Employee of the Quarter!

I won somthing!? Damn right I did! I was awarded the First Quarter Nth Degree winner....basically the employee of the quarter :)

I get $100 (after taxes!) and a certificate of achivement....

This is what they have to say:

Our Nth Degree Employee Recognition Program continues to thrive in 2010. We had 7 employees nominated in Q1, each with a unique and inspirational story behind their nomination. The common factor, as always, is that these employees consistently exemplify the vision, mission, and values of Wente Family Estates and strive to provide an Nth degree level of service to both our internal and external guests. One of our nominees from the Restaurant took it upon himself to host a cigar training seminar for his fellow employees to help the staff better serve our guests through education about the products we offer. Another nominee from the Tasting Room hand-delivered wine to guests at the Restaurant, just to be helpful. “She sees the guests’ interest first, which is often beyond department boundaries.” Yet another nominee was praised for his contribution to wine quality, starting at harvest and following through all the way to bottling. One nominee’s contribution was described, as follows, “He helps develop staff into efficient and effective members by mentoring and connecting on a personal level. This energizes the staff and encourages them to progress. He actually shows staff how to accomplish tasks correctly and explains why this is important as opposed to just telling them to do it. ” Another submission describes a nominee who clearly takes pride in his work. “He takes on any task as if it were his own product. He finishes his work and is proud to put his name on it”.

From this group of fantastic nominees, we are pleased to announce that Heather Druba from Catering Sales has been selected as the Q1 2010 Nth Degree Award recipient. Heather’s individual sales and guest quality results for 2009 truly exemplify the high standards of Nth Degree performance. Heather exceeded her sales quota by $36,000, achieving individual event sales of $1,300,388. Heather personally assisted each guest in the planning of their private event and garnered a remarkable individual guest quality score of 98.21%, exceeding the established quality goal by .21%. This level of achievement does not come easily and we thank Heather for her hard work and recognize her extraordinary individual and collective contributions to our sales, guest service and hospitality efforts.

We would also like to recognize and congratulate all our Q1 nominees. They set the standard in providing outstanding wine and wine country experiences!

Felipe Martinez, Jr., Bottling Department
Justin Nordgren, Restaurant
Robin Luettge, Tasting Rooms
Donald Hess, Wine Cellar Operations
Elizabeth Warner, Restaurant
Eric Larimer, Catering Department