Case StudiesIn this Together  

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that people who are happy in their jobs are likely to stay and those who are not will probably leave. But, what makes people stay? More and more research suggests that training and an employee's work environment are significant factors.

That's what upscale grocery chain Lunds and Byerly's discovered when it introduced Media Partner's In This Together video training program three years ago. Since then, the company has added almost a half a million to its bottom line each year due to the savings associated with a 50 percent drop in turnover. Krag Swartz, director of training and development at Lunds and Byerly's credits the introduction of its respect training as the turning point for lowering the company's turnover.

Lunds and Byerly's has three manufacturing facilities and 20 high-end gourmet markets in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. It also had an 80 percent turnover rate seven years ago, said Swartz. "It was good according to industry standards, but not to us."

IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING PC, IT'S ABOUT BEING RESPONSIBLE

In This Together: An Engaging Look at Harassment and Respect is based on the premise that disrespect is at the root of all harassment. The video brings together a hip, casual, and believable group of employees to discuss basic issues of respect through an opinion survey that engages the viewer. It addresses issues of common courtesy and respect and offers a holistic approach to preventing harassment by encouraging employees to think about their own behaviors and what they mean.

COMPANY RESEARCHES AND ESTABLISHES A BENCHMARK

Swartz said that he thought the company was spending a lot of money on turnover and decided to do a little research. "I saw big numbers," he said. "We turned over 2,900 people the year I was looking at it." Swartz looked at research commissioned by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council that was specific to the food industry.

According to Swartz, the research put the cost of turning over one part-time employee at $2,100. Armed with the research, he approached the operations and executive management teams. "That number was outrageous to them," he said.

MANAGERS COME UP WITH THEIR OWN TURNOVER DATA

So Swartz suggested they come up with their own number. "The hidden costs of turnover are intangible," said Swartz. "They didn't want to hear about inexperience, lost sales, or lost customers," he said. "They only wanted to address the basics - hiring, interviewing, the cost of a uniform."

Turning over 2,900 employees per year at a cost of $317 per employee equates to almost a million dollars, or $919,300 to be exact. "That's when I said to them, 'that's what hits our bottom line. We don't get an invoice for that.' "

COMPANY STARTS WITH BASIC RESPECT TRAINING

Swartz said that they knew it was important to come up with some lasting things that would differentiate Lunds and Byerly's as an employer. "We needed to change thinking," he said. "We had a revolving door and our GMs were desperate to find people and keep them."

"But no one sees the villain," Swartz said. "We didn't think it was our culture." According to Swartz, they focused on the shift that seemed to have the highest turnover - the 4-to-midnight deli shift - and asked: Why are those employees so unhappy?

"For starters, they never see their manager," said Swartz. "When we started to talk about people issues, we eventually started looking at our culture. Loyalty was rewarded, not performance."

"So we decided to start with something very basic," he said. They realized they needed to get people in alignment with how they were being treated and how they were treating others. The company decided to combine respect training with discussion about vision, mission, and values training.

According to Swartz, In This Together offered an excellent way to broaden the topic of sexual harassment and respect to the ways we should treat one another. Swartz said that he had seen numerous respect and harassment training programs. But when he saw In This Together, he thought, "Wow, here is a simple message that has so much clarity."

But, does it seem far-fetched to attribute such a significant drop in turnover to a video-based training program?

"But, if you just pop it in and leave the room, it's not going to do anything for you," Swartz said. "You have to encourage discussion. You have to make it important. You have to make respect a living, breathing thing."

COMPANY WANTS TO BECOME PREFERRED EMPLOYER

Swartz said, "It's a very powerful training program and we've cascaded a whole lot of other things around it to help us become a preferred employer." Things like performance-based rewards, recognition programs, and tuition assistance. "We thought that if we focus on people first, everything else will fall into place," he said.

And judging by the company's reputation, it seems to be working. According to Swartz, "When you say you work for Lunds and Byerly's - at least in the Twin Cities area -- it means something special."

As Lunds and Byerly's have learned, a respectful work environment means a lot. "We have the good fortune of having a good reputation for being a great place to shop," said Swartz. "That reputation was earned generations before me."

COMPANY ASKS EMPLOYEES TO GRADE COMPANY EFFORTS

As part of their ongoing efforts to maintain an environment in which employees are respectful, Lunds and Byerly's offer refresher training. During the refresher training, employees answer questions, on a scale of 1 - 10, that basically ask "How are we doing?" explained Swartz, adding that "if employees feel the company deserves a 6, then, we ask how can we make it a 10?"

TRAINING PROGRAM REPRESENTATIVE OF LUNDS AND BYERLY'S CULTURE

Swartz said that the training program sounds and feels like Lunds and Byerly's. "When you look at it and watch it, you say that's us!" explained Swartz. "It's who we are and who we want to be and how we want to be."

According to Swartz, in addition to being a part of the company's orientation for new employees, the video is used for one-on-one counseling for any employee who has difficulty appreciating people's differences and is also offered as part of respect reminder training that the company offers six months and 18 months after initial training.

"We don't want to change the culture anymore," said Swartz. "We have a respectful work environment. People are happier and employees are staying with us. But, we want to stay on top of it."

...go to IN THIS TOGETHER VIDEO product page

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