Golin / Harris International

"At Golin/Harris, we invest substantial resources in employee development and integrate learning and development activities into all aspects of our provide the learning resources; the manager's responsibility to provide the support and time; and the employee's responsibility to take the initiative." - Rich Jernstedt, CEO operations.

In public relations, employee skills and intellectual capital are a firm’s primary assets. Since employees are placed under intense demands in a crisis-driven environment, recruitment and retention are imperatives for PR firms, and an ever broadening scope of customers’ needs has placed increased importance on employees’ continuous learning. For Golin/Harris International, a public relations firm headquartered in Chicago with 1,100 employees in 23 offices worldwide, these learning imperatives were the foundation for the creation of an employee development system designed to invest in the employee as a whole person, not just to provide job-specific skills training.

Under the system, Golin/Harris aims to create a culture that supports learning, a wide array of formal and informal training and education opportunities, mentoring, career counseling and related developmental activities that help employees pursue outside interests and maintain an appropriate work/life balance. The CEO personally fosters employee learning through actions such as chairing the three-day middle managers’ training conference, or sending personal notes of encouragement to participants in the company’s “Leadership in Action” program. Finally, the Board of Directors requires six-month reporting on the progress and results of the company’s educational initiatives.

Golin/Harris is working to foster a culture that breeds well-rounded employees that are community-oriented and broadly educated with a variety of interests outside the office. The Golin/Harris system appears to be working. Golin/Harris’ employee turnover averages between 15 and 25 percent, well below the industry average. As a result, Golin/Harris has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in Chicago” by Chicago Magazine, and has been recognized by Training Magazine as part of its “Training Top 100.”

Click here to view full case study. The information presented here was assembled in 2002. This does not necessarily represent the current status of Golin/Harris.