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Keyboard Courses at Work or Home

Inside the offices of QUALCOMM Inc., San Diego, a senior electrical engineer is sitting in a cubicle tapping away on a computer keyboard. At the moment, she s not calculating complex formulas or designing the next generation of wireless chips. She’s simply viewing her personnel records and taking stock of her accomplishments via the company intranet. With the click of a mouse, she can review the courses and training modules she has already completed, and see what s required for a promotion. The information is customized for her specific position.


After spending a few minutes perusing course descriptions, the engineer clicks on an e-form to make a selection: she opts for a business management course that’s conducted through the corporate intranet. In an instant, she s able to receive course materials, including videos, slides, and interactive quizzes. What s more, she is able to log on from home or while on the road. It s efficient, it s painless, and it is helping QUALCOMM dial into the 21st century.


It s no secret that many organizations have turned to computer-based training (CBT) and distance learning over the last few years. According to some estimates, it s now in excess of a $1.5 billion industry. But few have focused their energies as ambitiously as QUALCOMM, the inventor of code division multiple access (CDMA) technology that s used for digital wireless communication throughout the U.S. and beyond.


The 6,000-plus-employee firm–which also sells Eudora e-mail software and until recently manufactured digital mobile phones–now offers more than 250 course modules online. These range from basic word processing to technical design and engineering. QUALCOMM also offers employees the opportunity to obtain an MBA through San Diego State University and a master s in electrical engineering through the University of Southern California s distance learning program.


“Because our founders come from an academic background,” says Dawn Ridz, a human resources specialist at QUALCOMM, “we ve always been committed to education through continual learning and training. The organization s entrepreneurial spirit, which focuses on education and learning, is essential within such a highly competitive arena. Over the years, that philosophy has become deeply ingrained in the mindset and culture.”


That you can credit to Irwin M. Jacobs, a 66-year-old former Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering professor who co-founded the company in 1985 and has built it into a telecommunications industry powerhouse. Jacobs, the firm s chief executive, believes that ongoing learning and profits go hand in hand. And who s to argue? Last year, QUALCOMM s sales topped $3.9 billion, with an 85 percent profit increase. The firm s digital technology has been adopted as a global standard for next-generation wireless cell phones. It receives a license fee almost every time a digital phone is sold.


They know their stuff.
At QUALCOMM s sprawling campus of 18 buildings near UC San Diego, that might seem like reason to celebrate. But within the firm s offices, labs, and research facilities, it s business as usual. And in this case that means employees taking courses. Lots and lots of courses. Last year, the firm tallied just shy of 94,000 hours of classroom training and tens of thousands of hours more of online instruction.


Employees–including those at offices in Boulder, Indianapolis, Winston-Salem, Portland, and Santa Clara, and in Israel–learn about an array of business and technical topics, including finance for non-finance managers, goal setting, negotiation, conflict resolution, business writing, creativity and innovation, and a slew of technical and engineering topics.


The program falls into four general categories:


1. Technical CDMA courses, which total 10 topics (9 classroom based and 1 CD-ROM)


2. Computer training/engineering courses, 61 total topics (49 classroom based and 33 online)


3. Manufacturing courses, 17 total topics (17 classroom based and 2 online)


4. Professional/management development, 37 total topics (36 classroom based and 12 online).


From the beginning, QUALCOMM s goal has been to provide cutting-edge training that fits different learning schedules, says Ridz. That meant making some courses available online 24-7. It meant addressing different learning styles by providing conventional classrooms as well as computers. And it meant customizing the online instruction to fit QUALCOMM s culture and critical business needs. Ridz notes that classroom instructors are top experts in their fields and that CBT and other training materials are viewed as alternatives to classroom learning. Consequently, some courses are offered both online and in the classroom.


Managing courses and content is no simple matter, however. That s why QUALCOMM uses so-called Learning Specialists to track the needs of various business units. These individuals monitor staff meetings, meet regularly with senior management, and conduct group needs assessments. Once specialists identify a new training need, they work with vendors and management to define a course and create appropriate and unique content. “Material that s covered in a course is specifically tailored to QUALCOMM,” Ridz explains.


Then, it s up to employees to boost their skills and competencies. Leaders of various business units determine which courses, if any, are mandatory (most required courses center on business management), and supervisors offer advice, suggestions, and coaching along the way.


“If a supervisor feels that an employee s presentation skills or database skills could use improvement, then it s likely that he or she will suggest that the individual sign up,” Ridz explains.


However, many courses are entirely optional and help build expertise that can benefit the person on the job and in a career. As an added incentive, QUALCOMM offers an annual education allowance of $5,250 per employee.


But QUALCOMM doesn t stop there. One thing that makes the program so effective is that it is tightly integrated into a competency management initiative. In August 1999, QUALCOMM introduced MySource, an intranet-based self-service tool that list the classes that an employee is currently enrolled in, as well as the courses taken and certificates and degrees earned. The Learning Center Web site allows employees to map out suggested coursed, given their job duties/department. The two systems work together to provide a complete training picture for the Qualcomm employee.


Managers, on the other hand, benefit from being aware of the learning needs of individuals, teams, and entire departments. It s then possible to slot employees into specific classes. The MySource system–built in-house by QUALCOMM–ties into a PeopleSoft database to track the information across the corporation. That also lets supervisors use the information for performance appraisals, strategic planning, and deploying personnel.


Sitting at a computer, employees typically log on to the corporate intranet, surf through course offerings, and, with a few clicks, enroll in the desired classes. There s no cumbersome registration process and no paperwork. MySource automates everything and even provides assistance about what courses might be relevant, on the basis of a person s job title or skills. A portion of the system called My Development displays a list of classes in which an employee is already enrolled and courses already passed, along with the dates.


Yet the program offers enough flexibility to let employees obtain training material on a just-in-time basis. Instead of a manager signing up for a course on coaching or conflict resolution and waiting three weeks, he can access a short-course and obtain valuable information on the spot.


Says Ridz: “By dealing with issues as they arise, it s possible to resolve things far more effectively. If there s too long a delay getting needed information or knowledge, a manager can be at a tremendous disadvantage.”


