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Wyndham Looks to Leap Language Gap

Think your job is tough to navigate? Try doing it when you don’t speak your boss’ language. That’s the situation many hospitality employees are caught in. While hotels have among the most diverse workplaces of any industry, workers who can’t speak English are stuck in the lowest-level, dead-end positions.



    Those are the people whom Dallas-based Wyndham Hotels has in mind for its new self-guiding voluntary education program called “Sed de Saber” (Thirst for Knowledge), launched in April. While just 40 employees are currently participating, with another 40 on a waiting list, the company expects to expand the fledgling program with the goal of eventually boosting morale, retention and customer service and improving the employees’ ability to win promotions.


    The program includes a battery-operated LeapPad portable system from LeapFrog, a company that makes technology-based educational products. The system has interactive modules that incorporate pictures, sounds and activities. The program begins with basic English and advances through tutorials for language used on the job as well as in everyday settings such as the grocery store and doctor’s office, with lessons in how to make an appointment, write a check–even how to call in sick. Employees who took part in the Sed de Saber pilot improved their language skills by 25 percent in just four weeks.


    The cost to Wyndham is $250 per unit. Employees use the units for free, can take them home, work at their own pace and return them when they’ve completed the modules. For the program’s launch, Wyndham purchased 40 units for 18 of the company’s 150 hotels. Of Wyndham’s 22,000 employees, 41 percent are Hispanic, but the company does not track or document their English-speaking ability.


    “Sed de Saber is targeted to those employees who traditionally work in the heart-of-house areas who have limited contact with guests and limited opportunity to practice their English,” says Steven Schuller, vice president of organizational development and staff. “We opted against traditional language programs, such as ESL at a local college, because we’ve found the quality depends on the instructors. We also looked at online programs, but many of our target employees don’t have a home computer.”


To further improve communication among workers and between supervisors and employees, the company has a similar LeapFrog program in the works geared toward teaching Spanish skills to English speakers.


Workforce Management, July 2005, p. 17 —Subscribe Now!

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5 Questions for David Arkless


David Arkless
Senior vice president for corporate affairs, Manpower

China’s remarkable economic growth has not overshadowed its need for better management and efficiency. Now, a pilot project between employment services firm Manpower and Chinese labor authorities is aimed at improving training and placement for workers in Shanghai. David Arkless talks to Workforce Management staff writer Jonathan Pont about the problems that businesses and government officials in Shanghai intend to fix.



Workforce Management: How would you characterize the potential in this market from the perspective of a firm looking to set up operations in China?


David Arkless: Right now foreign companies invest a billion dollars a week into China. But if you look at its GDP, foreign investment is a tiny part of what’s happening there. The Chinese economy, many say, will be the largest consumer economy in the world in 10 or 15 years. What companies say when they come to us, by far, is not about offshoring or to get lower labor costs. They want to be in the middle of the fastest-growing consumer economy in the world.



WM: How does this initiative differ from what the company has done in the past in China?


Arkless: We took the classic approach to enter China: Form a joint venture, then develop a wholly owned foreign entity. You start organic operations, hire locals, train them in your systems and open offices. Now, we’re forecasting the need for talent in professional and vocational areas in six-month, 12-month and five-year periods by surveying over 100,000 of the municipality’s investors, state-owned businesses, government, universities.



WM: Which challenges will you address in the Chinese labor market?


Arkless: China invests more in vocational training than any other country. The problem is matching the skilled people with economic requirements of places like Shanghai. In employment offices, we’ll have Internet-based skills assessment. That means the minute a student walks in, a series of tests in Mandarin will tell us the vocational area he’s suited to.



WM: How is it working with Chinese government officials?


Arkless: I found the process refreshing. They’re among the most intelligent and forward-looking government officials I’ve met anywhere. They’re saying, “We know if we’re going to be competitive, we need flexibility and productivity in the workforce.” State-owned entities are being told, “You’d better learn to compete against foreign entities. … You’re going to be private in a few years.”



WM: What’s the most surprising thing about modern Chinese capitalism?


