Table of Contents

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

II. INTRODUCTION 2
A. Description of the business or organization 2
B. Description of the community (economic, demographic, 3
geographic, and socioeconomic factors)
C. Overview of the business or organization’s current target
market

III. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY 5

A. Description and rationale of research 5
methodologies selected to conduct
the study
B. Process used to conduct the selected 7
research methods

IV. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY 8

A. Findings of the research study 8
B. Conclusions based on the findings 9

V. PROPOSED STRATEGIC PLAN 11

A. Objectives and rationale of the proposed plan 11
B. Proposed activities and timelines 13
C. Proposed metrics or key performance indicators 17
to measure plan effectiveness

VI. PROPOSED BUDGET 19

VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 21
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Fiiz Drinks, a soda shop located in South Jordan, Utah, individualizes itself from

any other soda shops by offering its signature “dirty” sodas and signature baked goods

along with an upbeat, fun, and welcoming environment. This sole proprietorship, owned

by Wayne Twedt, offers a unique experience to all of its customers while connecting with

them on a personal level. Based on our interview with the employees at the South

Jordan location, we gained an understanding that the employees did not feel that their

tasks were engaging or challenging, that their fellow employees were not fully

committed to quality, and that there was a lack of team cohesion in the workplace.

These interviews began the process of additional research on what strategies Fiiz Drinks

could effectively implement to improve employee engagement. This report provides an

analysis and evaluation of the current and prospective employee engagement situation.

In this paper, a detailed plan to improve employee engagement in these three

specific areas will be presented. The anticipated end result of the proposed plan will be

to see a sustainable improvement in employee engagement of the business by

implementing activities to specifically address each area of concern. By implementing

the proposed plan, we not only hope to see an enhanced employee engagement

situation, but also to see an increase in productivity and profitability for the business.

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II. INTRODUCTION

A. Description of the Business or Organization

Fiiz Drinks, a small soda shop owned by Wayne Twedt, operates under the

philosophy of trying to be unique and always innovating to keep up with trends. Fiiz

Drinks aims to provide a unique social experience to the Generation Y of the South

Jordan area. Fiiz Drinks, located at 10384 South Redwood Road, has 1,730 square feet.

This local soda shop is located closely to Bingham High School with many other

surrounding stores and restaurants. Fiiz Drinks has many locations in the Utah area

with one in Arizona and one in Nevada. Fiiz Drinks was first established in 2014 at the

South Jordan location. Although Fiiz Drinks has been opened at many new locations,

Wayne Twedt has owned this South Jordan location for 2 years.

Fiiz Drinks South Jordan currently has 20 full-time employees, including

the owner, Wayne Twedt. It is equipped to serve the needs of the public by selling

unique “dirty” sodas and baked goods. They offer a wide variety of drinks whether you

want something simple or something you never thought you would try, along with sweet

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and salty treats to balance it all out. Fiiz Drinks also offers a Fiiz Truck to bring this

unique experience to the customers. Wayne and his employees strongly believe in the

quality of their products as well as the hospitality that should be provided along with the

product. Their goal is to provide the best quality drinks along with hospitality that

adapts to the growing market of Generation Y.

B. Description of the Community

Economic:​ ​Fiiz Drinks is located in South Jordan, Utah. In this area of

South Jordan, 2.8% are unemployed and 2.7% are below the poverty line. Roughly,

22.46% are in a management, business, and finance occupations. Another 29.67% in a

sales, office, or administrative support occupation. (South Jordan City Profile, 2016).

Demographic:​ ​The majority of people living in this area are white at

88.2% of the population while 6.5% are Hispanic and 2.6% are Asian. The majority of

the population are male at 50.6% and then women at 49.4%. The median age of the

population living in this area is 30.1. Of this population, 50.7% over 25 years old have

attained a college degree and only 4.1% have not achieved a high school diploma. (South

Jordan Population, 2016).

Geographic:​ ​The city of South Jordan is a total of 22.26 square miles and

is located in the southwest portion of Salt Lake City. It is located approximately 13 miles

south of Salt Lake City. The elevation of South Jordan spans from 900 feet from

approximately 4316 feet above sea level to a high of 5216 feet. (South Jordan Climate

and Geography, 2016).

