People Profits Planet

People Profits Planet is the theme of People Report and Black Box Intelligence as we help service industry organizations grow and flourish.

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Introducing the Restaurant Industry Snapshot | BlackBoxIntelligence

Via Scoop.it - People Profits Planet 'This snapshot will provide monthly insight into not just sales performance, but also important employee and consumer data.” - CEO Wallace Doolin... Show original

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Have you noticed the large inverse correlation between the number of pundits and politicians now saying that President Obama should focus on jobs, and the small number of ideas being put forth to actually create them? One reason we hear so few specific big ideas about creating jobs is that to do so on the scale necessary to impact 9.1% unemployment would require an enormously ambitious and probably expensive agenda. Of the many negative consequences of the debt ceiling debacle, perhaps the greatest of all has been the national accommodation and acclimation to thinking small. But that's where presidential leadership is supposed to come in. Presidents are elected and paid to think bigger than the rest of us -- to not be constrained by petty political considerations -- even given the reality of the political environment in which they operate. From Lincoln to FDR, from Nixon to Reagan, we've seen presidents take risks when the stakes were high. President Obama needs to do more than call for a renewed focus on job creation as he did in his weekend radio address. He needs to put forth ideas on the scale that the problem exists, to show what our nation needs to do, not just center the debate around what some believe we can afford to do. In reducing the federal budget we have also reduced the national imagination. The political failure we are witnessing today is not just a failure of fiscal discipline or of political civility, or even of long-range thinking. It is a failure of imagination. As I learned in writing The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men, that is what most failures are really all about. Of course presidents don't have a monopoly on big ideas. Other policymakers, academics and advocates have a responsibility to step up as well. Enough cowering under the covers as unfavorable political winds blow. Let's debate what we'd like to do, and then we can talk about whether it is worth the price. Our politicians might be surprised to learn just how much most Americans, who are more used to sacrifice than the elites, are willing to do to get this country working again.

Follow Billy Shore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billshore

[peopleprofitsplanet]

[peopleprofitsplanet]

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Kelley Fernbacher is the director of non-profit outreach at BroadCause, a social good platform that unites people, brands and non-profit organizations to activate passionate communities around the causes that are most important to them. Follow BroadCause on Twitter and Facebook, or support BroadC...

[peopleprofitsplanet]

One of our most valued and respected partners, Constellation Brands, is a terrific example of a company that believes in the principles of People, Profits and Planet.  Their website banner says it all - “Constellation Brands is committed to the land, people and communities where we live and work."  Their website is full of examples of how the company is leveraging their resources to help others, to their commitment to sustainable growing practices, and to engaging their employees in their mission. We salute them, and are proud to know that they are part of our People Report and Black Box Intelligence community. 

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Operator Optimism in the NRA Restaurant Index - and some insight from Hudson Riehle, SVP Research - on the go!

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Meaning Is the New Money

Wednesday March 23, 2011  |

Over the last year, I've been doing a lot of research on how organizations will need to evolve to meet the demands of the 21st century. The central premise of this work is that new technologies, most of which have appeared only within the last decade, greatly amplify our abilities to interact simultaneously with large numbers of people. The frontier of human productive capacity today is the power of extended collaboration — the ability to work together beyond the scope of small groups.

But doing this successfully turns out to rub up against a number of assumptions that are deeply embedded in the ways most organizations still operate today — assumptions that are no longer valid, but are so deeply buried that we fail to question whether or not it makes sense to do things the same way.

Here's one assumption many organizations live by: If you can see your employees working, they're productive. If you pay them more, they'll work harder.

Working in a world of extended collaboration asks individuals to contribute through a different and, in many ways, more complex set of activities. Workers must deal with rich content that flows through infinite links. Individuals must make intelligent, well-informed decisions about what to share with whom (and what not to) with less guidance from the hierarchy to simplify the patterns of interaction. And they must dig deep within themselves to form innovative ideas and put their best thinking forward.

