Top tier with its 97 percent retention rate
In Hollywood, as industry wide DVD sales declined, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. made employee cuts. DreamWorks Animation tried a difference strategy. They avoided layoffs at all costs. The promise to secure every employee’s job was kept in spite of stock fluctuations. DreamWorks’s stock relies on two to three theatrical releases a year.
DreamWorks has cultivated 27 animated feature films including Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon among many others. Named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine for five consecutive years, DreamWorks Animation ranked #12 in 2013. This can be attributed to willingness to take risks. When employees make mistakes, the company shows support. Providing job security (as opposed to verbal and written warnings) pushes the boundaries of creativity, according to Dan Satterthwaite, head of human resources since 2007.
DreamWorks Animation ranks in Great Place To Work Institute’s top tier with its 97 percent retention rate. Great Place to Work Institute–a human resources consulting, research, and training firm–studies strengths of successful businesses and recreates models of organizational trust to replicate similar achievements in other companies. Establishing trust inspires high performance of employees and incites employers to allow for innovation. A sense of camaraderie results and increased productivity follows.
Kathy Altieri, a production designer at DreamWorks, gives her artists leverage to fail. She believes in giving little instruction, allowing the artists to instead reach for their best selves. Altieri says they rarely fail. On all levels, DreamWorks Animation staff works as team and consider the risk well worth it.