Small
Business Profile
"On Becoming an Employer of Choice"
From the
Durham Chamber of Commerce,
ACTION Magazine (August 2002)
Where do you find help for answers to such nagging
questions as: How do we effectively motivate and support our employees?
With turnover costs being so high, what is the best way to interview
and select employees that will fit our organization? What is all
this talk about workplace harassment and how does it apply to my
company? Help me understand the rules about exempt & non-exempt
workers and overtime pay. Now that we have completed our company
merger, how do we merge the staff cultures? How can we train our
new leaders and managers for excellence in leadership? Employers
can find direction to respond to these issues from DRAKE & Associates,
Ltd.
"We
work with employers to find solutions to their people issues--solutions
that make good busine$$ sense and comply with federal, state and
local employment rules and regulations," says Mary Lou Drake,
president of the ten (10) year old human resource, organizational
and staff development firm. "We partner with the company's
management team and focus on creating a strong foundation which
will enhance and improve employee productivity through sound human
resource practices.
"Our
clients learn quickly that a well-conceived and executed HR program
can save them considerable amounts of money, as well as minimize
stress and improve productivity within the organization. We work
on long-term strategic projects as well as being available on call
to answer the unexpected, potentially troublesome questions. We
provide coaching and mentoring for the on-site Human Resources staff.
Clients tell us they really appreciate knowing that someone with
professional credentials and years of experience is available to
help when questions and issues arise."
Drake
believes that if employees have a good understanding of their job
requirements and they have been trained and coached to succeed,
the investment pays off immediately. "That's really a supervisor's
major job-helping their employees to succeed. What they supervisory
staff usually need is support in "how" to do this effectively.
And we are there to help them with coaching and mentoring support
and ideas on how to prevent problems in the future."
Since
1992 Drake and her team of professionals have been helping with
such issues as productive organizational design, effective recruitment
strategies, uniform job classifications, competitive wage and salary
structures, fair employee relations practices, consistent and clear
communications including employee handbooks and supervisory guidelines,
and motivational performance management programs to encourage employees
to stretch and grow in their capabilities.
In
addition DRAKE offers customized training programs to promote management
development, supervisory skills enhancement, interpersonal communications
improvement, employee motivation, change management (a.k.a., "Who
Moved My Cheese?"), team building, team leadership and many
others.
For
those organizations interested in a highly effective and comprehensive
training program on leadership, DRAKE, in partnership with Duke
Leadership Training Associates, offers a series of six one-day leadership
courses where qualified participants can earn a "Certificate
In Leadership" from Duke University in three months. Two fall
sessions are scheduled but interested leaders are encouraged to
sign up early because class size will be small to maximize the learning
opportunity.
Clients
include a full range of organizations from small to large, from
high-tech IT to medical, biomedical and pharmaceutical, profit and
non-profit, universities as well as local, state and federal government
agencies.
DRAKE believes that "People + Planning + Process = Productivity
& Profits(TM)" and that through this formula organizations
can reach the next level of success and earn the coveted "Employer
of Choice" designation.
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