Arkless: They’re embracing it, and it’s changing quickly. There are still some old characteristics. They wonder why we work on such short horizons when their economy has been running for 5,000 years. The cities have become dynamic and fast-moving. They’ve got the long-term view and the desire to get things running in the short term very quickly. They still call it a socialist economy, but it’s behaving like an open one.


Workforce Management, July 2005, p. 18 —Subscribe Now!

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A Reward in the U.S. May Not Be a Reward Overseas

As U.S.-based multinational companies expand and the use of incentives grows in Europe, both sides of the pond are learning a thing or two about recognition.



    The Dublin-based incentives company Globoforce recently opened its U.S. operations in Westborough, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. It found that while it had to educate European companies on why they should consider incentive awards, it also had to educate American companies about why they need to put equivalent effort into their incentives for Europeans, Globoforce CEO Eric Mosley says.


    American companies, for example, commonly have their foreign-based employees choose gifts from a catalog or arrange for stellar performers to automatically receive electronic devices like CD players or television sets. The company goes through the expense of packaging, mailing and dealing with tariffs and complicated forms to send an electronic device abroad to a deserving employee. These are pulled from the same warehouse shelf as the awards for U.S.-based employees. This is a major blunder, given differing electrical currents among some continents.


    The result is often an unwrapped box on the receiving end that figuratively shouts, “Management cannot bother with catering to your needs!” All that does is alienate the employee who’s supposed to be receiving a reward. “The recipient feels like ‘I’ve done a lot of great work, but this feels like a slap in the face because they don’t understand my culture,’ ” Mosley says.


    Having served the Irish and other European operations of clients such as Intel, Avnet, Reuters and British Telecom since its 1999 inception, Globoforce has begun picking up U.S. business. Companies are streamlining their awards and recognition programs so that “wherever they have employees, the employees are all recognized in the same degree,” Mosley says. “It creates harmony across the company.”


    When companies do reward–regardless of where their home base is– they tend to do so for the same reasons: increased productivity, timely completion of projects or hitting sales goals.


    Globoforce is one of a handful of providers working across borders to help American companies realize that even if European employee aren’t as accustomed to the concept of incentives, that’s no reason to reward them at a lesser rate than they would their American employees. The important objective is to understand their different needs, Mosley says.


    For example, redemptions in the retail culture differ from one country to the next, he says. The U.S. has a department store culture, and giving gift certificates to big retail chains and restaurants is popular. Italians may prefer a small fashion boutique; Germans a sports store. In China and other parts of Asia, gift certificates are not prevalent, and recipients often appreciate a tangible gift, Mosley says.


    Be aware, however, of the monetary value placed on some awards. Because of differences in cost of living, a night on the town in the U.S. could equate to buying a car in India. Therefore, rewards should be locally adjusted for the actual cost of living in the particular country. Says Mosley, “It is not fair when rewarding the same behavior gives someone the chance to buy a car and someone else lunch.”

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Family Turmoil Aside, the Incentives Business has Proved Rewarding for Maritz

When it comes to keeping workers happy, loyal and believing that their employers are appreciative of their efforts, St. Louis-based Maritz Inc. prides itself on being the silent partner of thousands of companies who run a variety of incentive and recognition programs. Maritz, a $1.2 billion reward and recognition provider and market researcher, counts among its clients 28 of the world’s largest organizations.



    With 4,000-plus employees worldwide, more than half of whom are in the St. Louis area, the family-owned, privately held company operates seven related businesses, including Maritz Rewards, Maritz Incentives, Maritz Travel and Maritz Loyalty Marketing. Many of Maritz Incentives’ clients, including American Express and Marriott International, have been listed among the best companies to work for by Fortune magazine.


    Under its own roof, Maritz employees are treated to some of the best incentive programs around, and the St. Louis Business Journal has ranked the company as one of the best places to work at in that community.