The objective, says Ridz, “is to make things easier for employees while providing the level of information and learning that the organization requires.” Like many other companies, QUALCOMM has discovered that centralized training often isn t cost effective. Fly hundreds of employees a year into a central training site, put them up in hotels, bury them with binders filled with paperwork, and the cost can easily run into millions of dollars.


According to Brandon Hall, editor and publisher of Multimedia and Internet Training Newsletter, it s not uncommon for online training to slash the cost of a program by 50 to 70 percent. “Traditional training is labor and capital intensive. Although it can provide a huge payoff, it doesn t come without a tremendous amount of corporate resources,” he explains.


QUALCOMM s online coursework harnesses the power of the Web along with the ability of PCs to provide an interactive experience. For example, hyperlinks let employees jump through complex documents and obtain definitions and more information, when appropriate. Text, photographs, illustrations, videos, audio, and quizzes help employees master a set of skills or specific knowledge before moving on to another topic.


And so that QUALCOMM can continually refine the program, participants fill out online evaluations at the completion of a module or course. The most common questions become part of FAQs (frequently asked questions), and content is continually tweaked. “We re constantly looking for ways to refine and improve the overall program,” Ridz points out.


One of the biggest advantages for employees, she adds, is that online coursework doesn t set arbitrary limitations about time. QUALCOMM s employees increasingly are attending courses in the evenings, on weekends, and while traveling–allowing them to better juggle their daily workloads and balance work-life issues. And because the program offers “information on demand,” workers aren t subjected to sitting in a classroom simply because an instructor and classroom were available at a particular time. They can take breaks, cope with interruptions, and learn as needed.


Everybody wins in the end.
Make no mistake, QUALCOMM is doing all it can to ensure that its employees are wired for the future. In an era when knowledge is key, it s unlocking the full potential of its workforce through training, employee self-service, and competency management.


“Ongoing learning is one of the things that gives us a competitive advantage,” Ridz explains. “It offers enormous benefits for QUALCOMM and all the company s employees. It has played a large role in defining the company and leading to our success.”


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 88-92.


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Partners Awaken Cultural Change

Walk down the hallway of any U.S. high school today, and it won’t take long before you realize something has changed. And we’re not just talking about students wearing baggy pants.


“Many kids feel they need to give off the impression that they’re tough. They’re scared of [seeming] vulnerable,” says Michelle Robles, a senior at Bullard Havens vocational-technical school in Bridgeport, Connecticut.


In the past few years we’ve seen this “you-can’t-hurt-me” attitude evoke a number of shocking events on school grounds. Yet before most Americans knew a place called Littleton, Colorado, even existed, the Bureau of Human Resources at Connecticut’s Department of Education took a hard stand against violence in the state’s regional vocational-technical school (RVTS) system.


“Teachers were becoming afraid of some students,” says Vivian Kotler-Haas, the Bureau’s EAP consultant. “I was getting an increasing number of calls from teachers, especially from inner-city schools, who felt they weren’t able to do their jobs. They felt threatened by students, and they didn’t know how to rectify their fears to meet the needs of these kids.”


Late homework was the least of their worries. Complaints often included disrespect, intimidation, classroom disruptions and threats–issues that many teachers wouldn’t have expected, much less were trained to handle only several years ago.


Statistics supported teachers’ fears. During the 1995 to 1996 school year, students in the state’s vo-tech system lost 16,000 school days due to suspensions. During the same year, Connecticut vocational-tech students took part in a national survey which reported that more than half had threatened to harm another student or teacher.


Says Aaron Silvia, president of the teachers’ union for the state’s vocational-tech school system: “There was a permissiveness outside of the schools that we hadn’t seen in the classroom until a few years ago. Then there was a carryover of that permissive manner into the school as to what students thought was acceptable and what the schools thought was acceptable. The staff was having difficulty dealing with this new mindset that kids were bringing in.”


As director of staff development at the Department of Education’s Bureau of Human Resources, Marilyn Quinn knew this problem needed an answer, but it would require effort from all sides of the school system.


“Teachers were feeling like they didn’t have the skills they needed to deal with the level of problems they were having in their classrooms, and it was taking time away from their teaching,” says Quinn. “We agreed that this problem was important and that we could most effectively bring about changes by working with the school administration and the teachers’ union.” Therefore, the Bureau of human resources initiated a partnership with the state vocational-technical school superintendent’s office and with the teachers’ union, the State Vocational Federation of Teachers.


Together, the trio sought a conflict-resolution and mediation program that would create a safer learning environment for all RVTSS staff and students, thus improving productivity.


While conflict resolution isn’t new, the Bureau of HR’s delivery of their program is worthy of the Optimas Award for Partnership particularly because they worked with limited resources, and they reacted quickly in response to their teachers’ needs–which in turn enhanced the otherwise adversarial relationship between labor and management.


Overcoming the HR challenges of a public organization.
The HR team decided to target the vocational-tech schools because administration for that school system falls under the direction of the Connecticut Board of Education. Otherwise, they’d have to operate through several layers of other state agencies. “It’s a nice arrangement because we statutory control over the administration of the contract negotiations,” says Dick Wilber, chief of the bureau. “Otherwise we would have to work through other levels of bureaucracy, and we wouldn’t have the influence over the process that we do under the law.”


However, being a smaller subset of the state’s school system in no way means the group is small. Among the 17 high schools and three satellites in the Connecticut vocational-technical school community there are 10,000 full-time high school students, 7,000 mostly part-time adult students and 1,400 teachers, administrators and support staff.


“Because of the scope of the problem,” says Quinn, “it could only be addressed if everyone helped out–not just the assistant principal who traditionally dealt with discipline problems, but students, teachers, bus drivers, janitors, administrators, parents and community organizations.” Not only is the staff diverse in terms of position, but all 20 sites are spread out in urban, suburban and rural areas, each with unique problems that vary depending on the region.


Based on the number and variety of people the program needed to reach, it isn’t surprising that the conflict-resolution program needed financial support. Wilber explains the program wouldn’t have been possible without a $130,000 grant that was awarded to them in 1996. “I went to a Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services conference, where I learned of the availability of grant money for collaborations between labor and management. I came back from that conference and approached the teachers’ union, who also had heard about it. Using the direction of labor relations, which falls under the Bureau of HR’s area of responsibility, I was able to use this as a vehicle to approach the superintendent in the vo-tech schools, and that’s really when it began.”