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 Socioeconomic: ​The median income for a household in South Jordan

was $91,199,while the median for Utah was $56,330. Males had a median income of

$65,722 with it resting at $41,171 for females. The per capita income for the city was

$28,387. About 1.6% of families and 2.7% of the overall population were below the

poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 2.4% of those age 65 or over. In

Salt Lake County, 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line compared to the

numbers of South Jordan. Of those people 25 years and older in the city, 96.8% were

high school graduates compared to 87.7% in Utah. Those attaining a college degree were

36.4% of South Jordan's population. (South Jordan, Utah- Demographics, 2015).

C. Overview of the Company or Organization’s Current Target Market

The customers of Fiiz Drinks consist mainly of students from Bingham

High School during their free time and families shopping in the area surrounding Fiiz

Drinks. Due to their location, Fiiz Drinks tries to target Generation Y and families who

are shopping around the area and create a friendly, energetic atmosphere.

Fiiz Drinks currently caters to a Generation Y target market with their unique and

innovative take on soda. However, they also do provide a warm, friendly atmosphere

that caters to families. To be more specific, Fiiz Drinks is focusing on a target market of

high school students between the ages of 15-19 who live in the South Jordan area and

attend Bingham High School. Based on the demographics of the area, their secondary

target market is going to consist of families with kids in the age rage of 9-17 and parents

the ages of 26-34.

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III. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY

A. Description and Rationale of Research Methodologies Selected to

Conduct the Study

With the purpose of analyzing current employee engagement at Fiiz

Drinks, we chose to conduct four different research methodologies to determine the

current situation throughout the business. Each methodology chosen was needed in

order to analyze differentiating perspectives of the business’s engagement. To determine

how engaged employees are in their jobs, we first conducted employee surveys. These

surveys gave us the perspective of the employees and insight on their satisfaction with

their job and assigned tasks. We were able to analyze the situation from the employees’

perspective through asking questions concerning the employees’ enthusiasm and quality

commitment in their work, along with questions concerning complexity of tasks and

team cohesion. In order to fulfill the purpose of determining how engaged employees

are in their work, it was needed to first start with questioning employees on how they

viewed their own engagement and the engagement of their coworkers.

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 The next necessary research methodology was to conduct customer

surveys. Analyzing the customers’ experience while visiting Fiiz Drinks contributed to

our understanding of how the employee engagement situation was affecting the

business’s profitability. By asking the customers questions on the performance of the

staff, we were able to determine how well the employees were serving customers. We

asked customers to rate the employees’ urgency, enthusiasm, patience and helpfulness,

and efficiency on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. The results from these surveys helped us to

determine how well the customers viewed the employees to be performing, including

what their strengths and weaknesses were in.

The next research methodology used was to interview the manager of Fiiz

Drinks. This methodology was necessary to determine if higher management was aware

of their employees’ performance, and if they noticed any complications in performance

or productivity. By asking the manager questions on how well he viewed his employees

to work together, how productive they were, or how satisfied he viewed his employees to

be, we were able to analyze another outer perspective on the employees’ engagement.

The manager’s perspective helps to determine to what extent a lack or presence of

engagement is affecting the business.

The last method of research we conducted was online research. We found

this methodology to be essential in understanding the background of Fiiz Drinks. Online

research of the business’s goals and mission helped us to more fully understand who Fiiz

Drinks is and what they strive for. Online researching of past customers’ reviews of their

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visits also gave us a more broad understanding of past performance compared to

current performance.