    But that good feeling does not necessarily hold for some people with the Maritz surname. Almost from the beginning of its history, Maritz has been marked by family-ownership tensions, and they persist to this day. The company also underwent an internal shake-up in January 2004 with the departure of Brian Fitzpatrick, president of the incentives division, and some 30 other employees.


    Internal bumps notwithstanding, Maritz is a significant player in the incentives and recognition industry, with total revenues that have hovered between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion in any given year, according to the company. Forbes’ lists of the 500 largest private companies in the U.S. put Maritz at No. 166 in 2003, with $1.4 billion in revenue. For the 2005 fiscal year, it slid to 227, with $1.2 billion in revenue.


    While revenue was down last year, the company had a 10 percent increase in year-over-year earnings in 2005.


    “We made more money in fiscal year ’05 than in all the previous years we’ve been in business,” CFO Jim Kienker says. Revenue dropped because of a decline in corporate travel after the Sept. 11 attacks and because Maritz sold three of its businesses in March 2004: Delve, Maritz Research’s data collection unit; TRBI, Maritz Research’s London subsidiary; and TQ3 Travel Solutions, its corporate travel subsidiary.



New leadership
    Maritz says its incentives business is taking shape under the direction of Jane Herod, who was named president of Maritz Incentives in August, replacing Fitzpatrick.


    “Under Jane Herod’s leadership, Maritz Incentives is focusing on identifying and targeting reward and recognition solutions and awards to a company’s particular objectives (because) companies are dealing with a lot of change in today’s business climate,” says Paula Godar, director of marketing communications at Maritz Incentives.


“What family business hasn’t had
their problems? Keeping everybody happy and everybody speaking is
not easy. A lot of private companies
go through this.”
–Jean Hobler, middle sibling of the Maritz clan


    Maritz vice president and managing consultant Rodger Stotz says that while there have been decreases in some corporate budgets in the past three to five years, clients during that time have become increasingly interested in extending incentives beyond their traditional use with the sales force. They want to use them for employees in nonsales positions too.


    “They are concerned about the employees feeling stressed or not feeling that the corporate culture is supporting them to the degree that they would like,” says Stotz, who works from a home office in Connecticut when not traveling.


    To meet that challenge, Maritz looks at more than just incentives, he says.


    “We get involved with the learning aspects of organizations. And we utilize the Internet and Web-based applications for monitoring, measuring and communicating the incentive plan, as well as providing faster feedback to the participants of incentive plans.”


    With such technology underpinning its business, Maritz today is a far cry from the company’s beginnings in 1894 as a fine jewelry maker.


    The family patriarch, Edward Maritz, died in 1929, the year of the great stock market crash. The business nearly crumbled. Holding on were sons and co-CEOs James and Lloyd, who were left in the desperate situation of having to sign over the equity in their homes in order to secure loans to keep the business afloat.


    In 1950, their children James Jr. and his cousin Lloyd Jr. split the company in two after a dispute, leaving James Jr. running the 20-year-old sales division that sold watches, jewelry and other merchandise to companies as incentive awards. This comprises the Maritz Inc. that is best known today.


    When James Maritz died in 1981, James Jr. and younger brother Bill became co-CEOs, while James Jr. also served as chairman. Bill doubled as president, a title that his brother, six years his senior, held 20 years earlier.


    According to a Wall Street Journal report, Bill decided in January 1983 that he no longer wanted to share the top position with his brother. But it was unclear who should have the CEO job. Middle sibling Jean Hobler, who evenly controlled one-third of the stock with her brothers, reluctantly chose a consultant to select the best leader. The consultant picked Bill, and soon after, Jim’s share was bought out. After 37 years at the company, Jim retired. The two brothers never spoke again, the Journal reported.


    Now a former Maritz board member who sold her stake in the company in 1994, Hobler, at 79, has outlived her feuding brothers only to see her nephews carry on the dueling tradition.


    “What family business hasn’t had their problems?” she asks in a phone interview in early June. “Keeping everybody happy and everybody speaking is not easy. A lot of private companies go through this.”


