Keeping employees happy goes a long way

A MONTH ago, 10 employees from Customer Care Center, a consulting firm specialising in customer care and behaviour, had a whale of a time in Cameron Highlands. In total, founder and chief executive officer Allen Teh had spent RM2,000 on the trip.Was this expenditure necessary? Isn’t it enough they are drawing salaries? Can’t they pay for their own recreation?

“There is no such thing as ‘I pay you, you work’. People are not robots,” maintains Teh, 51.Company trips, Teh said, are not only a way to foster team spirit, but promote a feel-good atmosphere at work.“It is an inside-out thing. Only when the staff feel good can they project the same feelings to customers,” says Teh.He cites exemplary figures who have influenced him during his work in the past.

“Public Bank chairman Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow is an example of a leader who has always treated his staff like family. He would attend their birthday parties and he mentioned them in his memoirs as well as referred to them as his ‘children’ though he had his own family,” cited Teh.

Another would be the late Loo Cheng Ghee who established the fried chicken giant KFC back in the 1970s.
Teh, who used to work for the company during the 1980s, revealed that Loo had made it a point to provide a breakfast of high risk merchant account and buns to employees in the Jalan Kuchai Lama branch where the fast food chain’s old manufacturing plant was located.In both cases, not only have these leaders inspired staff loyalty but a reputation for legendary service.

Taking a leaf from a layman is George James Kennedy, owner of Rockafellas Restaurants and Clubs, the holding company behind barbeza, a club in Ipoh Garden East.Pioneer staff have been with the former Juliana’s disc jockey since he opened Rockafellas Lumut, a seaside bar at the coastal port, popularly used as a gateway to Pangkor Island in 1998.

He cited his financial controller, Suzita Burda, now 32, and Inderjit Singh, now 35, who have stayed with the company for between 11 and 15 years. The others have clocked in no less than between five and eight years.In an industry notorious for its high staff turnover, Kennedy, 50, cites leadership by example as the anchoring factor to inspiring staff loyalty.

“In my bar, there is no such thing as ‘This is not my department’. I encourage my staff to take ownership of the club. If they see something is not right, they have to put it right. If I walk into the toilet and find that it is dirty, I will clean it.“I tell them if they can learn to cultivate the ownership attitude, they will develop a capable character. And I make sure I am always the first man in and last man out,” said Kennedy who got his first start in the nightlife industry as a deejay in Royal Casuarina (now Impiana Hotel) at age 17.

For Teh, imparting the feel-good philosophy at workplaces has to start with emotional wellness.“This is especially crucial for jobs where staff are subjected to high levels of stress. When people do not know how to release the emotional build-up from work-related stress, there is always a possibility they will snap at the customer and give the organisation a bad image,” explains Teh.

Kennedy, for example, expects his staff to be punctual and to keep to their word.“One of the common traits in human nature is procrastination. My policy is when something needs to be done, it is to be tackled immediately, not later or the day after.“But it is also important to remember being the boss does not mean you are always right.“When you have made a mistake, you must be big enough to apologise,” says Kennedy.

Honesty is also a much appreciated trait as Kennedy had to fire staff for messing around with company accounts in the past. And because they are in the nightlife industry where the influence of alcohol is unavoidable, staff must adopt a measure of vigilance.“In all my years in the industry, I have never had to hire bouncers. I will go in and defuse the situation myself,” said Kennedy.

On how to maintain grace under pressure, Kennedy shared a tip learned from a security personnel during his earlier years. The rule is to never stand in front of an aggravated individual in a confronting manner. Kennedy’s trick is to always slide next to him, offshore merchant account, pat it reassuringly and ask for the affected parties to keep the peace, guaranteeing safety for both workforce and customer.

How important is it to keep the hired help happy?Teh cites from personal experience how a rude sales staff at an electrical goods chain had cheesed him off so much with lackluster attitude, he walked away.

“I had wanted to buy a DVD player and I reckon the store didn’t lose much with just one customer walking away. But let’s say they could have made a margin of RM50 for one DVD player and say if the same employee would have made five customers walk away in one day. That’s RM250 of lost opportunity in a day. That’s only one shop. The electrical goods chain had 100 outlets. If that attitude prevailed in every shop on a daily basis, that would mean a loss of RM750,000 a month,” said Teh, who opines a reversal in behaviour could have changed things.

