I.

Executive Summary
Boston Duck Tours is a widely known tourism company, made famous for

its unique way of showing off the City of Boston. This tour is conducted using
World War II style amphibious DUKW vehicles, known as Ducks. The
privately owned company started in 1994 with just 4 ducks and 15
employees. Today it has a fleet of 28 original Ducks and 125 well motivated
employees. They started with a laid back atmosphere but have transferred
to a more robust and semi corporate structure now, said Bob Schwartz, the
Director of Marketing and Sales.
Current Employee Engagement Strategies
Guaranteed 3% raise on your anniversary
Dental and Health Insurance
Discounts to local shopping malls and events
100% 401k Match up to 4%
Free uniforms for all employees
Research Methods Used

Email from
Director of
Marketing and
Sales

Employee
Survey

Customer
Reviews

Boston Duck Tours Problems with Employee Engagement

Low turnaround for low paying seasonal employees
Lack of incentive from seasonal employees
Low retention rate for part time employees

Better
Turnaround

Proposed Solutions
Introduce a commission

Commision or
salary raise

Have a higher retention rate

Offer a similar job in the winter for seasonal employees

More incentive
to work

I.Introduction
A. Description of the business
Boston Duck Tours is a world famous experience that offers unique tours
of Boston by way of replica World War II amphibious DUKW vehicles (referred to
as Ducks). The privately
owned, Boston-based company
launched in 1994 with just 4
ducks and 15 employees.

Today the company

Figure 1: One of the 28 duck boats, The Tub of the Hub

sports a fleet of 28 original Ducks and 125 well motivated employees. Bob
Schwartz, the Director of Marketing and Sales said, Our current culture has
matured over the years as the business has grown. We have went to a very laid
back sort of atmosphere back when we started to a more robust and semi
corporate structure now. Over the past few years we have hired an HR person, a
Payroll person and someone that specifically deals with Guest Service. We try
and strive to be the best we can be so we want to ensure we have all the proper
staff in place to ensure a smooth operation. We still have a laid back atmosphere
when it comes to the office with no formal dress code and flexible hours for year
round personnel. (which there are about 30 of in total). Tours depart from 3 key
locations throughout the city of Boston: The Prudential Center, The Museum of
Science, and The New England Aquarium. Boston Duck Tours has grown
substantially since its inception and has become an icon of Boston.

B. Description of the community (economic, geographic, demographic

and socioeconomic factors)
Boston is a unique,
historic city that pays
homage to 618,000 citizens.
Boston is a harbor city, and
hosts many different
attractions that are visited
by families each and every
day. For the year of 2014,
Boston was the place to visit
for 16,250,000 people from
across the country and the
world ( A visitor is defined
as someone who travels 50
or more miles, one way, to
Boston or stays overnight).
The real median household
income in Boston is above
the national and state averages; sitting
at $72,907.

Figure 2: The bar graph above shows the median

household income of the City of Boston compared to the
rest of Massachusetts and the United States.

C. Overview of the business or organizations current culture and

employee engagement strategies.
Each Duck that belongs to Boston Duck Tours has a unique exterior
design and name. The ConDUCKtors of each duck connect with the history of
Boston by taking on a unique persona as well. For example, one ConDUCKtor is
Rory Borealis, a former Elf from the north pole. He notices that at the North Pole
there was little opportunity for growth, so he moved to Boston and became a
ConDUCKtor. The ConDUCKtors stay in character throughout the tour. The list
of benefits that all of the employees receive is beyond extraordinary. We
received an email from Bob Schwartz which included a list of all of these
benefits:
100% 401k Match up to 4%
Free tickets to the Museum of Science, New England Aquarium,
Skywalk Observatory and Boston Harbor Cruises Whale Watch
Dental
Medical
End of Season Bonus
Guaranteed 3% raise on your anniversary
Free tickets to local shows and productions that want to do trade
with us or partners of ours such as Blue Man Group and Shear
Madness
End of Season Brunch