To a large extent, the conduct of these activities is not something managers can prescribe or even monitor. Unlike process-based work, in which the goal is to perform synchronized tasks consistently and reliably, extended collaboration occurs asynchronously and is often aimed at discovering or developing something new. Rather than requiring everyone to be in the same place at the same time, extended collaboration can occur virtually. In process-based work, quality can be assured through in-process inspection and performance judged on conformity to process specifications, while the quality of collaborative work can typically be assessed only by the results achieved.

Perhaps most significantly, extended collaboration requires high levels of discretionary effort. People have to choose to do it and have to want to do it well. Leaders can create a context in which that is likely to happen, but collaboration cannot be mandated. It requires high levels of employee engagement.

When employees are engaged, they are excited and enthusiastic about what they're doing and enjoy pondering current challenges. They invite others in and are emotionally contagious. Engaged employees identify proudly with the organization and their work. These are the conditions that drive individuals' desires to collaborate in business.

My research has clearly shown that high levels of engagement, and the associated discretionary effort, occur when our work experiences reflect a clear set of values that we share. For many today, meaning is the new money. It's what people are looking for at work. Clear company values, translated into the day-to-day work experience, are one of the strongest drivers of an engaged workforce, one primed for successful collaboration.

As the old assumption that managers can "oversee" the quality of people's work and pay more to motivate more falls away, the role of leadership shifts from adopting and enforcing best practices to crafting unique experiences that reinforce the organization's values. It becomes less important to be all things to all people and more important to attract and retain people who value what you have to offer. Rather than offering a little of everything, companies must shift to excelling in specific areas that align with their unique values.

By strengthening meaning and increasing engagement, firms can connect with and motivate employees whenever and wherever they work. Does your organization still rely on physical presence for oversight and money for motivation? What changes do you see ahead?

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Batrus Hollweg Walks the People Profits Planet Talk...

Mean, Lean and...Green!

By Heather Graham Following the most recent People Report Best Practices Conference titled: People, Profits, Planet, our group here at BHI has been finding ways to be “more green” and reduce our own carbon foot print. We are bouncing around ideas such as recycling programs and paperless conservation practices and hope to get a company-wide initiative rolling out with a bang. Truth be told, we are getting many of our ideas from our very own clients! One of the major areas of our concern is the overuse of paper. Did you know that the average American uses more than 748 pounds of paper per year? Further, it is estimated the 95% of business information is still stored on paper. With all the technology available today, it is a wonder how we still manage to go through so much paper! We are not only working internally to reduce the use of paper, but are also helping our clients move towards a completely paperless hiring and onboarding process. Through our efforts, we have discovered that often, the reservations of entirely paperless processes can be surmounted with a little care and attention to the details. Further, the benefits of a paperless hiring process far outweigh the challenges, particularly in regard to legal compliance, man hours saved, and overall satisfaction. Below are a couple of tips in case your company is thinking of going green with a paperless process: • All of your systems (field especially) should meet the minimum system requirements to ensure a seamless user experience • Find a system that is extremely easy to navigate and allows all actions to be “one-click” –nothing slows hiring managers down more than window after window navigating through a system • Utilize an applicant tracking system with automatic reporting functions that will allow you to measure your HR analytics with the touch of a button. • Work with your team to identify which of your current paper forms are still relevant and determine what (if not all aspects) can be condensed or consolidated through an ATS. This helps ensure that you are collecting what you need and keeping the process simple and streamlined for the candidate. Of course, with any large-scale change such as this, there are some hurdles. Making this decision can be daunting but also very exciting! Not only can a paperless process add value through efficiency, but also keeps the money in the bank and the leaves on the trees; green all around! To learn more about other benefits of going green, click on our Making Green by Going Green case study: http://bit.ly/eRk9J5.

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Time to Go Back To Summer Camp June 7-9 Dallas, TX

www.peoplereportsc.com

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Unskilled Labor

Perhaps it's time for a new definition.

Unskilled labor is what you call someone who merely has skills that most everyone else has.

If it's not scarce, why pay extra?