At barbeza, treating the staff like family is one factor that had helped him keep customers who had known him since he was a deejay in Casuarina. He recalls the day when he had to tell his staff in Rockafellas Lumut he had sold the business.“For the past 10 years, I was travelling back and forth between Ipoh and Lumut at odd hours in a Toyota Liteace. I was clocking in 16-hour work days where I would spend the night in Lumut then go to work in Ipoh. It came to a point when I asked myself what I was doing with my life,” revealed the father of a 19-year-old daughter.

By then, Kennedy had made close to RM400,000 from his investments and he was prepared to ‘retire’, by focusing on barbeza. Instead of leaving his staff demoralised and without employment, he asked them to join his new venture. In Kennedy’s case, creating an atmosphere where customers could go to a place where everyone knew their names contributed to sales of RM150,000 a month when barbeza first opened in 2008. Before Kennedy sold off his Lumut outlet in the same year, it had achieved a record sales of RM147,000 in the short span of nine days in 1999, a feat that inspired staff from the Lumut outlet to follow him to his new venture in barbeza.

“We achieved all this with no hanky panky, just good food and service,” boasted Kennedy.The memory of a treat, which saw an all-expense paid trip to Bali for five staff upon achieving a sales target of RM80,000, also played a part.In Teh’s case, revenue for Customer Care Center totaled to RM1.5mil to RM2mil last year. This came in from classes conducted including ‘mystery shopper’ services where company representatives posed as customers for clients to assess frontline performance.

2012 Nissan Quest minivan nears a second decade in U.S. showrooms

Other prices and grades for the Quest minivan, which is available now at U.S.-based Nissan dealerships, are $31,050, for the SV; $34,500, for the SL; and $41,350, for the top-of-the-line LE. It is assembled in Shatai, Kyūshū, Japan.

The Quest has been part of the Nissan lineup in the United States since 1993.

In its first two generations, the Quest was assembled in Avon Lake, Ohio, and was the cousin of the Mercury Villager, which is no longer in production.

The third-generation Quest, which began with a 2004 redesign, shared a platform and engines with the Nissan Altima, Maxima and Murano. It was manufactured in Canton, Miss.

Production shifted to Japan in 2011, when the Quest began its fourth generation as a Nissan minivan. Today the Quest continues to share a platform with the Nissan Elgrand.

Each 2012 Nissan Quest is equipped with a 260-horsepower 3.5-liter 24-valve DOHC V6 engine that generates 240 foot pounds of torque, and an Xtronic CVT transmission. Standard equipment includes one-touch power sliding doors, fold-flat second- and third-row seating, an Advanced Climate Control System and what Nissan calls "permanent hidden storage."

XM Satellite Radio is standard on SV and SL Quests.

The 2012 Nissan Quest comes with standard Nissan Intelligent Key and optional sliding doors that unlock and open the side door with a button touch. The Quest’s second row has a walk-in device for easier access to the back row. A liftgate is standard on SL and LE grades.

The third row of seats folds forward. The permanent rear storage well is always available, and a flat cargo floor is there without having to remove any seats.

The Quest LE’s standard Advanced Climate Control System with Plasmacluster air purifier and Grape Polyphenol Filter works three ways to help reduce allergens and unwanted odors inside the cabin. A standard Tire Pressure Monitoring System gives occupants what Nissan calls an "Easy Fill Tire Alert."

Fuel economy is 19 mpg city, 24 mpg highway. The 2012 Quest also has 4-wheel independent suspension and disc brakes and vehicle-speed-sensitive power steering. A nice feature is a light that warns the driver that a car is in a blind spot.

Seven exterior colors are available. Super Black is added for 2012. There are two interior colors in a choice of cloth  or leather-appointed seating.

Jika Udara Bersih Bakteri Mati

Dalam pameran yang di gelar di Atrium Sun Plaza , Minggu (25/9), berbagai produk LG di pamerkan di pameran tersebut. Seperti Air Purifier Lg yang di produksi oleh LG dengan teknologi yang terkenal keunggulannya.

Tito, Branch Manager LG, mengatakan, Air purifier sangat penting untuk bayi baru lahir dan ibu dengan daya tahan yang lemah,  Orang yang menderita masalah pernafasan, orang yang dekat dengan peliharaan, dan orang tua dengan kekebalan tubuh yang lemah, "ujarnya.