Start of Season Party

Family Fun Day Party
Free tickets to a Red Sox Game
A personal Day for seasonal employees
Discounts to the Prudential Center and Copley Malls
5 free tickets for our tour
Free uniforms for all employees
A Cast Appreciation week where everyone gets something all 7
days that week. (breakfast, lunch, movie passes, an ice cream
party, etc.)
A $250 charter rate for a private DUCK for personal use or to give to
a friend
Donation match up to $1000 per employee per season (If you donate
$50 then Boston Duck Tour will match it for a friend raising money)
Anniversary party for any employee that has been with the company
for 5+ year. You also get a cash bonus for every 5 year milestone
We serve everyone Gatorade in the hot summer months to all our
outdoor employees as well.
Also included in the email, Bob Schwartz said, We try and make our
employees as happy as they can be with as many perks as we can while also
trying to make a profit on the tours. We have 2 of our original 4 drivers from 21
years ago and I think that speaks for itself. Tonight is our anniversary party and
out of the 140 people in the company, 65 tonight will be at our %+ year

anniversary party, 41 of those people have been with us for 10+ years and 25 of
those employees have been with us for 15+ years. With all of the benefits and
the awesome employee turnaround, it seems that the employee engagement
strategies are amazing.
III. Research Methods Used in the Study
A.

Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct

the research study

To conduct the research study, the
pieces of information that needed to be
collected were analyzed and the
methods upon which information was
going to be obtained were established.
Primary Resources
To obtain a reliable primary
information, we emailed Bob Schwartz,.
We asked him about the current
employee engagement strategies within

Figure 3: This chart above shows the different research

methods used throughout this project.

the company, and within hours, we received a list of all of the employee benefits
and statistics from the company. This information was very useful and became
our main source of information. Also, we created a survey that was sent to
Boston Duck Tours and that was to be filled out by a variety of employees. For
example, employees who work year-round and employees who work seasonally.
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This survey was used to get the employees own feelings about their work
environment and how they view their job.
Secondary Resources
In addition to using primary resources, we used customer reviews from
online tourism agencies such as yelp.com, tripadvisor.com, and Facebook. This
gave us a look at what customers think about the company and how well the
employees do their job and how it reflects on the customer's experience.
B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods
Personal Email
The email that was received from the Director of Marketing and Sales was
very useful and gave us an insight into the employee engagement strategies and
employee benefits. This is our main source of primary information
Employee Survey
A survey about employee engagement was created and sent to Boston
Duck Tours. An example of a question would be How motivated are you to come
to work every day?. This survey would be distributed to employees of different
ages, genders, and job titles. We can pull information from seasonal and yearround employees, male and female, and employees that have been there for 1
year and those who have been there since the beginning. This is another source
of primary information. A picture of the survey is shown on the next page.