Skills matter. The unemployment rate for US workers without a college education is almost triple that for those with one. Even the college rate is still too high, though.  On the other hand, the unemployment rate for skilled neurosurgeons, talented database designers and motivated recombinant DNA biologists is essentially zero, despite the high pay in all three fields.

Unskilled now means not-specially skilled. 

[peopleprofitsplanet]

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Published: March 1, 2011

If Alison Sadock had finished college before the financial crisis, she probably would have done something corporate. Maybe a job in retail, or finance, or brand management at a big company — the kind of work her oldest sister, who graduated in the economically effervescent year of 2005, does at PepsiCo.

Ms. Sadock says people who graduated in 2009, like her, “had to think deeper about our careers.”

“You know, a normal job,” Ms. Sadock says.

But she graduated in a deep recession in the spring of 2009 when jobs were scarce. Instead of the merchandising career she had imagined, she landed in public service, working on behalf of America’s sickest children.

Ms. Sadock is part of a cohort of young college graduates who ended up doing good because the economy did them wrong.

As job hunts became tough after the crisis, anecdotal evidence suggested that more young people considered public service. Exactly how big that shift was is now becoming clear: In 2009 alone, 16 percent more young college graduates worked for the federal government than in the previous year and 11 percent more for nonprofit groups, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the American Community Survey of the United States Census Bureau. A smaller Labor Department survey showed that the share of educated young people in these jobs continued to rise last year.

“It’s not uncommon for me to hear of over 100 applications for a nonprofit position, sometimes many more than that, and many more Ivy League college graduates applying than before,” said Diana Aviv, chief executive of Independent Sector, a trade group for nonprofits. “Some of these people haven’t been employed for a while and are happy to have something. But once they’re there, they’ve recalibrated and reoriented themselves toward public service.”

It is not clear, though, whether a different starting point will truly “recalibrate” these workers’ long-term career aspirations — that is, whether their newfound paths will stick, or if they will jump to more lucrative careers when jobs are more plentiful.

Renewed interest in public service is visible across the country. Applications for AmeriCorps positions have nearly tripled to 258,829 in 2010 from 91,399 in 2008. The number of applicants for Teach for America climbed 32 percent last year, to a record 46,359. Organizations like Harvard’s Center for Public Interest Careers have been overwhelmed — and overjoyed — with the swelling demand from talented 20-somethings.

Several factors probably contributed to these phenomena. Perhaps President Obama indeed made public service “cool” as he had promised during his presidential campaign. Some experts say millennials — those who grew up in the 1990s or the 21st century — are unusually big-hearted, maybe because of the community service requirements they had in school.

“The millennial generation is a generation that is just more interested in making a difference than making a dollar,” said Max Stier, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that advises government recruiting efforts.

And indeed, the numbers of educated young people working in public service jobs had been rising ever so slightly since the turn of the millennium.

The sudden surge in 2009, though, suggests that the absence of traditional private sector jobs forced many of the country’s best and brightest into lower-paying, if psychically rewarding, work.

Since the recession began three years ago, the private sector has shed 7 percent of its jobs. The federal government, meanwhile, has expanded its payrolls 3 percent.

While many of those who graduated in 2008 got whisked off to high-paying jobs in consulting and finance, the graduates of the barren years of 2009 and 2010 were not courted in the same way. They were mostly left to scrounge about for their own job leads.

“We had to think deeper about our careers, and different kinds of careers,” Ms. Sadock says.

A consumer affairs and business major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ms. Sadock spent the summer before her senior year as an intern in the buying department at Kohl’s. She assumed she would exit school with a job in retail as a merchandising analyst.

“I wasn’t really sure what types of jobs existed,” she said. “Retail was what I knew, and nonprofit jobs didn’t really pop into my head as opportunities.”

She sent résumés all over the place, with no luck. The summer after graduation she moved home to Greenwich, Conn., where she and six high school friends commiserated over their dire employment prospects. They banded together to form Grads4Hire, a Babysitters-Club-esque group that did odd jobs like catering and secretarial work.