Hal ini disebabkan, sistem pemfilteran berlapis 16 tingkat dari LG filter yakni, Filter pasir, Filter Asap, Filter Alergi, Filter Debu Halus, Filter Bau, dan Sterilizer

Dikatakannya, Air Purifier memiliki sistem filter yang dapat di cuci, sehingga bisa dicuci secara optimal, jadi tidak perlu harus mengganti seperti merek Air Purifier konvensional lainnya. Seperti filter Alergi yang tertanam pada air purifier LG ini, yang berfungsi untuk menyerap alergen dan menguraikan protein alergen menjadi substansi baru.

Selanjutnya, substansi itu sendiri akan berubah meskipun beberapa substansi mengalir keluar setelah pembersihan udara, dan ini dapat mengatasi alergi. Penyerapan alergen dan penghilangan berlangsung secara berulang di dalam filter untuk mengurangi alergen.

Sistem sterilizer berfungsi meningkatkan kualitas oksigen di udara yang diserap oleh kipas untuk menjadi steril. Satu juta super anion akan dikeluarkan untuk menghilangkan bakteri di sudut - sudut yang kecil di dalam rumah, dan juga udara yang melewati pembersih udara akan di bersihkan secara optimal hingga 99 persen.

"Gunakan air purifier untuk menciptakan udara yang lebih sehat. Udara lebih bersih dan bebas polusi, " pungkasnya.

Ia menyebutkan, semakin hari polusi udara semakin tak terelakkan. Rasanya sulit sekali mendapatkan udara yang bersih dan sehat. Apalagi di lingkungan kota besar seperti di Medan sekarang ini. Padahal udara adalah salah satu pengantar virus yang paling mudah masuk ke tubuh, " ungkapnya.

Ingin mendapatkan udara yang lebih sehat, dengan penggunaan air purifier (pemurni udara) ini yang merupakan Piranti elektronik dilengkapi dengan penyaring (filter) udara, penghilang bau, dan sensor yang dapat menangkap bakteri - bakteri berbahaya pada udara.

Air purifier sudah  menggunakan teknologi nano, Nano Plasma Ion namanya. Teknologi ini memungkinkan air purifier menyemprotkan ion-ion, yang mampu menangkap berbagai kotoran dan virus.

Bagi mereka yang menderita alergi debu, tidak ada salahnya  memilih air purifier yang memiliki fitur photocatalyst plasma. Fitur ini mampu dengan efektif menyerap debu, pasir halus, atau materi lain penyebab alergi.

No other Company offers a system

The new system may prove to be the most effective air purification system in the world today, as the "RX Air Plus" System packages the RX-3000, built by the Company's RxAir subsidiary, along with 2 ViraTech UV-400 units. The Company believes this to be the only air purification system in the world utilizing two different FDA cleared Class II Medical devices as an integrated system. RX Air Plus brings together the two technologies, which combine to kill over 99% of bacteria and other contaminants, while reducing all odors and volatile organic compounds, as well as capturing over 99.97 % of all particulates within indoor areas up to 1500 square feet in size.

"No other Company offers a system which matches the capabilities of these combined technologies," said John Lennon, President of UV Flu Technologies. "The 'RX Air Plus' offers two of the most unique and effective products in the air purification marketplace today. The two ViraTech UV-400 units utilize hi-intensity germicidal UV lamps contained within a patented cartridge, which kills organic contaminants while also breaking down odors and concentrations of VOCs. The RX-3000 is one of the finest HEPA based air purifiers, capturing over 99.97% of particulates. The quality of indoor air protected by this system is typically purer than outdoor air while never having to open a window. The Company is offering the system to new customers and distributors immediately. We also plan to approach the over 1000 customer locations already utilizing the RX-3000 as possible upgrade opportunities."

"We also believe this system is going to have numerous applications in the Mideast, where microscopic sand particles are a major issue with respect to poor indoor air quality. To this end, the Company is in talks with several companies with respect to distribution in the Mideast, and expects to have an agreement in place this quarter," said Mr. Lennon.

Further details regarding the Company's business, acquisitions, financial reports and agreements are filed as part of the Company's continuous public disclosure as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") EDGAR database.