Internet-based Customer Reviews

Using the internet to obtain information and reviews is a great tool to use to
get secondary information. Instead of the information coming from inside the
company, it is coming from people who have experienced the service. The
reviews can give us a good look on how the employees conduct their job and
how well they make the experience for the customers positive. These reviews
can come from websites like Travelocity and Yelp.com.
IV.FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY
A. Findings of the Research Study
The survey sent to employees of Boston Duck Tours was answered over the
course of two days by 22 employees. The responses were given by employees of
the following positions:
9 ConDUCKtors
6 Guest Services
Representatives
Parts Manager
Project Manager
History Officer
Chief Executive Officer
Character Consultant
Finance Employee
Sales Manager
Chief Technology Officer
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Through the survey, it was discovered that the number of years spent
working by employees that were surveyed at Boston Duck Tours falls almost in
the shape of a reverse bell curve. 9 (or 41%) of the employees surveyed have
been working at Boston Duck tours for under 1 year to 2 years. While 7 (or 32%)
of the employees surveyed have been working at Boston Duck tours for 10 or
more years. The opinions of experienced, high level workers are important, for
they know the most about the Environment of Boston duck tours, while newer
employees opinions contribute on the level that they are generally lower salary
workers (ConDUCKtors and Guest services Representatives).
The overwhelming majority of employees at Boston Duck Tours are
enjoying what they are doing for work. When asked Do you have pride in your
job?, given the option of either yes or no, every single employee that was
surveyed responded yes. When employees were asked, Do the days you want
to come to work outnumber the days that you dont?, once again given the
option yes or no, all but one Employee responded with a yes. The employee
that responded with a no was a ConDUCKtor. When asked, How do you feel
about coming to work every day?, given the options of Very good, good, fair,
poor, or very poor, all 22 employees that were surveyed responded with either
a very good or a good.
Although the majority of employees that were surveyed at Boston Duck
Tours generally like their jobs, not all employees are on the same page
concerning the value of their everyday work. When asked about this, 19 of 22
employees said that they either always or frequently feel valued at work.
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only 3 employees responded to the Do you feel valued at work every day?
question with sometimes. However, this is 3 too many employees. Every
employee, no matter what their occupation or employer should feel valued in
their everyday work.
Even fewer employees feel that they have the opportunity to contribute to
decisions that affect their work. When asked the question Do you have the
opportunity to contribute to decisions that affect their work?, the surveyed
employees responses
were scattered. 6
responded always, 6
gave frequently, 5 said
sometimes, and 5
responded with rarely.
The responses given were
somewhat expected.
Generally, seasonal
employees do not have a high corporate standing and therefore do not
frequently contribute to decisions that affect their work.
When surveyed, employees were asked to Choose five words that best
describe how you feel about coming to work. There were repeating responses
using: Happy, excited, awesome, unpredictable, and fun. The positive words
used to describe work were used by an even mix of full time employees and
seasonal employees. Although about 80% of the responses regarding words
11

used to describe how employees feel about coming to work were good, there
were of course some negative responses given. . Some words given were:
bored, annoying, and one employee even issued the response I need to make
money.
A final email was sent to Bob Schwartz, the Director of Marketing and
Sales, asking a few final questions about the amenities and benefits employees
(specifically seasonal) receive working at Boston Duck Tours. The questions
were given as follows:
Are ConDUCKtors the only employees that are seasonal?
Do seasonal employees receive insurance?
How do you recruit new seasonal employees?
What is the biggest issue you have with retaining seasonal
employees?
Do any employees make a commission? if so, who, on what, and
what percentage?
The answers were given as follow:
Are ConDUCKtors the only employees that are seasonal?
ConDUCKtors, Guest Service Reps (GSRs) who sell tickets and
board people [onto the duckboats], and and some of the sales reps
on our phones.
Do seasonal employees receive insurance? Yes, year round.

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How do you recruit new seasonal employees? Mostly online (Indeed,

Craigslist, Monster, etc.) and word of mouth as well.
What is the biggest issue you have with retaining seasonal
employees? Its mostly the lower paying positions (GSRs and SRs)
that they see a higher turnover in because they want something
more reliable.
Do any employees make a commission? if so, who, on what, and
what percentage? No, we do some small commission for
merchandise sales but i think its $0.25 per duck lip or something
small.
B. Conclusions Based on the Findings
1. Boston Duck Tours has a difficult time retaining most of its seasonal
employees for a new season with the company. As said by Bob Schwartz, the
employees that make a lower wage typically are the seasonal employees. Most
of the seasonal employees do not leave because of dislike for the actual work
involved in working for Boston Duck Tours, but leave because of the low salary
and the fact that from early-November through mid-March they need to find
another job. This could be fixed by introducing a salary raise, a commission, or a
connection to another similar job in the winter.
2. Seasonal employees, especially more inexperienced ones, could solve
their salary problem by staying at Boston Duck Tours for a longer period of time.
On a given employees one-year anniversary, that employee automatically