The members of Grads4Hire also advertised that they would do one hour of community service for every job they booked. They were all active volunteers in college — in the case of Ms. Sadock, through her sorority’s partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization devoted to children with life-threatening illnesses.

This was a way to “give back,” Ms. Sadock said, and also make themselves “a little more marketable.” It was her first clue that her interests in public service and in paying her bills were in any way related.

At the end of the summer, she moved to Los Angeles to work part time as a personal assistant. Meanwhile, she began searching for a full-time job.

One acquaintance mentioned an opening at Starlight Children’s Foundation, an organization providing entertainment, education and other support to seriously ill children.

Ms. Sadock was an attractive candidate for Starlight. In addition to her volunteer work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she had a résumé item Starlight was not used to seeing: a business degree.

Ms. Sadock was hired almost immediately as a corporate accounts assistant, working with corporate donors like California Pizza Kitchen and Wyndham Hotels on marketing and sponsorship opportunities for Starlight’s programs.

The job is, she says, a perfect application of everything she was trained to do, and had originally planned to do, for the private sector.

“But now I’m serving a purpose,” she says, rather than just “helping some large corporation sell more widgets.”

Like Ms. Sadock, many of the dozen other young graduates interviewed for this story say that, in retrospect, they are grateful the private sector shut them out.

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Rethink with Paul Barron - is business in Hyper Speed and can we keep up? (via socialcoco)

[stoweboyd]

[peopleprofitsplanet]

This blog from Stowe Boyd, Social Philosopher and Webthropologist,  is a great reminder how fast workplace communication is/can/should be changing - and how important it is to reach employees where they are - which is clearly not in an email box.

The Comscore 2010 US Digital Year In Review demonstrates one fact very clearly: email is doomed.

Taking as a given that what the kids and young adults are rejecting today will die off quickly, it’s fairly clear that email is on a steep trajectory and will crash in the next decade.

I recall...

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Latest People Report Workforce Index offers positive signs for industry February 2, 2011 | By Dina Berta  

Employee turnover at restaurants is on the rise, another indicator that the industry is in a recovery, according to the latest People Report Workforce Index.

For the first quarter of 2011, the People Report Workforce Index, or PRWI, found that 47 percent of surveyed companies reported increases in hourly worker turnover and 49 percent recorded higher management turnover. In last year’s first quarter, only 13 percent of companies reported increased hourly worker turnover and 33 percent saw higher management turnover.

“Turnover has been at historic lows for the last two years, but it is starting to catch up with us,” said Michael Harms, senior business analyst for People Report, a Dallas-based firm that tracks human resources data for more than 100 operators.

The index surveyed 66 restaurant companies, including McDonald’s Corp., Darden Restaurants Inc. and The Cheesecake Factory Inc., on employment expectations for the first three months of the year. The quarterly index measures five workforce components: the actual increase or decrease in employee headcount, the anticipated increase or decrease in numbers of employees, recruiting difficulty, job vacancies and turnover.

Turnover typically improves as the economy improves, Harms said.

The People Report index noted that its sister organization, Black Box Intelligence, marked modest sales growth for the industry in the second half of 2010. Black Box tracks sales and operations data for member companies.

Read more: http://nrn.com/article/employee-turnover-restaurants?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#ixzz1CqIBbK00

[peopleprofitsplanet]

Lowering Healthcare Costs

[peopleprofitsplanet]

A-Game Rap: featuring 19 year old Zaxby's employee and Atlanta rapper Mardy Mar, this video highlights the terrific work being done by Eric Chester, Matt Smith and the team over at the A-Game; work ethic training that is rolling out nationally to prepare high school students for jobs in the service sector.  Over 85 workforce centers across the US and so far about 30 schools are on board.  Savvy restaurant & retail companies including many People Report members are using the A-Game joblink to start filling their employee pipelines.  

A teen that raps about why hard work is cool isn’t something you see everyday!  Best of luck to Mardy Mar, Zaxby’s and the leaders that are supporting the A-Game.  You can meet Eric and Matt this June at Summer Camp.