B. Process Used to Conduct the Selected Research Methods

The research processes conducted consisted of customer surveys, employee

surveys, manager interviews, and online research. The surveys created for the

employees consisted of twelve closed-response questions on a Likert scale of 1-5, two

closed-response questions with multiple choice answers, and two open-response

questions. The surveys created for the customers consisted of ten closed-response

questions on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, one open-response question, and a space for

comments. These types of survey was chosen in order to prevent bias on our part and to

get an honest opinion from each customer. Both employee and customer surveys were

created on Word Processing software. After we had created these surveys and obtained

physical copies, we went to the location of the business to speak with a manager to set

up available times for us to bring the surveys in to have them completed. After this, we

chose to take the employee surveys in first. When we did this, we had 15 employee

surveys ready for completion. Upon arrival at the business, we spoke with the team

leader of the shift who stated he would take the surveys for completion and have them

ready to be picked up at a later time. We left the 15 employee surveys at the business

with the team leader, and 2 days later returned to the business to which we found 11 out

of the 15 surveys had been filled out due to the lack of a large amount of employees

present during a small amount of shift times. When we returned to retrieve the

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employee surveys, we also conducted the customer surveys. The location of Fiiz Drinks

South Jordan has one register inside the store, which is the location where we stood

when giving out the customer surveys. After each customer had placed their order, we

introduced ourselves and asked if they would be willing to complete a survey. None of

the customers refused the request, but some seemed bothered by the survey. After

having completed 30 customer surveys, we left. About one week later, we returned to

interview the owner/manager, Wayne Twedt. We prepared a series of questions

beforehand that we wanted information on, and then conducted a verbal interview by

asking him the prepared questions. The interview consisted of one person asking

questions and the other writing down the responses to each question. Our online

research consisted of using Fiiz Drinks’ official website, www.fiiz drinks.com.

IV. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

A. Findings of the Research Study

After conducting all of the research strategies discussed above, our research

team was able to assess different strengths and weaknesses of Fiiz Drinks. By using a

Likert scale in our employee surveys, we were able to determine how the employees felt

about their work experiences. The surveys showed that on a scale from one to five,

employees only rated their task complexity at a 2.71 on average and that only 83% of

employees were enthusiastic about performing the tasks required for their jobs. In

surveys, customers rated staff urgency at only a 4.4 out of 5 and employee enthusiasm at

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only a 4.6 out of 5. From this research, we were able to determine that there is an

insufficiency with the current situation of tasks assigned to employees. The employees

view their tasks to be uninteresting and customers see that employees are not fully

enthusiastic about their work. Further results of our employee surveys showed that

employees’ commitment to quality scored only at a 3.86 out of 5. We also found that

employees said they performed their tasks to the best of their abilities at only a 4.57 out

of 5, with which arises an issue that could negatively affect Fiiz Drinks in the future.

These results helped us to determine that Fiiz Drinks’ employees’ commitment to

quality is a concern that needs to be reviewed further. Additional research illustrated

that twenty percent of employees stated they did not feel much a part of the team. This

research shows a deficiency in team unity in the workplace, which is also an issue that

needs to be taken into consideration to be examined further. From the tabulations of

surveys, we found that the employees felt their jobs were not intriguing and the tasks

were too easy, that there was a lack in commitment to quality on behalf of the

employees, and that employees did not feel there is team unity in the workplace.

B. Conclusions Based on the Findings

Our research indicates that there are concerns regarding the employees’

tasks, the lack of commitment to quality by employees, and a lack of team cohesion in

the workplace. These results assisted us in assessing the employee engagement situation

at Fiiz Drinks, and have helped us conclude that the current situation concerning

employee engagement is insufficient and needs to be reviewed further.

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 Research results showed that the tasks assigned to employees lacked

complexity and variety. These results illustrate that tasks are monotonous, to which we

can conclude that employees are unenthusiastic about the work they are doing. We can

also conclude from these results that the lack of enthusiasm given for the monotonous

tasks leads to boredom and lack of desire by employees to be engaged in their work.

Employee surveys​ ​showed that Fiiz Drinks’ employees are not performing

their assigned tasks to the best of their abilities. The insufficient manner in which

employees are conducting tasks can lead to a lackadaisical workplace that has a

potential to harm the business’s productivity and profitability in the long-run. We can

attribute the employees’ lack of commitment to quality to inadequate feelings of

importance to the company and to a lack of complexity in assigned tasks. We conclude

from these findings that Fiiz Drinks needs to determine a way to more fully engage each

employee in their tasks in order to improve the specific performance of each employee

in the conducting of their tasks. We can also conclude that by improving individual

performance of employees, productivity in performance will increase, leading to a rise in

profit for the business.

