on investment.”
Employees are no longer totally motivated by remuneration. Dickinson says potential employees place a lot more emphasis on benefits that companies are able to provide. These include crèches, canteens, gymnasium facilities and flexible working hours. “Employees look for transparency and want to feel that they are an integral part of the business by being kept informed. They look for monthly staff briefings where they are given information on the company status – revenue per department, Profit Before Interest and Tax (PBIT), new industry trends, training courses available, opportunities for advancement and so on. The environment they seek is one of lifelong learning in terms of a career, not just a job, so succession planning is important.”
As the recruitment arm of Softline Pastel Accounting and Softline Pastel Payroll, Dickinson says the division not only conducts internal placements, but also placements for its national customer base. While there is an emphasis on bookkeeping and payroll skills, recruitment and retention services for sales and administrative posts are also conducted.
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