Rewards of aiding staff to dream on

Twenty times return on investment in less than a year; record retention of customers in a commodity business during a severe downturn; highest morale in the history of the company; and the best two quarters, ever, in terms of profitability. The key? An initiative called "Dream On."

"You're either a giver or taker," explains John Ratliff, founder and CEO AppleTree Answering Service, a 350 employee inbound call centre company based in Wilmington, Delaware with call centres in 12 locations throughout the US and Puerto Rico.

The transformation of Ratliff's 13 year-old firm began during a quarterly offsite as the company prepared its plan for the coming third quarter of 2008. "Employee attrition was the 'critical number' we chose to focus on," recalls Ratliff. "We were running an industry average 95 per cent turnover of our frontline employees while our non-exempt turnover was just 3 per cent - clearly we were doing something right for one group but not the other - and just being average has never been our goal."

Ratliff knew that the company's growth, through 13 acquisitions in six years, had made it impossible to create a cohesive culture. And he had a nagging feeling that Appletree needed to be more than just a place for his employees to come to work.

"We were in our planning session brainstorming ways to create a better experience for our employees when Lisa Phillips, our director of operations, asked how we could become more like 'Make a Wish' for our employees," notes Ratliff. Over the years, Appletree has generously donated to charities and the "Make a Wish" foundation had always been their favorite.

So they put together a small team of people to flesh out the idea and decided it wasn't about identifying their hard luck employees. Instead they simply wanted to know one thing, in a perfect world, that each of their employees would like to have happen in their personal lives.

Titled "Dream On", they announced it on their intranet and supported it with printed collateral and posters in all of their offices.

"It was nothing short of shocking to discover the situation of our frontline employees," remembers Ratliff.

Health was a staggering shocker for the executive team as well as challenges caring for an el derly parent or grandparent.

Helping eight people with living situations like bills and rent; sending two employees on their first honeymoons leveraging Amex points; flying a mom over Christmas to see her daughter in the Navy; providing four employees with personal computers at home; and fulfilling the dream of a 90-year-old employee to take her first family vacation with her mentally challenged daughter are just some of the dreams they've made come true.

In turn, the company has had its best six months ever. First, turnover dropped instantly once "Dream On" was launche

Verne Harnish is author of 'Mastering the Rockefeller Habits' and founder and CEO of Gazelles Inc, represented in the Middle East by Dubai-based Biz-ability.

d, where today it sits around 30 per cent. At a cost of $5,000 (Dh18,350) to replace an employee, there's already been a net $1 million contribution from a programME that has cost $50,000 so far.

Now, on to the next dream - finding a connection to Will Wright, the creator of Sim City!