By researching how the employees feel about their work environment and

job experience, we were able to come to the conclusion that there is a lack of team

cohesion in the workplace. Research demonstrated that a significant amount of

employees did not feel as if they were a part of the team. This suggests that actions to

enhance the employees’ cohesion amidst each other are not being taken. We conclude

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that implementing actions to improve current team cohesion situations are a necessity

to increase each employee’s commitment to the company and their work, leading to a

more stable, productive, and profitable workforce.

From our research, we conclude that there are three primary issues that

need to be addressed further in order to increase the success of Fiiz Drinks as a

business: the lack of variety and complexity of tasks given to employees, the lack of

attention being paid to quality, and the lack of team cohesion. In order to improve each

of these situations, we conclude that it is necessary to implement a strategic plan

specifically addressing each of these three issues.

V. PROPOSED STRATEGIC PLAN

A. Objectives and Rationale of the Proposed Plan

Robyn Reilly discussed in her article “Five Ways to Improve Employee

Engagement” that research showed only 30% of workers in the United States are

engaged in their work. This leaves the majority of the workforce to be either

not-engaged or actively disengaged in their work. Reilly stated that converting the group

of disengaged workers into engaged workers is the most effective strategy a company

could implement to increase performance and sustainable long-term growth. (Reilly,

2014) A large percent of disengaged employees could negatively affect Fiiz Drinks by

creating a lackadaisical workplace that could potentially prevent them from serving

customers to the best of their ability, and could also cripple the business’s productivity

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and profitability. Fiiz Drinks, as a small business with a goal to expand to more

locations, could take advantage of the opportunity to convert its disengaged workforce

into an engaged one that could profit the business and its long-term success.

The overlying goals of the proposed plan are to resolve concerns regarding

employees’ tasks, commitment to quality by employees, and team cohesion in the

workplace by implementing specific actions to address each concern. By resolving issues

in the workplace that are preventing Fiiz Drinks from performing to the best of its

abilities, we provide the opportunity for enhanced employee satisfaction and

engagement, as well as increased business growth.

Because employees are performing tasks that are monotonous and not

engaging, Fiiz Drinks could lose productivity from employees which could result in loss

of profitability. It is necessary to implement actions such as job rotation, tasks that are

more engaging, and motivation for employees to perform tasks to the best of their

abilities. The objective of implementing these actions is to see that employees become

more productive in their tasks and to see that they remain engaged in what they are

doing.

In order to instill a commitment to quality in employees, we see that it is

necessary to record progress of employees to hold them accountable for their own

actions. It is also necessary to implement management strategies that will help

employees to remain engaged in their tasks and performing at a quality level. It is also

necessary to motivate employees in order to not only engage them further, but also to

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enhance their satisfaction with their job. We see that the objective actions of the plan are

to commit employees to quality by recording individual progress, implementing more

structures management styles, and motivated employees.

To increase team cohesion in the workplace, our objectives are to

implement events and activities to build relationships between employees. Because

employees do not feel cohesive and altogether a team, we find it necessary to provide

employees with the opportunity to bond with other team members in settings outside of

their work. By increasing team cohesion, we will allow Fiiz Drinks the opportunity to

increase performance of its employees which can lead to a new desire for employees to

be engaged in their work.

B. Proposed Activities and Timelines

The proposed plan should be put into action in the workplace almost

immediately, and should be easily adaptable to by the employees and management. We

propose to put the plan into action for a trial period of 3 months, then revisit it to assess

the success and profitability of the alterations.

It is proposed to implement a reward system for employees. The objectives

of this system aligns with the objectives discussed above; it is anticipated to see a

sustainable increase in sales and a development of empowerment and personal

engagement of employees in order to grow the success and profitability of Fiiz Drinks as

a business. The reward system will include a tracking of each employee’s individual

progress, including attendance/absenteeism, customer service, productivity, and

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profitability. Progress will be accessible visually to all employees in the workplace and

compared to others to instill a sense of healthy competition between workers. This

reward system will encourage and promote creativity and individual involvement and

responsibility in the workplace. Through tracking progress, it will provide the

opportunity to reward those employees that have exceeded expectations and performed

to the best of their abilities. This plan will allow for employees to receive compensation

for their creativity; for example, when an employee creates a new drink, they will be

rewarded with a 5 cent compensation for each drink of theirs that is sold.

