Incentive - February 2008 - (Page 37)

people come to Qualcomm is to learn and develop. We keep that as a key component,” offering over 500 different classroom-based courses and over 500 online programs, says Elkles, co-author of the book The Chief Learning Officer: Driving Value Within a Changing Organization Through Learning and Development. In addition to giving employees freedom, the company incentivizes them with stock options for which everyone is eligible and spot rewards, which can be given by any employee to recognize exceptional work. “You contribute a lot to the organization, so you get the benefit of that through stock launch, or the reason something was tried and abandoned. Often the stories are funny. “Storytelling is quite powerful in maintaining the culture,” says Elkles. “One of the key things in our organization is to make sure there’s top-down communication, bottom-up communication and there is information across the organization.” Proof that the culture is motivating lies in the fact that Qualcomm’s attrition rate is less than 6 percent, says Elkles, versus about 14 percent for the industry as a whole. Nevertheless, a continuous need to monitor the culture and communicate messages persists, particularly as the company grows. Founded in 1985, it has always valued openness and innovation. Today, Qualcomm has 11,200 employees in 51 locations worldwide and plans to hire 2,000 more this year, according to Elkles. The company’s position on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list and a “Credibility” award from the Great Place to Work Institute are also signs that its unorthodox culture is a winning one. Starting From Scratch At Park Ridge Hospital, Horrell began her quest to change the culture by attending a one-day seminar at the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center in Chevy Chase. Back in her office and anxious to implement some of what she’d learned, she didn’t know how to proceed. “I was just overwhelmed,” she says. “People are going to the Ritz-Carlton and spending $500 a night We have a whole different atmosphere. Even though they may choose us as a hospital, they’re still anxious about coming here.” Although the concept originated with the CEO of the hospital, Horrell followed the advice of her trainer at the Leadership Center and started implementing from the bottom up. She formed a 10-person committee of star performers to help brainstorm how the program would look and function and to help with implementation. The group wrote mission and purpose statements. Horrell facilitated, but she says, “I wanted the ones who had a hand in Qualcomm’s employees are offered hundreds of different skill-improving courses options,” says Elkles, and are “in control of your destiny.” If employees are to be responsible for improving the business, they have to be exceptional individuals. “A lot of the value in this type of culture comes from the kinds of things people have to be able to do on the fly,” says Rogers. So recruiting the right people is important. And they spend substantial time in the orientation phase. At Qualcomm it lasts 90 days. After the orientation, the employee communications group takes over as the major disseminator of culture. In an e-mail called “52 Weeks,” employees get a story per week that reinforces the cultural norm. They’ll learn about a successful product developing it to own it. They decided what tools would be the most helpful and the easiest for health care people to use.” The radiology department, with 45 employees, and 24/7 service, did a threemonth test run. That group received training and the tools that the committee had designed: the Levelheaded Chart, which— like the pain chart that hospital workers are familiar with—attempts to assign a level of intensity to the customer’s emotions. It depicts a frowny face, growly face and angry face, asking the hospital worker who “owns” a customer complaint to assess where the customer is on the chart. The other tools were placed in a plastic toolbox: gift cards that employees are now empowered to use to remedy bad situations. All 1,000 employees now handle complaints of any sort. “They’re all trained consistently on customer service,” says Horrell. “When we do make a slip, we want you to immediately own it, and then to throw something extra in.” A complainer at the frowny face level is offered a lunch pass to the cafeteria to make up for, say, a long wait. At the growly face level, a complainer is offered movie tickets or lunch at McDonald’s. The truly angry would get a $20 gift card to WalMart, Lowe’s, Applebee’s or Ruby Tuesday. Associates need no management sign-off; they assess the problem and choose the remedy. “Being empowered is only half of the battle. You have to also give them the tools,” says Rogers. “It’s important to enable them as much as you empower them—or you end up with a bunch of frustrated employees.” The hospital has not done internal surveys yet to gauge the effects on employees. A one-year trial period has just ended, and Horrell plans to recall the committee to assess the program. She believes it is working because of the level of buy-in that it has. “A person who’s on the housekeeping staff was on the committee. When [coworkers] see that it’s not upper management but their own peers,” who designed the program, that’s what makes it work. “They were so excited when they found out about it and the tools we had.” incentivemag.com | February 2008 | Incentive | 37 http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - February 2008

Incentive Magazine - February 2008 Editor’s Note: Archie and the Boys In The News Cover Story: On The Ball Incentives Incentive Primer: How to Use Sporting Events Incentive Interview: Jim Avery on Doing the Right Thing Employee Empowerment Motivates and Pays Dividends Hospitals, Nurses Win With Flexible Scheduling Legal Ease: Safety Programs and Unions Case Study: The Weitz Company Retains Its Boomers Potentials: Here and Now Star Power in the Kitchen Awards: Gift Card Trends for the New Year Travel News The Manhattanization of Las Vegas Classics Renewed: Monaco and France Advertiser Index Off The Cuff: Tumi’s Mike Landry

Incentive - February 2008

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