For Quinn, the grant meant teachers as well as regular staff would receive the conflict-resolution skills that were now so imperative to their jobs. With dual motives in mind–school-environment safety and labor-management relations–this was HR’s chance to really prove to these teachers that its intentions were good, and that it was making a strong effort to support its employees.


However, their audience wasn’t as receptive to the idea as they had hoped.


Like many HR departments at private organizations, the Bureau of HR wasn’t taken seriously at first. While the conflict-resolution program sure sounded like a good idea, it was tough to earn teachers’ faith. “This is a statewide system with 20 different locations with varying degrees of problems, interests, populations and demographics,” Wilber explains. “Selling this program and getting buy-in from the faculty in the schools required a lot of effort for them to believe that we were serious–that this wasn’t going to be, ‘Here comes Hartford again with another half-baked idea and it’s going to go away.’”


Union president Aaron Silvia adds, “One of the difficulties on my end was the potential perception of having sold out–that you’re in bed with management. Even if the reasons were explained as to why it’s in our best interest to collaborate in this endeavor, there’s suspicion that there’ll be a carryover into other areas where there shouldn’t be collaboration–when we have to stand our ground and fight, us against them.”


Not only were teachers wary of HR’s intentions, but top management, whose support was crucial to the program, wasn’t exactly thrilled about the bureau’s proposal, either. “Until we were able to identify some data that this program was needed, some people were unsure of the value and merit of this program,” says Drew Soltys, educational consultant for the superintendent’s office.


Add to this the irritatingly constant changeover in union leadership and top management–for example, the role of RVTS superintendent had changed hands three times since 1995. It was like a perpetual cycle in which Quinn and Wilber had to persuade new leaders that the program would work. Meanwhile, the two have been in the Bureau of HR for more than 10 years. They remained–and still are–the stable force behind the project, ensuring that every newcomer to the table understands the benefits of collaboration.


It took some compromise to turn the tide. All sides had to consider what was most important: safety. “There were differences in opinion over certain issues,” explains Soltys, who with the assistant superintendent played a major role in convincing skeptics that the initiative was a win-win. “However, it is part of the mission of the school system to have a safe learning environment. No one could argue that this was an issue that both groups, union and management, had vested interest.”


What pushed HR over the buy-in hurdle was the serious nature of the topic and shared interest in improving the situation. By teaching conflict-resolution skills, HR was trying to change the unhealthy culture that was growing not only in the state’s vo-tech schools but also in schools nationwide. After that realization, it didn’t matter whether the Bureau had good intentions or not. Something had to be done, and HR was willing to stick its neck out by developing the conflict-resolution program. Soltys explains: “Student safety is a common interest that will always supercede differences of opinion between labor and management.” The school system, from union to management, strongly agreed.


Let the change begin!
To begin the culture change, the labor-management project team clarified the purpose of the conflict-resolution program: to raise awareness of ways to prevent conflicts that could damage the school environment, as well as ways to intervene when problems occur.


The Connecticut partners followed the lead of a conflict-resolution program that had been in place at the public school system in Brooklyn, New York, which was reaping great results. However, before they could teach students, they had to teach themselves. The bulk of the grant money went toward training the RVTS faculty and staff in basic conflict-resolution skills during the first two years of the project.


Bonnie Edmondson was one of six trainers who took the workshops to all the schools and conducted training workshops to the 1,400 RVTS staff members in 1996. “We went around to the schools and trained the staff, saying, ‘This is what your students will be learning, and we want you to learn, too, so that you can form a common language with them,’” she explains. “This was a true effort to change the culture of the school.”


Each school’s curriculum was customized to that school’s needs, depending on its most challenging problems. Topics that were raised most often included communication skills, negotiation, and anger management. The sessions were conducted over a period of six months. The project team then asked Edmondson to spearhead the integration of the program full time for one year, putting her teaching on hiatus. During this time, she developed resource libraries throughout the school system, and was available to provide additional training.


“The training raised awareness about how vital these skills are, and that it’s never too late to start adjusting your own behavior and modeling behavior for students,” says Edmondson. “Change doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a series of changes that must happen over time, but this is an awesome beginning.”


After the staff was trained, then came the students. Peer mediation was the primary intervention strategy. Whereas the staff training passed down conflict-resolution skills to students, peer mediation had a more direct impact. Each year, several students at each school are trained to be peer mediators, who in turn help teach other students through peer mediation and by example. Mediation offers case-by-case assistance in a non-intimidating, level playing ground for students who act out when confronted with a problem.


“A lot of the conflicts arise from gossip and he-said/she-said situations,” says Susan Cribari, school psychologist and peer mediation advisor at Bullard Havens in Bridgeport. “Most times these kids haven’t been hurt before, so they can’t articulate what they’re feeling. These meetings define the emotions that are underneath the anger, and show students that they’re being heard and understood–most importantly by the person with whom they have conflict.” Bullard Havens conducted 41 mediations during the 1998–1999 school year.


Michelle Robles, one of the peer mediators at Bullard Havens, adds: “Our job is to make them realize, ‘I could have handled that situation differently.’” Robles herself used peer mediation to resolve problems before she was trained to be a mediator two years ago. Though mediators volunteer to complete a number of training workshops, all RVTS students go through a 15-hour conflict-resolution component of a Life Skills class, which is a required health class that all 10,000 students take during each of their four years in the school system.


As a peer mediator, Robles offers an objective ear for other students, but she also informally applies the skills she learned to her personal life. “Last year a student picked a fight with me, and my first reaction was to get defensive,” Robles recounts. “I got angry. But I realized I needed to talk with this other student. Now, instead of having a third person to mediate conflict, I can handle it on my own. It just takes some patience.”


The conflict-resolution program has opened yet another door for Robles; though she has been studying machine drafting at the technical school, she’d like to pursue a degree in counseling.