    In 1998, Bill Maritz turned the CEO title over to middle son Steve, who began at the company in 1983 as an account manager for the former Maritz Motivation Co. By February 2000, Steve’s older brother Peter and younger brother Philip were removed from the board seats they had held since 1994.


    Peter and Philip retain their total 40 percent stake in the company, versus Steve’s 60 percent, but the two have for years been embroiled in a lawsuit against Maritz Inc.


    A revised suit filed in spring 2004 asks for Maritz to be dissolved and that the proceeds from the liquidation be used to buy out their holdings, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Peter Maritz says he prefers not to discuss the lawsuit.


    In a written statement, the company said the minority shareholders’ claims are “completely without merit.”


    “The litigation is just the latest tactic in their long-standing campaign to coerce the company to buy their shares for an exorbitant price,” the statement continues. “Our legal position is very strong and we will defend the case vigorously.”



Keeping tabs
    While family issues buzz at lesser or greater volume in the background, Maritz goes about its business.


    On the incentive side, many clients consolidate their rewards and recognition programs and have them accessed, monitored and managed via an online portal.


    An important aspect of online reporting is that it helps executives keep better track of how their managers use rewards. One company knew managers were dipping into the rewards budgets, but really had no idea who was being awarded prizes, why they won, or what they actually received as prizes. With online reporting, that information can be tracked.


    Also with online reporting, Maritz or an in-house awards coordinator can see who is racking up points but not redeeming them, or who is not recording their sales in order to automatically qualify for points. Those employees can be reminded via e-mail or online notices to use them or lose points before they are zeroed out at the start of the next quarter, or even to enter their sales so that they can claim an award.



Business link
    Incentive programs need to support business goals, and with Maritz’s help, Bank of America Corp. has been able to strengthen connections between the two.


    “When I look back to where our programs were several years ago, there were some great things being giving out to associates, but they weren’t necessarily consistently tied to the results the business is trying to achieve,” says Rick Bradley, senior vice president and manager of the recognition and awards program for Bank of America.


    With 175,000 associates and 22 different lines of business across 29 states and about as many countries, Bank of America had multiple reward systems in place prior to Maritz helping it implement the Bank of America Spirit Awards program three years ago.


    Under the old system, an employee from the small-business division, one from the mortgage company and one from personal banking–all working out of the same center–were being rewarded differently, Bradley says.


    One associate might have received a bank-branded T-shirt or coffee mug, while another may have received a leather portfolio or something more significant for the same type of performance, he says. And since employees talk, the inconsistent reward structure defeated its purpose in many cases.


    Maritz brought an infrastructure that allowed employees to choose a reward by simply accruing points and cashing them in for items in an online catalog.


    Perhaps the ultimate test for an incentive provider is how it treats its own employees.


    Maritz began rewarding its nonsales employees in the 1970s, long before it became a trend among its clients, says Stotz. It has a number of programs and uses cash and non-cash rewards and recognition to cite employees for jobs well done.



Workforce Management, July 2005, pp. 74-75 —Subscribe Now!

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Diagnosis for Ills at GM Questioned


General Motors chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner added to the auto manufacturer’s steady flow of bad news when he disclosed at the company’s annual meeting of shareholders last month that the company will reduce its U.S. manufacturing workforce by 25,000 jobs.


In explaining the move, Wagoner placed a large share of the blame on GM’s liberal health care benefits package, which he says adds $1,500 to the price of every vehicle it sells. Health care expenses, he said, put GM at a significant disadvantage to overseas competitors.


“Left unaddressed, this will make a big difference in our ability to compete in investment, technology and other key contributors to our future success,” Wagoner told the GM shareholders.


Richard Shoemaker, a vice president for the United Auto Workers, said in his initial reaction to Wagoner’s state-of-the business address that the company needs to rebuild its U.S. market share and work on getting the right product mix of vehicles. But union officials later indicated that the UAW was willing to work within its current contract, set to expire in 2007, to reduce health care costs.


Paul Dennett, the American Benefits Council’s vice president for health policy, says GM’s announcement is somewhat sobering because the company is one of the leaders in creating innovative health benefit programs.


