Graduation Speech: The Climb :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Good evening family, friends, teachers and fellow graduates. This special night marks our achievement over the past thirteen years. Tonight we come to the top of a mountain in our lives and look ahead to the numerous more to come. It seems like just yesterday we were eighth graders in middle school, wishing we were twelfth graders in high school. (You have to remember that back then we didn't know if a freshman meant you were in twelfth grade or if a junior meant you were in ninth.) We've definitely come a long way to be where we are today. Being students at Wilson, "The School of Pride," has helped us all with our climb over Mt. Education. Learning the basics to climb Mt. Education didn't just start in high school; it began a long, long time ago. Our first experience with the climb started out in our six years of base camp, formally known as elementary school. The next stage in our climb was when we were able to climb the part of the mountain with the gentle slope. The smooth slope of the mountain took us a whole three years to accomplish. As you have probably guessed, the gentle slope was middle school. These were the steps we took to get to our third stage in our climb of reaching the peak of Mt. Education, also known as high school. It all began at freshmen orientation when we learned just how much control we would have over our educations here at Wilson. We also discovered that we not only would be choosing the classes we took, but the teachers as well. Next, from a chant that was yelled at us from the seniors in our first pep assembly, we learned that seniors do rule the school. During the pep assemblies we also learned how to show our school pride and spirit. Overall, in our first year here at CHS we encountered many faculty members and students that would help us on our journey up the mountain of education. Throughout our years of high school we have perfected our methods of climbing Mt. Education through experiencing many first times together. To start things off there was the first Friday night varsity football game at the stadium. We also had dances that were actually cool like homecomings and tolos. We even experienced many new things in the classroom such as writing research papers, taking extremely difficult tests and learning a foreign language.

Qualitative Research Critique Essay

â€Å"High rates of staff turnover in nursing homes is not a recent phenomenon. As far back as the mid-1970s studies have documented average turnover rates for registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and certified nurse’s aides (CNAs) ranging between 55% and 75%† (Mor,V., Mukamel, D.B., & Spector,W. D. 2009, 1). Long term care facilities (LTC) have staffing issues related to the high turnover of licensed staff. The effect can have a heavy financial burden and also affect the care given to residents. Many ask the question why is it hard to attract and keep nurses at a long term facility. The International Journal of Nursing Studies conducted a qualitative study titled: â€Å"Making tradeoffs between reasons to leave and reasons to stay employed in long-term care homes: Perspectives of licensed nursing staff† (Boscart, V.M. Bowers, B., Brown, M., & McGilton, K. S. 2014, 917). This study focuses on how the nurses feel about where they work and wha t makes them want to leave or stay at a job. Problem Statement The high turnover of licensed staff in nursing homes, it not only effects the resident’s quality of care and the morale among staff members, and is also very costly to the facility. The purpose of the study was to understand what influences nursing staff to stay at a LTC facility. There have been studies conducted in the past but they were primarily done with nonlicensed staff or within the acute care setting. The goal of this study was to gain insight on how to retain nurses in LTC facilities. This study is significant as administrators in LTC facilities have a hard time attracting and retaining licensed nursing staff. When there is a high turnover of staff, it can affect the care of residents and morale of staff in a negative way, and is very costly. Purpose and Research Questions The purpose of the study was to understand what factors influence nurses to make a decision to stay at an LTC facility. The questions that the study  determined to answer was: what is the motivations that nurses have that cause them to stay at their present facility? Another question would be: what are the reasons or factors that would cause a nurse to terminate their employment? The purpose and questions related to the problem; the findings resulted in learning about what is important to nurses when they are making decisions to stay or terminate employment. The methods used in this study were stated as qualitative –descriptive. The sample size was 17 RN’s and 24 LPN’s which, for a qualitative study is sufficient. The participants were mostly female with an average age of 48 years. They interviewed staff from seven different LTC homes across Ontario, Canada. Prior to the study, permission was obtained from the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Research Ethics Board, and also from the administrators of each facility. The researchers also obtained consents from staff who were interested in participating in the study, prior to setting up focus groups†¦ Each focus group was digitally recorded; confidentiality was assured and information was analyzed, coded, and reached a level of saturation. â€Å"The sample was sufficient to explore and develop analytic generalizations about working circumstances that influence the nurses’ intention to stay in LTC facilities† (Boscart, V. M., Bowers, B., Brown, M., & McGilton, K.S.2014). Literature Review The author used several qualitative resources that were cited throughout their article, and were dated from the year 2000-2012, which is relevant to this type of study. The author clearly states the gaps of the study were that no retention research had been completed in LTC settings. Limitations were listed as interviewing both LPN’s and RN’s together. This could have been a limitation for the LVN’s as they may have felt intimidated to discuss information with their supervisors present. Discussions about their intentions of leaving, or the factors they feel make the work environment less than desirable. The researchers tried to minimize that problem by having staff attend focus groups with others that they did not work directly with. Another limitation was possible bias, as the lead researcher was a nurse. All members of the research team reviewed the findings to minimize any potential bias (BoscartV. M., Bowers, B., Brown, M., & McGilton, K.S.2014). The study ga ve helpful insights to retaining staff, but the study  does not give any information about whether any of the facilities actually implemented any of the employees’ ideas. Conceptional/ Theoretical Framework The author did not identify a specific theory or perspective from which the study was developed. The theory that most relates to this study is the Herzberg’s two-factor theory.This theory examines the reasons employees are satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs. â€Å"From this research, Herzberg suggested a two-step approach to understanding employee motivation and satisfaction: which were hygiene factors and motivator factors† (Riley, J., 2012, paragraph 1). This theory gives valuable information to employers on what is important for employee satisfaction and for retaining employees. Several themes resonated throughout the article, a few of the main ones were why the nurses were staying in LTC, which was because of the relationships they had with the residents and their coworkers. The framework that was developed from the studies indicated why nurses stay or leave a job. Some of the reasons listed for terminating a job were regulations in LTC that effect role flexibility, and not being able to exercise professional judgment. The lack of supportive leadership and personal commitments were also mentioned. Nurses listed reasons to stay as: relationships with the residents, their coworkers, and having opportunities to learn and be educated. Conclusion As evidenced in the study, there are many reasons for leaving or staying at a job. With high turnover there are many disadvantages for the facility as well as the resident and employees. The study indicated what was important to nurses for job satisfaction. With the shortage of nurses and the difficulty in retaining nurses in the LTC facilities, this information could be very crucial to those who hire nurses in these settings. For future studies it would be good to follow up and see if any of the facilities in the study implemented the information given by the staff. This study is important for nursing, as it gives nurses a chance to voice their concerns and give employers the opportunity to make changes. References Boscart. V. M., Bowers, B., Brown, M., & McGilton, K.S. (2014). Making tradeoffs between the reasons to leave and reasons to stay employed in long-term care homes: Perspectives of licensed nursing staff. International  Journal of Nursing Studies,51(6). 917-926.dpo:10/1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.10.015 Mor, V., Mukamel, D.B., & Spector, W. D. (2009). The costs of turnover in nursing homes. The Costs of Turnover in Nursing Homes. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/†¦ National Center for Biotechnology Information Riley, J. (2012). Motivation Theory – Herzberg. From Motivation Theory – Herzberg – Tutor2u Retrieved from www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp

Hrm 531 Performance Plan

?Feedback & Performance Improvement: Sales Team will be given feedback in three formats: 1. Weekly Sales Quota Report 2. Monthly Customer Service Report 3. Quarterly Sales Associate Performance Report Employees will have the opportunity to set up a meeting with the training manager to work on any area that received a score of requires improvement. This will be available weekly for Sales Quota Reports, monthly for Customer Service Reports and quarterly for Performance Reports. Employees receiving scores above requires improvement will also be able to set up meetings with the Training Manager after all requires improvement meetings have been completed. We believe the ability to meet with the training manager will allow all sales associates to reach higher levels of performance. Training Manager may set up subsequent meetings with Sales Managers and Sales Customer Service Manager if additional on-the-job training is required. Promotions and Educational Opportunities When open positions become available in the Sales Leadership Team members of the Sales Team will be given the opportunity to submit applications and resumes for the available position. Remaining members of the Sales Leadership Team and Senior Management will then conduct interviews of the top three Sales Associates considered for the position. If a member of the Sales Associate Team is not chosen to fill the open position then the job will be flown to the public. Educational Opportunities are available to all Sales Associates. If a Sales Associate would like to attend a conference style training (1-5 day training) approval will be required by the Sales Leadership Team. If a Sales Associate would like to receive a bachelor or masters degree and would like partial tuition support from EnviroTech approval will be required from the Sales Leadership Team and the Senior Management Team. Family Support We at EnviroTech realize that you have a family outside of work for this reason the following programs are offered: Family Medical Leave Act: FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to †eligible† employees for certain family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible if they have worked for their employer for at least one year, and for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and if there are at least 50 employees within 75 miles. The FMLA permits employees to take leave on an intermittent basis or to work a reduced schedule under certain circumstances. If you feel you may have a situation that may qualify for time under the FMLA please contact Human Resources as soon as possible. Sick Time / Personal Time: Sick Time or Personal Time may be used for situations pertaining to the employee or members of their immediate family (spouse, partner, children, or parents) Parental Educational Support: Employees may take off up to 20 hours a year of unpaid time off to attend parent conferences, school meetings, or volunteer time. Employee’s immediate supervisor must be informed at least one week prior to this requested time off. Leadership Team: Adaptation for Sales Leadership Team Members for career advancement Jim Martin, Vice President of Sales Jim Martin currently has a bachelor’s degree and has expressed a desire to go back to school for his Masters in Business Administration. The Senior Management Team has agreed to pay half of Jim’s tuition since this is related to his current position. Shane Huck, Sales Manager Shane has requested to attend the Covey Leadership: Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results (3-Day Workshop) all members have agreed that this training will facilitate with the training of the Sales Associates so it has been approved. Tom Gonzalez, Sales Manager Tom currently feels that the Train the Trainer program is enough to handle at the moment. He has been mentoring some sales associates and feels that his home life is suffering due to extended work hours. He may be choosing to work a flex week of 4 ten hour days to support both the sales team and his home life. This has been approved by Senior Management. Susan Burnt, Sales Customer Manager Susan is currently mentoring many sales associates in customer management. She is currently being given a mentoring stipend because of her dedication to these associates. Ving Hsu, Training / Product Educator Manager Ving has requested The Brooks Group training. EnviroTech has sent sales staff to The Brooks Group training in the past and feel that the return of investment was positive. Ving has also been cross training with the sales manager and customer service manager so he can assist the sales associates more fully. Conclusion and Budget: The current budget for this plan is zero dollars. The trainings are allocated under a special â€Å"training† budget and must be approved by the Leadership Team and Senior Management Team. This plan is expected to be effective because of the prior â€Å"buy-in† by members of the Leadership Team and Sales Associates. The benefits for this plan are expected to be higher job satisfaction, higher customer satisfaction, and a deeper understanding of company policies and procedures. The return of investment for this project is expected to be shown in a higher volume of sales and customer retention.