School is the first work environment.
Together, the staff training, peer mediation and student life skills classes have been the basis of a very successful program. For example, peer mediation at E.C. Goodwin vocational-technical school in New Britain, Connecticut, settled 53 conflicts the year after the program began, potentially averting 36 suspensions, or 100 suspension days.


However, remember the original goal: raise awareness and teach skills. “Through the training, and then the follow up, the mission was accomplished,” says Silvia of the teachers’ union. “Since that’s finished, now there are other developments to be done. This was only round one. Now we’re ready for rounds two and three.”


Next, HR is bringing peer mediation for employees into the ring. “Because of the many inquiries we’ve received, we’ve had to turn some peer mediator applicants away. That tells me teachers see these skills as a benefit,” says Quinn.


And, of course, learning is never finished, so the program is ongoing. Every year brings in a new group of students that need to learn the same skills. Fortunately, the conflict-resolution program’s long-term effects extend beyond the school system into workplaces all over Connecticut. “With this program, we’re offering students non-violent ways to settle conflicts,” explains Joe LaVorgna, director of Bullard Havens in Bridgeport. “Kids shouldn’t fight not because it’s wrong but because it’s contrary to the workplace for which we’re preparing them–contrary to the very nature of a vo-tech school. It’s not about how we talk with each other but about how to work effectively.”


In teaching students this lesson, labor and management also have taught themselves a thing or two about working effectively. While there are still disagreements regarding some issues, the cooperation they found in the development of the conflict-resolution program has opened communication. Now union leaders and management meet monthly, and discussion isn’t limited to the conflict-resolution program.


“Once you start to get along and communicate as we have now, we meet about issues that go beyond school climate and school safety. We discuss many issues that we wouldn’t have before,” says Soltys of the superintendent’s office. “We now have a permanent way for communicating between union and management, and it’s because of this program; it was the catalyst.”


If their relationship needed a catalyst, then it’s the Bureau of HR that acted as the mad chemist. The potentially volatile mix of labor and management promptly responded to the need for cultural change thanks to HR’s efforts.


Quinn couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. “Everyone understood that no single group could do this alone,” she says. “We really had to all work together because this was a huge, ambitious undertaking. We really needed each other to make this work.”


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 72-78.


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Five Initiatives for Growth

Through a series of meetings, Bayer Corp.’s Roadmap for Change team came up with five initiatives for the site to focus on. Here’s an outline:


1. Define site goals and strategy (and communicate them in interactive employee conferences).
Because there was such concern about job security, the Roadmap for Change team felt that employees would benefit by understanding the strategy for the Myerstown site. Having a long-term perspective would then help employees see how shorter-term goals fit into the strategy.


2. Develop a site communication process.
Based on feedback from employees, it was felt that they were getting their information from the “rumor mill” rather than from management. Supervisors didn’t think that they had ready access to information and felt obligation to give employees some type of response to questions, even if they didn’t have appropriate information. The Roadmap for Change team thought that a communication process that would provide supervisors with consistent information that they could share with employees periodically would benefit the site.


3. Develop hourly employee and supervisory role definitions and competency profiles.
Prior to Bayer’s acquisition of Sterling Winthrop, there was a project to change to a team-based environment at the Myerstown location. Most supervisors and hourly employees went through training to prepare for this. In addition, the site was reorganized into focused factory teams. However, once reductions in force started, the project became less of a priority and team training ceased. The result was confusion among hourly workers as well as supervisors regarding decision-making, span of control, roles, and so on.


4. Identify areas of perceived inconsistencies in site practices/policies and determine appropriate action.
One result of forming “focused factory teams” was that factories implemented some HR practices differently. As a result, some thought that employees were being treated differently in the focused factories. This had resulted in a perception of “unfair” or at least inconsistent treatment of some employees.


5. Develop a performance measurement process (performance scorecard system).
Employees felt that they were busy, but they didn’t have a feeling of how well or poorly the overall site’s performance was. In addition, there was little in the way of tying site performance to individual performance. In the case of hourly workers, an existing performance feedback process had ceased to be used. The Roadmap for Change team felt that there should be some way of communicating site performance to employees and relating that to individual performance feedback.


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 68


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Strategic Benefits Are Meaningful, Too

The benefits at SAS Institute stack up in such a way that they go from being good (three subsidized cafeterias, casual dress every day); to being impressive (profit-sharing, which has been 15 percent of salary every year for 23 years, domestic-partner benefits, no limit to sick days); to being hard to believe (free health insurance, with an onsite medical clinic staffed by doctors and nurse practitioners; free laundering of sweaty gym clothes overnight, with return the next morning to your locker).


Soccer fields, baseball diamonds, co-ed workout areas and single-sex workout areas, pool tables–it almost seems like virtually every amenity the company HR department could think of, it decided to offer.


However, what accounts for the value of SAS’ benefits is that they are anything but random. They resonate with SAS employees because they are benefits SAS employees want, and because these people know the company wants its employees to have a life beyond work. There isn’t a hypocritical disconnection between having a gym, but expecting employees to work 60 hours a week.


That’s why the gym is almost never empty, that’s why there are baby seats in the company cafeterias, that’s why the company gate swings closed at 6 p.m. each evening–and why the benefits evolve.


This year, the company expects to add financial planning services to its line-up–there’s strong demand for such advice from hundreds of SAS employees who can suddenly see college costs and retirement needs on the horizon.


As befits a company that specializes in statistical analysis software, there’s a process for adding benefits, including a three-prong test for whether a newly suggested benefit should be approved.


Does the benefit fit the culture at SAS? Would it have a positive effect on a significant number of employees and their families? Is it cost accountable–would the benefit be valued by those using it at the same level as the expense of providing it?


Said David Russo, who was director of human resources at SAS for 18 years until last November: “This is not the good ship Lollipop. The benefits we offer are just the tangible stuff that represent [founder] Jim Goodnight’s philosophy. A lot of companies think they have created a culture of caring, but the employees don’t feel it. People put things together, but they are counter to the culture, and they are not being used.


“Jim’s idea is, if you hire adults, and treat them like adults, they’ll behave like adults.”


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 42.