“It’s basic,” Dennett says of the problem facing companies. “If you have health care costs continuing to increase at roughly 10 percent while wages and the cost of other goods and services are increasing at the lower rate of inflation, it isn’t long before health care becomes one of your largest components.”


General Motors spent $5.2 billion on health care in 2004 and has 21/2 retirees on its health care rolls for each active employee. But critics say blaming health care costs may be diverting attention away from more significant problems.


In recent years the company has lost billions in questionable investments. Some of its car models have been criticized as boring. Strategically, the company has been criticized for losing market share and failing to protect its base in the U.S. while focusing on overseas markets such as Asia.


Maryann Keller, a longtime automotive industry analyst and author, has studied GM for 30 years. She says that the company carries much of the blame for the drain on its bottom line created by health care benefits. The company signed a series of generous contracts that apparently did not anticipate its current struggles.


“Nobody put their feet to the fire and forced them to sign these contracts,” she says.


Blaming health care costs is shortsighted, she says.


“Let’s say you took away the health care burden and the cost came down,” she says. “Do you honestly think that tomorrow General Motors would sell more cars?”


Dennett says GM can innovate with programs like managed care and efforts to steer employees to the best-quality care, but much of the problem is beyond the company’s control.


“Employers face a real dilemma in that they don’t have direct control over the costs of health care services provided to their employees,” Dennett says. “GM’s innovations are going to help, but these things take time to produce results, and time is often a commodity that is in short supply.”


—Douglas P. Shuit

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Dear Workforce How Do We Create an Equitable System for Offering More Paid Time Off

Dear Time:



Flexible scheduling is a hot commodity. Employees always have valued different types of compensation and benefits, depending on both their lifestyle and stage in life. Baby boomers are looking toward retirement. Gen Xers expect increased responsibilities. Gen Y workers require variety. Throw family demands on top of all that and you see that one-size-fits-all work schedules won’t retain high performers.

Nothing says you can’t grant extra time off for a job well done (unless they’re not exempt from overtime rules, and you’re trying to do this instead of providing overtime). With a little imagination and a lot of management support, you can structure a variable paid-time-off or flexible work schedule. Employees can elect paid time off vs. additional compensation as a reward for high performance. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, exempt employees aren’t supposed to be paid by the hour anyhow. You pay them for results, whether they work one hour or 60 hours a week.

Sabbatical programs provide another option. This benefit could be applied generally to all employees, as it is at McDonald’s. It also could be highly selective (based on specific performance or other criteria), as it is at some professional services firms.

You’ll need to run this by your legal department to make sure you’re structuring this program in a way that complies with the FLSA rules and is also nondiscriminatory.

SOURCE: Robert Fulton, managing director, The Pathfinder’s Group, Inc., an affiliate ofThe Chatfield Group, Chicago, July 29, 2004.

LEARN MORE: A Reward Money Can’t Buy.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Japan’s High Cost of Living

Tokyo and Osaka are the world’s most expensive cities, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s annual cost-of-living survey released Monday.

London is the third most expensive city, followed by Moscow; Seoul, South Korea; and Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland. In the U.S., New York is the most expensive, while Winston- Salem, North Carolina, is the cheapest. For cities of the 10 new entrants into the European Union last year, Budapest, Hungary, is the most costly. Bucharest, Romania, is the least expensive city in all of Europe.


Mercer says that Canada is getting a little more costly because of the strength of the Canadian dollar, but Toronto is still low on the list, less expensive than smaller towns such as Morristown, New Jersey

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Dear Workforce How Could We Use Statistics to Meaningfully Analyze Our Hiring?

Dear Lies:



You’ve got a good start with your search variables. Here are five additional things you should know when all is said and done.

1. Who hired these people?

2. In each case, was the turnover regrettable? (Be brutally honest.)

3. Looking at your experience across a reasonable period of time, what trends do you notice?

4. How do the demographics and responses of those who left compare with those of people who have stayed with your organization?

