MiDiv Worker Program

[Gidtup]

This email was received and I requested that we move the discussion to this forum so it is open to everyone.

From: Keith Pfautz [mailto:pfautz@mindspring.com]
Sent: Mon 4/23/2007 1:18 PM
To: Smith, Dennis; Smith, Dale; Pratt, Nancy L; Martin Betty; Lipsinic Patrick; Janice Rick; Jackson J.; Hinton Larry; Gibson, Teddy; Gerber, Candy; Faigle Curtis; Entriken Rocky; Clark, Chuck; Carr Rick; Albin, Chris; Shaw Ron & Monica; Harris, Phil
Subject: Worker Recuitment and Retention Plan


All:
The attached article was forwarded to me by Wendell Karr-ake, Oklahoma Region RE. Sharon McBride had sent it to him.
What it brought to mind is that we are fully into the race season and I haven't heard anything further about Midiv's plan. Where are we in the implementation of it? I know it is not as aggressive as Florida Region's program, but should we look at a more aggressive stance?
At this point, I'm not advocating a position. However, the last two races I was at (Heartland and Hallett) certainly didn't have an overabundance of workers.
As always, yours for the sport.
Keith Pfautz
Wichita Region RE

FLORIDA REGION PRESS RELEASE APRIL 16, 2007
In a bold move to increase the recruitment of new workers and to retain the present worker pool, the Florida Region has launched a new and aggressive Volunteer Incentive Program, (VIP). This program is designed to improve the availability and attendance of workers at all events, but
especially at its road racing events, which rely heavily on the large number of people it takes to organize and conduct a road racing weekend.
The new Florida Region VIP plan utilizes a three-pronged approach to recruiting and retaining volunteers. The first component of the plan consists of VIP Packs, which are distributed to newly recruited F & C volunteers. First timers receive a plastic bag with health and safety essentials every corner worker needs. It includes, a laminated card showing the flags and their meaning on one side and the number system on the back. A second laminated card shows the hand signals and symbols used to communicate over long distances. A safety lanyard with clip - for the cards, sun screen, ear plugs, and a hooded poncho complete Pack I. Pack II, for second timers, includes a safety whistle, a lanyard for the whistle, large chalk stick, and a Florida Region/SCCA T-shirt.
The third Pack includes a baseball style cap, a pair of orange reflective safety gloves and a chapstick.

The second component of the plan is fairly simple. Any SCCA member who comes out to work an event, in any specialty, is eligible for a $30.00 per day reimbursement to help defray personal expenses. This part of the plan has been operating successfully for some time, although the per
diem was just recently increased to the $30.00 level.

The third component of the plan was formally launched and approved by the Florida Region Board at its April meeting. This third part of the plan provides a reimbursement of the Florida Region member�s annual SCCA membership dues. To qualify, a person would have to work one
day more than half of the region�s annual scheduled work days.
With this proactive approach to volunteer recruitment and retention, the Florida Region has taken a bold approach to solving a problem that has plagued regions, nationally. Many regions have fallen on hard times when it comes to staffing events. With its new VIP plan, Florida Region is hoping to resolve this dilemma locally and perhaps be an inspiration to other regions who would like to enhance their own Volunteer Incentive Program.

[Gidtup]

HERE IS A COPY THE APPROVED PLAN FOR EVERYONE


MiDiv Recruitment & Retention Committee Plan for 2007

Goal:

Develop a sustainable, long range program that will be a factor in the retention and recruitment of more workers for Club Racing Events in the Mid West Division.

Objective:
Retain and recruit more workers for Mid West Division Club Racing Events

A key element of this plan is personal contact by everyone in the Division. The entire committee believes that the only way that a person is successfully retained or recruited is through personal contact. People show up for the racing, they stay for the friendships they make.

Divisional Recruitment & Retention Committee (To consist of a Chairman and minimum 5 members)
 Oversees and supports the Division, Race Group, and Regional Chiefs.
 Organizes the �AwardWear� for incentives.
 Reports to the MiDiv Executive Committee.
 Monitors funds, approves payments and recommends funding amount each year.
 Uses website and any other available communication to promote and report program.

Divisional Recruitment & Retention Chief (To consist of 1 Chief, approved by and reports to the Div. R&R Committee)
 Supports and monitors Race Group and Regional efforts.
 Find opportunities for experienced workers to grow.
 Compile points and administer workers AwardWear program.

Race Group Retention Chief (To consist of 5 Chiefs � 1 from each track, reports to Divisional R&R Chief and Communicates with the Regional Recruitment Chiefs)
 Acts as the MiDiv Welcome Wagon and mentors workers at events, is a real people person.
 Monitors and checks up on new workers at their job stations each event.
 Helps existing workers with personnel problems or SCCA working career changes.
 Collects and forwards all work records or points to Divisional R&R Chief.
 Develops a relationship with all Specialty Chiefs to coordinate info on new recruits to them.
 Provides a report after each event to the Div. R&R Chief on workers and the program.
 Presents AwardWear to each worker as soon as they earn it.