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Blending a Successful Workforce

Bob Andrews can’t make it through the day without a Protein Berry Pizazz, one of his favorite smoothies created by San Francisco-based Jamba Juice. As director of human resources, Andrews says he’s never worked so hard in his life. Nor has he had so much fun. “If the fun were to go away, I’d know it was time for me to go,” he says.


Jamba Juice, this year’s Optimas Winner for Competitive Advantage, is a leading retail purveyor of blended-to-order smoothies, fresh-squeezed juices, healthy soups, and breads. Even the company’s name shouts, “Have a good time”; jamba is a West African word that means “celebration.” Visit its Web site (http://www.jambajuice.com) and you’ll encounter an array of oranges, strawberries, celery, and bananas swirling across the computer screen like a tornado.


Founded in April 1990 by CEO Kirk Perron, the store first opened as Juice Club in San Luis Obispo. By 1993, Juice Club had opened two additional stores. And by 1994, it had nearly quadrupled its size, with 11 stores in operation.


In July 1995, the company relocated its home office to San Francisco and introduced its new store concept, Jamba Juice. Today, there are approximately 300 stores in 15 states. Most are located in the western region of the United States, including Hawaii.


With 4,000 employees, mostly part-time “team members,” Jamba Juice is growing faster than customers can say Kiwi-Berry-Burner.


“We’re a high-growth company, and the competition is fierce,” says Chris Baer, vice president of human resources. “HR’s main challenge is people–finding and keeping them.” That’s no small feat in the smoothie market, estimated to be a $400 million industry.


Two years ago, Jamba Juice ranked number 38 on Inc.’s 1998 list of 500 entrepreneurial superstars. Moreover, some business analysts believe that the smoothie market may replicate the growth of specialty coffees witnessed in the early 1990s.


Given those hopeful predictions, Jamba Juice achieves its competitive advantage through a well-shaken formula. Human resources attracts candidates by marketing its popular food line, slush-fun culture, aggressive recruiting strategies, and entrepreneurial opportunities for its protein-boosted managers.


The company’s values are further articulated in the acronym FIBER, which promotes fun, integrity, balance, empowerment, and respect.


Marketing health, energy, and fun.
What’s a smoothie anyway? With names as perky as Razzmatazz and Mind Over Blueberry, the 24-ounce drinks made with fruit, ice, yogurt or sorbet, juices, and nutritious supplements called boosts are served by part-time “team members”–mostly high school and college-age students. Jamba Juice promotes these “meals” as refreshing alternatives to greasy burgers and fries.


Among health-conscious baby boomers and Gen-Xers, the word is getting out. Last year, for example, the company was featured in several national publications about the smoothie craze, including The Wall Street Journal, Pacific Business News, Menu Masters, Restaurant Business, and Entrepreneur magazines.


In one article, a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst was quoted as saying that smoothies and juice drinks tap into “a healthy living concept” in which aging baby boomers seek the “Ponce de Leon effect.”


But Baer says that Jamba Juice customers come in all shapes and sizes, even physically fit toddlers.


In other efforts to market its brand and culture, CEO Perron often appears at high-profile events. In January, he joined the festivities at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, blending smoothies for the likes of Hollywood celebs Courtney Cox, Kevin Spacey, and John Singleton.


Another way that Jamba Juice promotes its product and culture is through a campaign called “Jamba Wellennium.” Visitors to the Jamba Juice Web site can sign up for a special sweepstakes established through a partnership with California-based fitness chain 24 Hour Fitness. Winners get a Precor elliptical fitness crosstrainer, a lifecycle trainer, or a one-year membership to 24 Hour Fitness. And to further spread the gospel of wellness, the Jamba Juice site has established links to “Friends of Jamba,” including such do-gooder e-tailers as Wholefoods.com and Earthsave.com.


Clearly, the promotions help Jamba Juice expand its customer base. But HR has its sights set on fruitier rewards. In a no-unemployment market, they’re desperately seeking qualified applicants as managers and part-time team members. Says Baer: “When you’re in the recruiting business, you’re only as good as what you did yesterday.”


Recruiting is a 24-hour job.
Baer takes her own words seriously. On her office wall, she posts red and green tags to designate which jobs have been filled and which jobs are still open. The visual reminders, she says, are a fun way to track HR’s real-time hiring goals and achievements.


A lot of individuals who might have been attracted to the food industry in the past now have more options open to them: the high-tech industry, for one. Like many other companies, Jamba is looking for younger employees who are knowledgeable, outgoing, and friendly. “That could be challenging to find in this economy,” says Baer.


Also, recruitment today is very different than it was even two years ago, says Andrews. One of the biggest HR lessons he learned after switching from retail to the food industry four years ago was to change his attitude. In the past, recruiters considered individuals as liabilities if they left a job after a few years. Today, mobile employees are often perceived as being entrepreneurial. “I’m not going to look negatively anymore at someone who’s changed jobs in four- or five-year stints,” he says.


As Jamba Juice expands its operations nationwide, human resources works closely with the company’s real estate committee. As soon as a new store is identified, HR begins its proactive search four months before an official opening. The lead time allows HR to find, interview, train (general and assistant managers undergo a five-week intensive training program), and place new managers onsite before they open for business.


Searches are conducted through a variety of methods. The trick is to switch tactics when they don’t work.


For example, at the beginning of 2000, Andrews ran recruitment ads for general managers in Southern California. One major newspaper included a box ad that said Jamba Juice was hiring general managers. The company fax and e-mail addresses were provided. HR received numerous responses from candidates in the Los Angeles market. By contrast, the ads in the Bay Area reaped fewer than a dozen responses.


“So we had to be more aggressive in this market,” says Andrews. That’s when HR listed Jamba Juice on every recruiting Web site it could identify. One of them is called restaurantrecruit.com–a site to which aspiring managers in the food industry often surf. After clicking on to the site, job-seeking candidates can go directly to a Jamba Juice link to view some of the benefits offered would-be managers. If more information is sought, one is encouraged to send an e-mail.


Clearly, younger candidates who fit the Jamba profile are very savvy on the Internet. “They go to the Internet before going to the Sunday paper,” says Andrews. The advantage, of course, is that recruiting is occurring 24 hours a day, and sometimes Down Under.


