Local job growth and high employee turnover in the Lowcountry were tackled head-on by a panel of business owners and executives at the March 15 Summerville/Dorchester Chamber of Commerce "Power Hour" session, as worker-retention strategies were communicated to attendees.
At the early-morning gathering, Chamber Education and Workforce Vice Chair Melissa Wright introduced Sportsman Boats Director of Engineering Peter Morgan, Eggs Up Grill Owner Marc Cotone, Robert Bosch LLC Director of Human Resources Doreen Poehlitz and SeamonWhiteside's Summerville Branch Director Jenny Palmer.
Cotone was especially forthcoming and detailed in noting how his business — comprised of three restaurants in the Cane Bay, Knightsville and Ladson communities — has adopted a unique approach in incentivizing employees to stay the course over the long term.
Eggs Up Grill, he explained, does this by offering benefits that are "different" and "better" than the average eatery in the service and hospitality industry.
"Offering benefits is really difficult, but we've kind of gone out of our way to do things like offer PTO (paid time off) for our teams, which is unheard of in the small restaurant area," said the locally-based franchisee.
To that end, Cotone stated that the company's "commitment to excellence" has helped foster a greater sense of stability in each of his three locations.
The guest speaker went on to promote a business book, "Traction" by Gino Wickman, that has been instrumental in providing Cotone and his sister/business partner Julie with a better grip on their retail venues by implementing an Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to create a defined game plan.
Through their collaboration with their leadership teams, Marc and Julie established their core values, as well as conceive a 10-year target, a three-year picture and a one-year plan.
"We kind of got our stuff together ... we got our vision by sharing all that information," he added. "We got traction on our business by executing on that vision with discipline and accountability. And the result that we had is our team is a lot more healthy, cohesive, transparent."
Cotone concluded his corporate strategy breakdown by recounting the successful outcome of a recent team-building session at the Flowertown Players community theatre, where all 95 attendees were locked-in during scheduled presentations. At the end of the business powwow, colleagues were high-fiving each other and professing their love for their jobs, he shared.
In issuing a snapshot of retention practices at Robert Bosch LLC's Charleston plant, Poehlitz mentioned that the average tenure at the engineering and technology firm is 15 years. She attributed that loyalty to business' culture.
"We call ourselves the Bosch family. For a company that has almost over 400,000 associates worldwide, to be part of such a large family, it [speaks] to the culture," began the 19-year staffer.
"To me, if an employer at this day and time, does not have an employee value proposition and articulate what they can bring to the table, they'll be [outdated] and behind the eight ball. You really do need to be able to connect with associates to make sure there is a match."
One of the ways Robert Bosch has engendered enthusiasm among its employees, according to Poehlitz, is by recently remodeling the on-site cafeteria at the Charleston site and even adding a Starbucks stand to the mix.
The eating/meeting space was designed with the goal of making it an inviting area for people to spar with each other or gather for a spur-of-the-moment ad-hoc meeting.
Further, the Robert Bosch spokesperson touched on her company's talent sustainability strategy that prides itself on creating an environment that focuses on trust, openness and connecting with others.
"What are we doing different? I don't think anybody has the secret sauce. It's just how you apply it and which kind of passion you apply it [with] that really makes a difference."
Palmer of SeamonWhiteside contributed to the discussion by relating the constant support her architecture firm supplies to its workforce in terms of gratitude and shout-outs. She also communicated the corporate entity's best practices, such as monthly one-on-one check-ins with staff, along with developing an IDP (Individual Development Plan) for each team member.
"We are making sure they are growing in their IDP in that they're meeting their goals to move on to the next levels," Palmer observed.