Other incentives that this plan entails are an “Employee of the Month”

program and other bonuses. At the end of a month period, based on the progress that

has been tracked, the employee that has performed the best or progressed the most will

be rewarded with a $50 bonus to their paycheck and will be named the ‘Employee of the

Month.” Not only will this plan reward employees extrinsically with increased

compensation, incentives, bonuses and Employee of the Month recognitions, but it also

reward employees intrinsically by giving them more responsibilities to fulfill to which

they will be able to feel accomplished. By rewarding employees for their increased

efforts, Fiiz Drinks will be able to instill a sense of purpose and value in employees,

ultimately making them feel more committed to the company and engaged in what they

are doing.

As part of the plan, we also propose to slightly alter the management

system of Fiiz Drinks by implementing 5 shift managers. This promotion for select

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individuals from one level of employment to a higher one will increase their loyalty to

the company and instill a sense of personal value in each of them. Once managers for

each shift have been chosen, we will coach each manager in order to help them become

an active role in building engagement and enthusiasm in other employees. We plan to

do this by using an E-training program. As we further into this age of technology, we see

a continually increasing amount of E-trainings being used to effectively and efficiently

train employees in a new job. E-trainings allow for the employees to receive

empowerment immediately when they begin working with a company, which instills a

sense of trust and value with the company. These managers will be held responsible over

the employees of their shift and will be tracked for their own progress and the progress

of those whom they are over. Continuously tracking progress will ensure the

development of Fiiz Drinks as a business and will ensure these managers continuously

focus on emotionally engaging employees into their work. Tracking progress will lead to

an elevation in individual sense of purpose in the company’s success. These managers

will become an asset to the functionality of the proposed reward system. Implementing

shift managers will also promote communication between management levels. This

allows for the opportunity to ensure that employees know the current standings and

status of the company. It will become more readily available for management to define

and clarify company goals in realistic, achievable terms to all employees and get them

enthusiastic and engaged in what the business’s plans are. Not only will this alteration in

management increase communication, but it will also delegate responsibility and power

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throughout the company, providing opportunities for employees to become more

empowered and engaged in their individual tasks. Overall, slightly altering the

management style will significantly increase the amount of communication all

throughout Fiiz Drinks, will help make the reward system functionable, and will

encourage employees to become more empowered and engaged in their work.

In order to encourage team cohesion, we are proposing to implement

employee lunches or dinners once every month, as well as an after-hours team party

once every month. Team gatherings allow for personal interaction between employees

and develop trust within the company. We propose using team gatherings to allow the

employees to develop a sense of importance to the company and instill loyalty to the

company. Fiiz Drinks is a company based solely on creativity and team gatherings will

allow the employees to feel that their creativity is valued by the company; this will later

result in more creative ideas being expressed in the workplace which will contribute to

the profitability, expansion, and success of the company.

Per our surveys of the employees, it is proposed that Fiiz Drinks also

implement a cross training program to avoid monotony in the tasks of employees. Cross

training is a program that would not add additional expenses and could be implemented

during the business’ slow times to keep employee productivity high. Cross training

would provide the employees with the skills required to complete any task in the

business in case an unforeseen issue presents itself in a future situation. A major

concern found amongst employees was that the job became very monotonic after a

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period of time; cross training would assess the employees’ concerns regarding their

tasks while also increasing their productivity.

C. Proposed Metrics or Key Performance Indicators to Measure Plan

Effectiveness

The proposed plan entails an implementation of a reward system, new

management style, and activities to strengthen team cohesion in order to enhance

employee engagement at the Fiiz Drinks South Jordan location. It is proposed that the

plan be put into place over a 3 month trial period, after which we will reassess the

progress of the proposed plan to determine its success and sustainability. It is proposed

that the metrics used to measure the effectiveness of the plan are pre and post

evaluation surveys for both employees and customers; pre and post interviews of shift

managers and the owner; and a record of the sales, customer visits, and employee

turnover rates before and during the 3 month period. It is anticipated that if the plan is

successful in increasing employee engagement in the workplace, then customers,

employees and managers will all be more satisfied and that Fiiz Drinks as a business will

have increased its productivity and profitability.