With the ease of a mouse-click, individuals have responded from as far away as Australia, England, and France. If not seeking a job, some of these global Jamba Juice fans have even inquired about opening up individual franchises in their neck of the woods. But Jamba Juice currently does not offer such business opportunities, only partnerships with nontraditional venue operators (at airports and universities, for example) and co-branding alliances with select retail and service-oriented companies.


Having identified the actual job candidates, however, Andrews and another HR colleague then conduct 30-minute phone screens. It’s a weeding-out process, even though one would not expect a low-energy candidate to apply. “Believe me, I’ve had a lot of very dry conversations,” says Andrews.


Over the phone, he asks a lot of questions. A red flag, he says, is when someone complains ad nauseam about his or her last job. “I want to find someone with a sense of humor and someone who thinks the glass is half full,” he says.


Work ethic and personality are premium assets. After phone screening one candidate for district manager, Andrews arranged for the person to fly in for a face-to-face interview at the company’s Support Center in San Francisco. What made the difference on the phone was that the job seeker didn’t just talk about checklists and audits, although that was important.


“He got excited about his store visits to Jamba Juice. And I’m looking for people who want to stick around for a few years.”


Make managers feel like owners.


Another important area for Jamba is the retention of its branch leaders. As incentive to its managers, HR created a unique retention tool called the “J.U.I.C.E. Plan.” According to Baer, this idea was born a couple of years ago. HR knew that in order to keep good managers, Jamba Juice would have to create a retention tool that was atypical of the smoothie and juice industry.


To encourage the store operators to provide outstanding customer service and deliver above-industry profits, HR established the following objectives:


• Attract and retain best-in-the-industry general managers.


• Retain each manager in his or her store for three years.


• Increase the loyal user base.


• Provide general managers with meaningful financial gain for improved profitability in their stores.


• Maintain a 50 percent cash-on-cash return for the company.


The program was officially launched in October 1997 with five of Jamba’s best general managers. And on the basis of successful tests, HR then rolled out the J.U.I.C.E. plan to the entire chain in August 1998.


How does the plan work? Baer explains that the general manager receives a percentage of the store’s cash flow for a bi-period, predicated on how they run their businesses. “Our managers drive the success of their stores and whether they collect on the J.U.I.C.E. Plan,” she says.


In addition, the general manager’s ability to increase year-over-year sales allows him or her to have money accrue in a “retention account” over a three-year period. Once the manager has been in his or her store for three years, the bonus is paid.


“We just had 14 people who’ve accrued more than $10,000 for their retention bonus,” says Baer. “If you build the business well, a lot of it is going to come back to you. So we try to put our money where our mouth is.” All employees in managerial levels, she adds, receive stock options.


And if a general manager completes a three-year term and then decides to recommit to the company for an additional three years, he or she is given a three-week paid sabbatical. General managers also can receive a $1,000 bonus upon promoting an assistant manager to general manager.


Have these incentives worked? According to Baer, Jamba Juice’s turnover among managers is 8 percent lower than a year ago.


As for profits, since its founding 10 years ago, Jamba Juice has reportedly raised $47 million through private stock offerings. Sales for last year were projected to reach $150 million.


That’s a lot of pizazz for a berry fast-growing company. Wanna jamba?


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 44-48.


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IDear Workforce-I Will the Phone Stop Ringing

Q


Dear Workforce:


We are a small office (15 people). The telephone is our ONLY link to our clients and it is busy ALL the time. My problem is our employees are bringing their cell phones and pagers to work and besides our phones ringing we also have these private phones and pagers going off ALL day long. Consequently, personal calls are being taken first. What kind of a policy can I put in place to remove these cell phones and pagers?


Karen Miller, Office Manager, Chessie Lists, Inc., Silver Spring, MD


A

Dear Karen:


The phones here at Workforce.com were ringing while you asked this, so we asked Nancy Friedman, the “Telephone Doctor”® , to respond. She did:


 


How to Control Personal Phone Calls at Your Office


Are personal phone calls allowed at your office? Is the privilege being abused? Here are some Telephone Doctor ® tips on how to help control personal calls at the office (P.S.: Some might even work for you personally, at home….)


1. NEVER let an “in person” customer wait while an employee is on a personal call. If you’re talking on a business call…be sure you acknowledge the customer when they’re standing by your area. If even only by eye contact…and a smile, indicating you recognize they’re standing there.


2. Sometimes employees just don’t know how to tactfully tell a friend or relative they’re at work and unable to talk (they probably haven’t ever been shown). They may be embarrassed to tell them. Here’s a good response to that problem:


“Aunt Mary…I’d like to hear more about your trip…but I’m at work now and need to get something done for the boss. Let me call you later tonight, when we can talk more in depth. Thanks for calling…talk with you later.”


3. If you are approached by your supervisor or other internal staff, and you’re on a personal call, immediately put that personal call on hold…or better yet, conclude the call right away. Personal calls can and should wait. Office personnel shouldn’t. Remember: “we are customers to each other.”


4. When you are on a business call…and a co-worker or supervisor comes to your area: Learn to use the client’s name in the call and when a co-worker comes to your area…use it as soon as you can. This makes them aware it’s a business call…and not a personal one. (There’s not an intelligent manager around who would interrupt you on a business call). Besides…using names in a phone call is a great rapport building tip.


5. Companies need to have policies on cell phones and personal calls. Those that get abused should surrender the privilege of personal calls. Guidelines should be set as new hires come on. No employee should be surprised that personal calls or cell phones aren’t welcome. It should be in your Company Handbook.


 


SOURCE: Nancy Friedman, President of Telephone Doctor ® and a writer, author, and speaker on customer service and telephone skills, February 7, 2000. Friedman can be reached in St. Louis at 314/291-1012.


E-mail your Dear Workforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforceonline.com, along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you state otherwise, your identifying info may be used on Workforce.com and in Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.


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Moving Toward a Balanced Work Life

When software giant SAS Institute Inc. was a company of just a few dozen people–little more than a start-up back in 1981–a few of those people got pregnant. The group of pregnant women included some talented coders, as well as a particularly valuable senior manager.