5. Looking at the personal demographics (age, race, sex, etc.) of the sample population, what differences, if any, do you notice?

You might also benefit from gathering some qualitative data against which to match the quantitative information. For example, what are the individual recruiting habits of the hiring managers identified by your search? Do they recruit constantly? Do they use a hiring profile? What type of interview process is used? What type of new-employee orientation is used?

We will assume that you’ll use appropriate data-gathering techniques and that you will involve a sufficient population in a broad enough time span to yield meaningful results.

As for the interpretation and application of results, look at the data to answer the following questions:

1. Which managers seem to be doing a particularly effective job of recruiting and retention? What can you learn from their efforts, and how can you best give them credit for their results?

2. Conversely, which managers struggle in this area? What help do they need?

3. To what degree is your retention problem related to recruiting, as opposed to job-satisfaction factors?

4. What systemic factors seem to be helping/hindering your efforts? Which of those factors present the highest-yield opportunities?

5. What are the three most actionable findings revealed by this effort, and what could be done about them? Who would be a good champion for each initiative? What metrics can you use to measure progress?

To stay tightly focused, look for an initial short list of three high-yield systemic improvements you can make, an equal number of smaller, more specific changes, and a handful of better practices you can recognize and replicate. When you have them, get going, even though others might want to study it to death. Good luck, and have some fun with your project.

SOURCE: Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette, co-authors,Contented Cows Give Better Milk, www.ContentedCows.com, August 5, 2004.

LEARN MORE: Strategic Human Resources Actions.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce How Do We Manage Performance Year-Round, Not Just at Appraisal Time?

Dear Proactive:



Your question is one of the most important that human resources professionals could ask. The implications for your organization’s return on investment are enormous. Managing performance is a continuous process of coaching and counseling–of giving individual feedback on performance in a constructive, goal-focused manner. In the case of poor performers, it may require the added step of documenting your conversations. Regardless, you’ll have to serve as a coach all year, not simply when doing annual appraisals.

Managing employee performance can’t be an afterthought if it’s going to work. You have to start long before you hire someone. Central to this is examining the critical goals for the job–those things for which the person would be held accountable. This analysis is far more comprehensive than a job description. Rather, these areas of accountability define why you’re creating the position in the first place. This knowledge enables you to identify the most important competencies for achieving those goals, including behaviors, motivators, skills/attributes and values.

You have to communicate effectively and in great detail to bring about changes in individuals. That’s the heart of coaching. These conversations can be at the water cooler or in a closed-door scheduled meeting. No matter where it occurs, make sure your discussion is well structured and outlines a clear purpose.

The Coaching Conversation Model, developed by Dallas-based CoachWorks International, outlines five specific steps for a meaningful discussion with employees. They are summarized as follows:

1. Establish focus. Understand the employee’s agenda and be sure that project goals are understood. Clarify any gaps between the goals and the person’s skill level.

2. Discover possibilities. Quiet your mind and listen nonjudgmentally to employees. Repeat what they say to confirm/clarify meaning. Help individuals draw out the consequences of their suggestions, and share personal experiences that relate to ideas that surface.

3. Guide development of an action plan. Regardless of the situation, always focus on the outcomes desired rather than the problem experienced. Divide large projects into bite-sized chunks and set target dates for completion.

4. Explore resources, uncover barriers. Ask questions to figure out the resources you’ll need. This also uncovers possible business and personal barriers. Determine what’s needed to clear these hurdles. Make note of where a manager can assist by ensuring cooperation with others, providing resources, changing work priorities as needed or delegating authority.

5. Have the employees recap. Ask employees to review what has been learned. Gain a commitment from them on the actions that should be taken before future meetings. Re-emphasize your support and how you will help. Establish accountability and time for follow-up.

In summary, identifying job goals, zeroing in on competencies and coaching employees provide a best-practices approach to managing your workforce.

SOURCE: Carl Nielson, principal, The Nielson Group, Dallas, July 27, 2004.

LEARN MORE: How to Wow Employees with Appraisals.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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