Concepts of Management INC. Case: You can buy Employee happiness. But should you

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Concepts of Management INC. Case: You can buy Employee happiness. But should you

What 2 motivation lessons can be learned from Diamond Pet Foods?

In fact, the company in question is Diamond Pet Foods, a manufacturer of, yes, pet food based in Meta, Missouri. The company, founded in 1970, has 535 employees at facilities in three states. Most of them are the kinds of factory workers and manual laborers who would be happy to have the most modest of benefits packages, let alone the lavish one supplied by Diamond. Why go to such lengths when many of its peers do precisely the opposite? The answer: a substantial ROB, or return on benefits. Wages at Diamond are no higher than those at similar manufacturers. But voluntary turnover is at a mere 3 percent, compared with an industry average of almost 11 percent. And people don’t just stick around--they produce. “When employees don’t have to worry about health care or financial issues, they can focus on success and growing our business,” says Andrew Brondel, the company’s director of administration. “They have the mental clarity to see areas for improvement and to take the initiative to offer and implement new ideas.” In an age of outsourcing, declining real wages, and ever-rising contributions for health care (assuming insurance is offered at all), you don’t hear about this kind of thing very often. But some companies still go to extraordinary lengths and expense to attract, develop, and retain their employees. They treat benefits less as a cost of doing business than as an investment in their most important resource. More entrepreneurs would be wise to adopt such practices, says Kevin Lynch, leadership executive-in-residence at Benedictine University’s Center for Values-Driven Leadership. “When I was a CFO, I tended to regard benefits as a burden,” Lynch says. “I’m now confident that they do pay off--in the form of attracting good employees, retaining them, and making them more productive. When you have happy, satisfied employees, that creates value that does find its way into traditionally calculated ROI.” That’s the thinking at Diamond. Benefits at the company account for about 35 percent of total compensation costs, compared with about 30 percent for a typical private employer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many managers might see the greater expense as a threat to margins. But not Brondel. Robust benefits, he says, boost morale and well-being, and that translates into higher productivity. Diamond’s workers, Brondel says, are willing to dig in when demand spikes, which gives Diamond a competitive advantage. Pet food is a cyclical business: Demand rises in winter as animals consume more food. So everyone needs to step it up as temperatures drop. “I’ve literally heard people say, ‘I know the company has my back,’ ” Brondel says, “ ‘so I’m giving them everything I’ve got.’ ”

Explanation / Answer

Two motivation lessons that can be learnt from Diamond pet foods are

1.Keep your employees happy and safe at the workplace them they are ready to give everything they have through their contribution.Diamond pet foods produce foods for pets in which there are more manual labourers who do not expect much as returns.They are happy and satisfied with normal wages but diamond do not stop there ,They offer lavish benefits which really makes the employees extremely satisfied. They realise benefits attract good employees, retain them and make work more efficient.

2.The benefits reaped by the company is not really much higher compared to others but the employees are ready to work extra when the company really needs them like in summer time during which pet foods needs increase a lot.They are not paid extra for doing it.They realise that when a company does everything for them then why not they do something for the company. It shows the sense of loyalty and commitment.

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