Jim Goodnight, SAS’s founder and CEO, and David Russo, the company’s human resources manager at the time, talked about the prospect that the women would go on maternity leave and not return. It was a tough time to hire computer talent in Raleigh, North Carolina, and as Goodnight recalls, “very difficult to attract females.”


Goodnight told Russo, “We can’t lose these people; we’re too small a company.” At a time when the mere notion of a day-care center at work seemed silly, and when many huge companies would have considered the idea frivolous at best, Jim Goodnight decided that his tiny company was too small not to have a day care. If the way to keep talent was to have day care, it wasn’t even a difficult decision.


And so, in the basement of the company’s second building, David Russo set up SAS’s first day-care center, for about five kids.


This spring, SAS Institute’s Cary, North Carolina, headquarters campus will inaugurate its newest 200-kid day-care facility, bringing the company’s preschool child-care capacity to 700. It’s an interesting measure of Goodnight’s strategy, and his company’s success: 10 times as many children come to SAS each day now as there were employees of the company when day care started 19 years ago.


Day care may seem like an odd competitive gambit in an arena where SAS has grown to a billion dollars in sales, and 30 percent profit margins, while competing with Oracle and Microsoft, IBM and Computer Associates. (The company makes all kinds of data analysis software, the kind of data-mining and statistical programs used for everything from pharmaceutical research to managing phone networks and calculating the U.S. consumer price index.)


But day care is only one part of a human resources strategy that’s as straightforward as the rangy, blunt-spoken Goodnight himself. As much as anything else, SAS’s approach to its 6,000-person global staff is responsible for the privately held company’s consistent success.


Indeed, it’s hard to envision a company where the HR policies are more thoroughly woven into the competitive thinking, or a company where the payoff of those policies is so clear.


The benefits are great!
Goodnight believes in giving SAS staff everything they need to do a good job, including the peace of mind of having young children close at hand. SAS cafeterias have highchairs, and parent-employees are free to pluck their kids out of day care and bring them to lunch. Having removed every immediate impediment to creative thought, Goodnight expects performance.


SAS almost literally swaddles its staff in benefits: the company’s main campus offers not only low-cost day care ($250 a month) but also free access to a 36,000-square-foot gym, a putting green, sky-lit meditation rooms, and the services of a full-time in-house elder-care consultant. There’s a pianist in the caf at lunchtime, and all the free juice and soda employees want.


Every white-collar employee has a private office and the opportunity to create a flexible work schedule, and for everyone, the standard workweek is 35 hours. This year, the company increased paid vacation for all employees to three weeks; that doesn’t include the week off that SAS gives everyone from Christmas to New Year’s. After 10 years of service, you get a fourth (or, really, a fifth) week of paid vacation.


CEO Jim Goodnight believes in giving SAS employees everything they need to do a good job. Having removed every immediate impediment to creative thought, Goodnight expects performance.


The benefits are viewed not as a long list of “treats” but as a measure of respect for employees’ contributions, and their lives beyond SAS. Most professional staff at SAS could hop across the interstate in Research Triangle Park–to Nortel, or Cisco, or IBM, or Ericsson–and quickly find jobs. That they don’t is a measure of the effectiveness of SAS’s approach: treating people like adults.


The result is that SAS has one of the lowest turnover rates in the software world, never more than 5 percent a year. In 1999, the company had a professional turnover of just under 4 percent, losing 131 staffers out of 3,292. The industry average is five times that, slightly over 20 percent.


Perhaps equally revealing is that turnover is also small in the service areas; SAS employs all its own landscapers, food service workers, housekeepers, and other support staff, and provides them the same benefits as professional staff. Among service staff in 1999, turnover was just over 11 percent, about a tenth the typical churn in such jobs.


“Ninety-five percent of our assets drive out the gate every afternoon at five,” says Goodnight. “I want them to come back in the morning. I need them to come back in the morning.”


In a competitive business where employees hopscotch from company to company in search of richer stock options, and where companies build staffs of consultants and permatemps to avoid overhead, Goodnight has created just the opposite: a culture of loyalty.


The purpose of gaining such loyalty isn’t to win awards (though SAS has been in the top 10 of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” three years running) or to make Goodnight feel good. The culture at SAS provides the company with a powerful competitive edge.


Consider a 15-person product team at a typical software company,with a typical 20 percent turnover. In the course of a year, 3 people leave the team, and 3 others have less than a year’s experience at the company. In other words, 6 of 15 people either aren’t around at all or hardly have a clue what’s going on.


He now sees human resources as a critical intelligence-gathering group, because the competition for talent is as important as the competition to sell products.


However, on a 15-person product team at SAS, no one leaves in the course of a year, and no one has less than a year’s experience.


“It turns out that doing the right thing, treating people right, is also the right thing for the company,” says Goodnight.


It’s also the profitable thing. Harvard Business Review recently calculated that SAS’s low turnover saves the company $75 million a year, enough to spend $12,000 extra a year on benefits for each employee. “I promise you, the majority of benefits here don’t cost $75 million,” says Goodnight.


Winners can be choosers.
The culture of loyalty pays off in an equally strategic way at the front end for SAS. These days, in a tight tech job market, for every job opening, the company gets 200 r sum s, according to Goodnight.


“To attract people,” says SAS’s newly appointed HR manager, Jeffrey Chambers, “we have to have a strong employment brand, we have to be the employer of choice, and we have to be known as a culture that engenders trust. And to keep people, we need to do all those things, and provide intellectually challenging work for employees.”


The HR staff is the primary recruiter for SAS, and Goodnight’s view of their role has evolved over the last several years. He now sees human resources as a critical intelligence-gathering group, because the competition for talent is as important as the competition to sell products.And the competition for people is a wider front: SAS wants the same kind of people as Glaxo-Wellcome or PricewaterhouseCoopers.


“I view HR as one of the main areas that does analysis of our competitors,” says Goodnight. “One of their responsibilities is to make sure we don’t get complacent about hiring.”


SAS uses its own data analysis software to look for patterns that need attention inside the company. “We noticed that we were getting some turnover specifically in the group of employees who had been here five to eight years,” says Goodnight. It’s a particularly vulnerable group. Five years is a time when employees tend to get restless, and five years of tenure is also a time when talented people are often contributing richly to the company.


