The case study guide for "Job Creation is Job One" with Linda Brewer and John Rohovec, the founders of Blue Dome Gallery in Silver City. Terri Menges and Joe Burgess, the founders of Zia Publishing in Silver City Leroy Gomez, Chris Ham & Troy Scoughton, the founders of TMC Design in Las Cruces Kevin McGinley, the founder of McGinley Construction in Las Cruces Joseph Semprevivo, the founder of Joseph's Lite Cookies in Deming as seen on Small Business School, the series on PBS member stations.

The Case Study Guide

last update: 02/26/2005

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Employees want security

Embrace A Long-range HR Strategy

Troy said the reason they started the company is that he thought he could be a better leader than most of the people he had worked for in his career. He also said that he has 45 nieces and nephews in the area and there aren't enough good jobs so he intends to change that fact by growing a business people want to work in.

Topic for Discussion: What tells us that TMC has a long-range human resource strategy?

Answer: Their intern program is designed to grow their business over the long haul. Anyone trying to make a quick buck wouldn't fool with college kids. The owners of TMC consider it a sacred trust to put a person on their payroll. They have never had to lay-off anyone even though it would have been the easy thing to do. The benefits package tells us TMC is committed to employees. It pays 100% of health care and has annual leave and good wages.

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Key Ideas of this episode


1.		Offer One-of-a-kind Products And Services

2.		Work Hard For The People Who Work For You

3.		Flaunt What You've Got

4.		Find The Talent Under Your Nose

5.		Recruit An Insider

6.		Embrace A Long-range HR Strategy

7.		Form Informal Partnerships

8.		Get Word-of-mouth Marketing

9.		Be Generous

10.		Give People A Job For Life

11.		Set High Standards

12.		Do What You Promise To Do

Accomplishing this takes enormous will as Troy said, "Everything is important--the marketing, making sure that you track everything, making sure that you treat your customers properly and making sure that financially you're doing smart things, and then, of course, taking care of your people. And if you don't take care of the business, you're not going to be able to take care of your people."

Business owners are not driven by the same things that drive employees. This is the biggest lesson we all need to learn. Troy, Chris and Leroy have been in the government contracting arena for years and the greatest fear employees have is that they will be laid off if a contract is lost. By building carefully, TMC has taken the fear away for employees.

You think about it: What can you do to make your employees feel secure? Less fearful?

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