Customer and employee pre and post surveys will help indicate how

successful the plan was to each individual’s overall satisfaction and progress. To

distinguish a change in employee engagement, it is vital to assess how the customers

and employees view their own experiences both before and after the 3 month trial

period of the plan. Executing surveys before the plan is put into action will help to attain

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a baseline for where Fiiz Drinks stands before changes are made, and executing surveys

after the plan is put into action will help assess what progress and alterations have taken

place. The pre-surveys for customers will consist of questions regarding overall

satisfaction and evaluation of employee performance on Likert scales and with

open-ended questions. Post-surveys for customers will assess the same topics as the

pre-surveys. The pre-surveys for employees will consist of questions regarding overall

satisfaction, engagement, task complexity, commitment, and team cohesion by using

Likert scales and open-ended questions as well. Post-surveys for employees will assess

alike issues as the pre-surveys, but will also have additional questions and responses to

which employees can express their feelings regarding how successful certain events and

activities were or how implemented activities contributed to job task monotony,

commitment to excellence, or team cohesion.

Comparing pre and post interviews of shift managers and the owner will

assist in determining if the plan increased involvement from higher management. The

interviews will pose questions concerning views of managers and the owner on topics

such as employee engagement, team cohesion, company profitability and success of the

implemented activities and events on employee satisfaction. By assessing to what extent

higher management is aware of progress, we can determine how successful the plan was

in improving satisfaction, engagement, and cohesion of employees and to what extent

that was outwardly displayed.

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 Records of sales, customer visits, and employee turnover rates may assist

in gauging the success and progress of the plan. This metric is one that must be

monitored daily. Because this metric is monitored daily, it also provides the opportunity

to observe growth and progress during the plan, rather than solely after the completion

of the trial period of the plan. Records showing sales and customer visits will aid in

indicating the success of the plan at enhancing engagement to maximize productivity of

employees in order to increase business profitability. Employee turnover rates may also

help determine if employees enjoyed the new alterations and if it engaged them in their

work. An increase or decrease in engagement, productivity, and profitability can be

indicated by the turnover rate. Because turning over employees is expensive and We

unproductive, a decrease in the turnover rate will contribute to Fiiz Drinks’ profitability

and productivity by saving money and contributing to a more stable workforce. A

decreased turnover rate may also indicate that employees have become more engaged

and satisfied with their work. Over the 3-month trial period of the plan, it will be

necessary to record sales, customer visits, and turnover rates in a consistent, daily

matter in order to have the data necessary to examine the effectiveness of the plan.

VI. PROPOSED BUDGET

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 The proposed budget includes three sections; expenses, events, and

additional fees. The Expenses will include the charges from all of the research we have

done to establish this unique plan for Fiiz Drinks. The Event portion involves the costs

for a single event; these events should occur at least twice in this three month trial

period to strengthen the relationships within the company. The Additional Fees include

all of the raises and training that will be needed to provide the employees with the

empowerment they need. In order to conduct this plan, it is essential to keep expenses

as low as possible in order to keep it cost-effective. Following the proposed budget will

allow Fiiz Drinks to implement the plan in a manner that will improve current situations

and assess current issues. The budget for this plan is inexpensive and cost-effective,

allowing for Fiiz Drinks to make an increased amount of profit in the future.

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VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Five Ways to Improve Employee Engagement Now.” Reilly, R. 7 Jan. 2016 Web. 10 Feb.

2016. ​http://www.gallup.com

"South Jordan City Profile." ​South Jordan, Utah​. City of South Jordan, Utah, 2016.

Web. 10 Feb. 2016. ​http://www.sjc.utah.gov

“Fact Sheet for South Jordan, Economic Characteristics”. U.S. Census Bureau, 2016.

Web. 10 Feb. 2016. http://factfinder.census.gov

Personal interview. Wayne Twedt. 10 Feb. 2016.

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