From Treacherous Employee Turnover to Million-Dollar Sales
From Treacherous Employee Turnover to Million-Dollar Sales
http://info.profilesinternational.com/profiles-employee-assessment-blog/bid/67632/From-Treacherous-Employee-Turnover-to-Million-Dollar-Sales
Steve Cardy thought all hope was lost as he joined a new company that was facing abysmal employee turnover levels of 600 percent. He was recruited to his new position with the sole purpose of growing the company. Experienced in the hospitality industry, not staffing, he knew he had find a solution and quick.
After several trial-and-error runs and a decade of effort, he finally reduced his employee turnover to 9 percent.
Here is his story.
Cardy’s professional career began in 1979 as president and CEO of a catering company followed by a move to the restaurant industry. He worked with many well-known firms such as Mothers Pizza, PepsiCo Food International, and Cara Operations Ltd.
A driven and high-performing individual, he quickly grabbed the attention of an executive in the US who persistently chased Cardy with an opportunity. After numerous denials, Cardy finally agreed to look into this opportunity.
He quickly learned that the opportunity was vast: Leaders of a staffing organization based in Tacoma, Washington, wanted him to run their Canadian division.
The firm helped to place blue-collar workers for construction and other jobs, one to hundreds, as soon as the next day. With a total of 650,000 employees company-wide, what seemed like a successful company was lacking in one particular area. The branch-manager level, a crucial position, was experiencing a employee turnover level of 600 percent!
Perhaps excited by the challenge, Cardy soon came on board. He knew he had to make some dramatic changes starting with some training for him personally. Then he formed a partnership with Profiles International to aid him in selecting better employees.
The headline is that Cardy and his team took the business to peak performance with their strategy and focus. “We had double-digit sales and profit growth for a decade,” said Cardy. At the end of his time there, the company had grown to 40 Canadian branches. “They produced more bottom-line profit dollars than four other divisions in the United States, which were doing the same job with twice as many branches.”
After his success in leading the Canadian division, Cardy decided to relocate to the UK where he then took over operations. Cardy persisted through three years, a tough recession, and big differences in culture and attitudes to work, again prevailing in another epic turn around. In year one, he cleaned up operations and reduced costs. In year two, the company reaped in the profits and in year three, the company sold after this remarkable turnaround.
Cardy regards assessments as having a major impact on his success. He quickly developed a belief in Profiles’ products, gained a clear understanding of how they work, and obtained phenomenal results using assessments.
“We were not hiring the right people; we were not keeping the right people. We were understaffed. I knew we were not going to go anywhere unless we hired the right people.”
Assessment tools he used
The ProfileXT® (PXT) assessment’s job-fit section told Cardy whether the person he was looking at suited the position he had open. If so, he had a decision to make: “It helped me decide whether to go on in the interview process.” This step saves employers from using valuable recruitment and hiring time on people who are wrong for the job.
The Profiles Sales Assessment® (PSA) provided many of the same qualities as the PXT, but also revealed how an employee would appear in the sales cycle. “That is equally as important as the hiring decision, because I needed to understand how that employee would sell. It told me whether I needed to zero in on any areas, such as closing. It gave me an area to focus on.”
Cardy trained people in Canada and the United Kingdom who had never seen a 360-degree assessment, in which they were able to see themselves the way others – colleagues, leaders, and subordinates – saw them. “Pretty consistently, people had no idea how they were showing up. They were getting in the way of their own performance and happiness. Then they got to see where they were doing well.”
Quick facts
- $5 million was saved in recruitment and retention costs when using assessments for the hiring process
- 591% less attrition of employees from 1998 through 2008
- 500% increase in average sales per rep went from $300,000 to $1.8 million
Where is he now?
2009 saw the launch of Cardy’s own training and consulting business in which he works with companies of 500 or more employees. The combination is rewarding, and “not like work,” he said. “I really do it because I believe in it, believe it works and enjoy doing it.” As a Profiles International Strategic Partner, Cardy loves the flexibility of being an entrepreneur.
“I like not having a boss other than the one in the mirror. It gives you freedom. As you gain success, it feels more rewarding than a paycheck.”
Download the Full Case Study, to read more about Cardy's success.
For more on becoming a Profiles International Strategic Business partner visit www.profilespartnership.com.
