Jason Greer: From KKK Victim to Founder of Top-ranked Employee Relations Company

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Productivity is crucial to any business or organization looking forward to growing. Despite hiring the best talents and applying the most effective project planning, companies often fail to get the desired level of productivity from the employees. There are multiple reasons behind this, but the most significant is the lack of communication between employees and management. This often results in misunderstandings and an increased attrition rate among employees that affects overall productivity, leading to heavy losses.

Jason Greer noticed this communication gap between management and employees so he decided to take meaningful action. He founded Greer Consulting Inc. in 2005, which is currently ranked among the top 5 percent of labor and employee relations consulting companies in the U.S.A. The foundation of GCI is based upon his philosophy that people will work for money, but they will die for respect and recognition. But Jason’s perspectives on life and business were informed by his early experiences with racism.

When Jason was 17, he and his family were the victims of cross burnings by the Ku Klux Klan in the otherwise white town of Dubuque, Iowa. When his father became the first black elementary school principal in the history of Dubuque, Jason experienced a level of racial harassment that he could never dream of. Jason witnessed aggression against his family as people believed that the sheer presence of his family meant the replacement of white people of that town. Jason had such a difficult time processing all that was happening to him and he was scared that in some way he was solely responsible for what his family was encountering. It was only over a period that he decided to move on and heal.

Over a period of time, Jason decided that he was ready to move beyond his hurt and pain. He decided to forgive the KKK gang and rise above all racism and discrimination to help others. Jason founded Greer Consulting Inc. to enhance employee relations through diversity management and employee relations consulting, to make the workplace better and more productive. Since the company’s inception, GCI has helped companies and organizations save millions of dollars in lost productivity, employee retention and workplace issues. This success has earned Jason the title of “The Employee Whisperer”.

Based in St. Louis, MO, GCI has developed a national reputation for creating solutions to workplace issues. The company understands that lower productivity and employee attrition can cost millions of dollars to the company. GCI’s approach to consultation in such situations is different and has so far proven to be effective.

GCI has established a national reputation for helping managers and employees to better understand one another through empathy and respect. In the beginning of his career, it was an initial struggle to convince employers that there is power in listening and understanding their employees, largely because the collective belief was, “employees should be happy to have jobs.” But over time, Jason was successful in guiding employers to the power of tapping into the ideas, hearts and minds of the employees who are directly responsible for the success of their respective companies.

According to Jason, failure is necessary to succeed because it offers a valuable lesson. He attributes his success as an employee relations expert to his real-life experiences. The pain he felt molded him into the person he is today, capable of understanding others’ problems and helping them out to create a healthy workplace.

Jason Greer’s goal is to position GCI into the established leader in diversity, labor, and employee relations consulting in the country. He also hopes to give a TedTalk centered on the power of forgiveness as a means of healing racial strife. Jason’s hope is that we can all come together around this belief that love is the key to healing the ugly specter called racism.

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