“We did some competitive salary analysis and discovered we were a little below the average for just this group. So we corrected their pay. IT is moving so fast, we have to make sure we keep up.”


One measure of the impact that SAS’s HR department has of the company as a whole is the career of the new HR director. Chambers, who turns 38 on March 22, is a lawyer, and he moved from the SAS general counsel’s office to HR two years ago. He was appointed director of HR in December. “At SAS, HR has the potential for greater influence on the corporation than being an attorney here,” says Chambers. “HR has to be the catalyst that fuels our growth.”


Workforce, March 2000, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 38-42.


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Knowledge Management Isn’t Just a Technical Job

Knowledge Management and E-business are getting a lot of ink lately. We have to keep in mind that the job of journalists is to find a story. If they can t find one they manufacture one. That s fair we all exaggerate a bit now and then. But what is the story behind the hype?


What is this thing called knowledge management and what relationship, if any, does it have to e-commerce? Furthermore, what effect, if any, might either have on the structure of organizations and management of people?


Starting with knowledge management, let’s recognize that no one really manages knowledge. What the more insightful have done is set up technology and developed cultures that facilitate and promote the sharing of information across their organization.


Within these environments employees are able to access most of the information they need to do their jobs at a very high level of efficiency and effectiveness.


E-biz, on the other hand, is a new channel of advertisement and sale.


It puts buyer and seller in contact and in most cases speeds up the search, purchase and delivery. It closes the traditional dichotomy between richness (variety) vs. reach (accessibility). To take a phrase from Ma Bell, it lets your fingers do the shopping.


What possible connection could there be between those two disparate phenomena? And what difference do they make for managing human capital?


Here it is. The driver is E-biz and the support is KM. E-biz gives us the ability to rapidly search supply sources, make a selection and place an order. The key differentiator between E-biz and traditional shopping methods is speed. We find it, order it and expect to receive it quickly.


The more insightful have set up technology and developed cultures that facilitate and promote the sharing of information.


For some products it is true that we can get in our car, drive to the local store and pick it up faster. But for most business-to-business (another new acronym: B2B), and many consumer purchases E-biz is faster and gives us the ability to shop several sources quickly. So, if the consumer is expecting availability and speed then the supplier must deliver accordingly. This is where knowledge management comes in.


You’ll win with KM
KM is one of the imperatives underlying a highly competitive E-biz capability. It is possible to run an E-biz without a good KM system, but it won t be competitive. Employees of a top E-biz provider must have nearly instantaneous access to all relevant information. They need a high-speed, on-line order entry, inventory, picking and shipping system to fulfill the customer s expectations.


Customer service, sales & marketing, production, R&D and administrative personnel also need a knowledge exchange (KX) to keep up with what is happening in the market and to quickly search out sources for help in solving problems or taking advantage of opportunities.


An E-biz environment cannot function where it takes days to find help or answers. Without high-speed capability the company cannot compete with others who know sooner what is happening and how to deal with it.


A people issue
That sounds like a technology issue and it is, in part. But just as important is organizational culture and human capital management systems. Computers and databases, like all capital assets, are inert. Unless a human being knows how to leverage value by using them, they are nothing but depreciating assets.


Early attempts at knowledge exchanges poured millions into technology, ignored the human element and failed. Only when management remembered that employees are the only active asset and focused on what people needed to participate in and contribute to KXs did they begin to work.


This understanding closes the loop. Systems and processes drive employee behavior. In turn, systems and processes are driven by the culture. When systems, processes and culture are misaligned inefficiency, confusion and frustration reigns. When they are aligned, everything works.


Culture dictates the aptitudes and skills needed in the workforce. Culture dictates how things work (systems and processes including KXs). Culture dictates rewards and punishments. This is human capital management.


The obvious conclusion is that E-biz rides on a culture that values people and knowledge. If you want a highly competitive E-biz you need to design and manage a culture that supports it.

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IDear Workforce-I Hire Temp or Get a Perm

QDear Workforce:


Currently I work for an organization that hires employees for project work. The projects can run form two weeks to several months. We currently use a mix of agency temps and company hires. I have been asked to evaluate the difference is costs between company hires and agencies.


We do not offer benefit coverage for hourly employees until they have been with the company one year. Another twist to our dilemma is the start dates for new hires are very fluid. Project times get pushed back sometimes for weeks to months.



Do you know if there are any statistics or formulas to determine hiring costs for this type of hiring? Most of the information I can find is for permanent hires or temp to perm.


–Carla Starck


 


A

Dear Carla:


There are a number of factors to consider when comparing costs for temporary vs. permanent employees — company size, industry, demographics, project scope, position, etc.


Generally, the cost of temporary employees is higher; however, it is spread out over the duration of a project because hiring fees and benefits have been factored into the monthly charge.


In comparison, for permanent employees there is the up-front cost of hiring which is in the $4,300 range (average over all industries and company sizes). Beyond that, the monthly cost is lower for permanent employees, even when factoring in salary and benefits.


The longer the project, the more economical to hire permanent employees who will presumably become an even greater resource the longer they remain with the company.


 


SOURCE: Ceridian Employer Services, Minneapolis, February 4, 2000.


E-mail your Dear Workforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforceonline.com, along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you state otherwise, your identifying info may be used on Workforce.com and in Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.

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Space Matters to Creative Technical Employees

According to an eMedia Staffing survey of nearly 400 creative technical professionals, 25% consider work environment first when deciding whether to take a new job. This preference is only slightly behind salary in importance to techies, says the survey.


Environment: Creative technical professionals have a marked preference for aesthetically interesting environments. Workspaces that are creative and playful reinforce their creative identity and are a major recruiting factor. Some design firms who understand the recruiting value of environment are posting pictures of their hip offices online for perspective candidates to view.


Keeping up Appearances: Clutter and out-of-date furnishings send a negative impression that a corporate environment is not quite cutting edge. A hiring manager should try walking into their company or creative department with a “fresh” perspective. Do they LOOK successful, creative, and interesting?


SOURCE: eMedia Staffing, Portland, Maine, February 2000.