Spansion apart

Spansion (China) Ltd. bears hiters at its plant in Chinas Suzhou Industrial place many of the same employee benefits as scores of another(prenominal) nearby factories. What pay backs Spansion apart from the pack is the oversight genius of its 47- class-old capital of Singaporean chief executive officer, Loh Poh Chye. some factories in the park, which is east of the city of Suzhou in the province of Jiangsu, offer medical plans, in-house training programs and promise to treat employees like family, says Mr. Loh. But to me the difference is how you do it and how you engage the employees.I suppose you have to show them its not unspoilt slogans you have to walk the walk. That philosophy propelled Spansion to No. 1 this division in the Best Employers in Asia succeed by human-resources consultancy Hewitt Associates. Spansion sucks flash-memory products used in consumer electronics such as high-definition video recording sets and MP3 players. Headquartered in California, it employs 1,300 mass in China and is a joint venture between Advanced little Devices Inc. of the U. S. and japans Fujitsu Ltd. It is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. One of the first things Mr.Loh did at Spansion was to put in place a management team that thinks like he does. He also runs a mentoring program that pairs omnibuss with someone two or three tiers below. And he gives each division a budget to fund an activity verbotenside work such as a group dinner or a community-service oriented activity. Twice a month, Mr. Loh joins a dozen or so manufacturing plant workers in the companys cafeteria to talk ab break through staff issues ranging from pay scales to calling goals to the quality of the empennageteens food. So far, his strategy is working. Staff turnover in Suzhou Industrial Park bonnied 30% last year, Mr.Loh says, scarcely Spansions rate was half that, even though its pay scales lag some other companies in the park. Hewitt Associates conducts its po rallyion ev ery two age. It go awayed the surveys in Asia in 2001 and this years involved 772 companies and 160,000 employees in seven markets. excessively China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, Hewitt added for the first time Australia and New Zealand, which are treated as a single market, and Japan and India. In addition to quizzing CEOs and their human-resources segments, Hewitt does random polls of employees.The data is then evaluated by independent judging panels appointive by Hewitt, and winners selected. It comes down to getting the basic things right, besides most companies seem to let a pickle of stuff get in the way of that, says Andrew Bell, head of Hewitt Associates regional talent and organizational consulting practice. Everyone these days ordain say our people are really important but when you get inside these winning organizations, theres a trench philosophical belief about that and it starts with the CEO, and cascades from there. Joining Spansion at the top of Hew itts survey are common chord on the Bund, a company that runs four restaurants, a spa, an art gallery and high-end retail outlets in an historical building in Shanghai, and the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Hong Kong. Hotels usually rate highly in the best employers survey and this year five of the top 10 are hotel companies. According to Hewitts research, hotels often top the survey because they have to be the best kind of employer. Every employee from housekeeping staff to bellhops has contact with the customers, and one bad experience with a maid can ruin a hotel stay.Hotel managers must engage and motivate each employee, not just top-tier managers. So, top-tier hotels are run on the premise that employee satisfaction leads to guest satisfaction. Hotels also offer great mobility They take to the woods to hire from within and value customer-service experience, which is gained in every hotel job, as much as formal education. A bellhop, for instance, can work across and up to become a food and beverage manager. Indeed, Hewitts latest survey shows that workers from all industries rate recognition and career prospects far above pay. The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, like other hotels in the U.S. chain, has an effective communication program, Hewitt says. Managers meet with employees in their team at morning meetings to brief them on whats waiver on with the hotel that day. At these daily meetings, Ritz-Carlton managers acknowledge staff whove done something to stand out. They also read out the companys employee pledge Our ladies and gentlemen are the most important resource. The company backs that up with human-resource programs to help employees identify areas of strength and set career goals, and provides training to help them achieve those things.As part of our culture and philosophy, we constantly encourage innate growth as we strongly believe in talent retention and development, says Mark Lettenbichler, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. With succe ssion planning, we nurture and maximize talent, creating long-term careers and eventually building employee loyalty and commitment. The Ritz-Carltons human-resources policies also offer a lesson for companies in other industries. In an environment where everyone counts and anyone can climb the career ladder, employees are likely to be more committed and work harder, says Hewitts Mr.Bell. That translates into profit. Hewitts survey shows that companies that engage their employees have stronger earnings. The top 20 companies in this years survey have had 75% higher revenue growth than the rest over the past three years their productivity was 67% higher, and their profit growth 38% higher than other survey respondents. For Mr. Loh, a factory full of committed workers is well worth the extra effort he and his managers put in. Its not eternally about doing what employees want, he says often its simply communicating clearly why the company is doing what its doing.Newly hired employees s ometimes gripe about Spansions pay. But Mr. Loh says good communication is key to keeping employees happy. We have to be good and tell them we are not the highest paymaster because we cant afford to be. We dont blindly pay the top market rate but we do pay for performance, says Mr. Loh. So those who stand out get higher pay, and those who are below average get lower pay. And when an employee complains that a colleague has been promoted above him or her, Mr. Loh challenges the employee to pursue a promotion, rather than sit back and wait to be singled out by a manager.We are always willing to offer training to someone whos motivated, or move someone to a new segment, laterally, to work across and up in a new area, he says. Sometimes when I say this, they start to get self-conscious they dont want to move out of their comfort zone. I tell them not to put all their career movements in the hands of the company (you) have to take ownership, discuss it with your supervisor, show y our capacity and get out of your comfort zone. Feedback is another big part of Mr. Lohs management strategy.Employees in Hewitts survey say they like to be able to make suggestions, but dont like it when feedback forms are met with silence. Members of Mr. Lohs management team encourage staff to make suggestions on the company intranet, and respond to each individual suggestion, regardless of whether it is implemented. The affinity level between myself and my department managers is very high. Were all very close not just a friendship kind of close, but more than that we spend a lot of time talking, and they can read my mind and I can read theirs, Mr. Loh says.His managers have taken a page from his book two years after Mr. Loh came to Spansion, department managers starting holding cafeteria chats of their own once a month. Mr. Loh, who joined Advanced Micro Devices in Singapore 1984, started reading ancient Chinese texts for management tips in a bid to better connect with his emplo yees when he was posted to China in 2001. Theres a saying in Chinese attack the heart preferably of the castle. Management is about winning and managing the heart of a person then that person will start to believe in the vision you have. Of course, thats got to be accompanied by proper compensation and benefits, he adds. Most of the traditional Chinese literature talks about management style that focuses on managing the hearts and wound up qualities of a person, instead of the hard stuff, says Mr. Loh. I feel that it is in the blood of the old Chinese people they value culture, they value a people-oriented style of management, and I think that carries over to this new generation.