Regional Recruitment Chief (To consist of 14 Chiefs � 1 from each region, reports to the Divisional R&R and Communicates and Coordinates with the Race Group Retention Chief)
 Acts as the MiDiv Welcome Wagon and mentors workers at all Regional events and activities.
 Operates localized programs in searching for new recruits.
 Stays in personal and close contact with new recruits.
 Communicates with Race Group Retention Chief and gets new recruits to the next race.
 Follows up to answer all questions and gets the new recruit involved in the SCCA culture. (This process may take several years with some of the new people).
 Communicate with Specialty Chiefs on new recruits.
 Works with Specialty Chiefs and Regional R&R Chief to find the right job path for each individual.
 Provides reports on activities of the region in recruiting new workers to the Div. R&R Chief on workers and the program on a regular basis.
 Assure new recruits get support and obtains membership/licensing or what is needed



Recognition Reward Program Key Points

AwardWear
 Will create MiDiv AwardWear clothing for specialties, which could include jackets, shirts, tote bags, etc.
 Each specialty has its own type of dress suitable for the job being done, there will be plenty of choices for each winner.
 Each article would be embroidered with the worker's name, home region, specialty, etc
 Items in the $50 - $75 Plus cost range
 Badges could later be developed to be earned for rank, service days or years, offices held, etc.
 No previous credit allowed,(other than license grade) and points counted only at MiDiv events
 Program �AwardWear� can not be purchased, only earned

Plus�s
 Ability for everyone to spot our more experienced workers without that worker having to brag about themselves
 Incentive system that not only rewards workers with valued gifts, but a gift that is wearable so others can see how much our Division values their workers
 New workers would see the �AwardWear� earned and see what they can achieve if they stay involved
 AwardWear would be presented to the worker as soon as possible after it is earned at the Sat. night dinners so everyone can congratulate them and drivers can thank them
 AwardWear earned would become a status symbol
 Catalog of items to be available on Midiv Website

Criteria of Awards
 Will be set up to be accumulative and based on how many days a worker works a club race for the Mid West Division.
 Points to be reported using the existing worker log book
 Will be developed and communicated to the Executive Committee before the start of the 2007 season.

Funding
 Start up funding for 2007 $5.00 per each National, Regional, IT entry on all races in Mid West Division
 Will be collected by Point Keeper with Trophy Fund collections.
 Points Keeper will send it to MiDiv Treasurer who will hold it for MiDiv Worker fund
 AwardWear bills to be submitted to the MiDiv Treasurer, by the Divisional Recruitment & Retention Committee for payment
 Each year the Divisional Recruitment & Retention Committee Chairman will report to the MiDiv Executive Committee with a review of the money collected and used and recommend the amount to be collected the following year.
 Should be adjusted as needed to have funds for the AwardWear, but not create a slush fund
 Any donations received by any driver group or others to be added to this fund
 Any misc. amounts of budget needed to run committee to be requested from the general funds from the MiDiv Executive Committee

[Gidtup]

The MiDiv Plan is actually moving right along, as we promised. No large fireworks but it has certainly been at work for the long haul goals.

Jennifer Igou volunteered to be our Divisional Recruitment and Retention Chief. She has been working with the Race Group Retention Chiefs and the Regional Recruitment Chiefs and has been gathering worker info for the the races held so far.
Rocky as agreed has been collecting the funds as approved.
The AwardWear Catalog is completed and I sent it off to the MiDiv Webmaster when he was on vacation and it was not arriving to his overfilled email. I just sent it to him this week to be posted. The first round of AwardWear should be ready to be ordered soon.

I also asked Jeff to list the committee members and asked Jennifer to send me the Race Group Retention Chiefs and the Regional Recruitment Chiefs names so they too can be posted.

This project is a HUGE undertaking and will not net new workers immediately. But I believe once the AwardWear is presented and given out that we start the visibility and marketing of this program. We have to be in this for the long hall. The crisis of workers did not happen overnight and it will not be changed overnight. This unified effort from a Divisional Level is the most sustainable plan for everyone in the Mid West Division. I hope that all of you are still firmly behind this Divisional effort and will help when a driver wants to �do something to help workers� by sending them to the committee to help in the unified effort. Remember this cart has to go up a very big hill and we all need to help push it. The more we work as a team the better.

[KPfautz]

Thank you a bunch, Jan. I honestly had not heard a thing. I knew the plan was approved, but not how much had been implemented outside of Jennifer volunteering.
The other aspect of this is what Florida Region is doing, which bothers me for several reasons. One of those reasons is that once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to put back, (regardless of who squeezed it out)and Florida did some serious squeezing.
Final question: I sent an email because I want everyone to see it. The last I knew, there were some members having problems posting here. Has everyone made it now?
K

[Gidtup]

Their plan as well as ours starts with rewards to workers to retain them.

Their plan looks good. Of course, I like ours better

Our regional recruitment chiefs are a facet of our program that is a big part of long range additions to our worker force. The St. Louis Recruitment Chief has been developed a flyer and has been distributing them to car shows, etc. She is also setting up meetings with schools, University's and FSAE groups! These chiefs are a vital key to the success of the program.

Jan Rick

[Bill Johnson]

Jan - Thanks for all your hard work on the worker program. It's a tremendous effort to keep this rolling and keep everyone informed.

The "rah rah" of all this really comes at the local level with the individual recriutment people. It would be ideal if we could all end up with dedicated people that do nothing else except sit around and think of ways to find new people, and then get them to the track for the first time. After that, the program kicks in to get them more involved and keep them happy.

I think the key to our success is finding the right person locally. I know a lot of us already have so much going on that we can't really focus on a single issue, that's why I think it's best if we can find people that aren't really doing much else for their regions.

Hopefully we can all work together and share ideas.

Bill Johnson

[Gidtup]

Jeff Kopp was asked to post the entire list on the MiDiv website
The workers eligible for a prize have been posted on this forum under workers.
Mike Asselta was the 1st one to redeem and after a couple of glitches his prize should be on it's way!

Every region needs a recruitment chief and I hope they get this worker position filled soon. It is crucial to the program to help solve the worker problem.

Please check to see if you are a winner!