13

receives a 3% raise. A higher retention rate each year would be beneficial for
both the company and the employees working for Boston Duck Tours.
3. There is a slight lack of incentive in seasonal employees (especially the
more inexperienced seasonal employees). When surveyed, the only employees
that do not feel valued at work every day, do not frequently contribute to
decisions that affect their work, and cannot always describe their work
environment in a positive way are the Guest Services Representatives and the
ConDUCKtors. An incentive to work harder may increase employee morale and
yearly retention rate.
4. Customers think their drivers are fun and humorous, but sometimes
cheap. Customers on sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp complain about how
seating is assigned. Customers should be able to choose their own seats on the
tours, this is not a cross country plane flight. Customers also complain about
how the Duck Lips (little quackers that you blow into to make a quacking sound
like a duck) cost money, and are not given out for free like in other cities.
V. Proposed Strategic Plan
A.

Objectives and Rationale of the Proposed Plan

No matter the circumstances, a business needs to engage its employees

to the furthest possible extent. According to a 2013 study done by Gallup only
13% of employees across 142 surveyed countries are regularly engaged at
work. The other 87% are either disengaged or actively disengaged. Boston Duck
Tours has seemingly disengaged employees, but not nearly to the supposed
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global percentages show in the 2013 Gallup study. Although Boston Duck Tours
is seemingly better than a decent amount of companies at engaging employees,
the goal of Boston Duck tours should be to have every single employee,
seasonal or full-time, actively engaged every day they come to work. Employees
will likely become more engaged in their work though the Turducken plan. This
plan contains 3 points.
1. Objective: A higher retention rate with seasonal employees for the
2017 season.
Rationale: Its simple. Seasonal employees come back the next year
because they like their job. The higher retention rate in seasonal
employees Boston Duck Tours has, the more engaged all employees will
be. Seasonal employees come back the next year because they like their
job. Not the salary, but the people and the work itself. Driving a Duck Boat
as a ConDUCKtor cannot be changed much. If an employee does not like
the fact that they are driving around the historic Boston streets and diving
into Boston harbor, then being a ConDUCKtor for Boston Duck Tours just
is not the right fit for that individual.
Management and higher level employees are key to the retention of
seasonal employees. This can always be done by forging strong and
reliable relationships with employees. Management must be able to
ensure that their communication with employees gives employees both a
clear understanding of what management expects from their job

15

performance and a path to constructive criticism and new suggestions.

The more approachable and friendly, while still playing a management
role, management is while implementing these strategies, the more
employees at Boston Duck Tours will like their job, and thus be more likely
to return the following year.
2. Objective: Introduce a commission or gratuity for seasonal
employees
Rationale: Seasonal employees naturally have a lower base salary,
and with the high cost of living in Boston and the surrounding suburbs,
this can be a problem. Seasonal employees simply need incentive to sell
tickets for rides on the duck boats. The more tickets the guest services
representatives sell, the more they should be rewarded. A commission will
be introduced to the seasonal guest services representatives. For the
employee that is working the given ticket booth, for every ticket to a
Boston Duck Tours duck boat tour, that Guest Services Representative
will receive 7% commission. For any guest services representative that is
selling tickets over the phone, they will receive a 5% commission for every
ticket sold.
Naturally, this will increase employee morale by putting the
opportunity to make more money in the hands of the employee, and also
increase employee engagement by boosting their incentive to work hard,
sell tickets, and entertain.

16

3. Objective: A connection to a similar job in the winter

Rationale: The retention rate is one of the biggest problems Boston
Duck Tours has. This is due to the fact, as Bob Schwartz said that
seasonal employees want a more consistent reliable job. With
introducing a connection to a similar job in the tourism industry, the
problem of retention with seasonal employees may be solved.
The partnership will be with Go Ahead Tours in nearby
Cambridge, Massachusetts and G Adventures in Boston,
Massachusetts. At Go Ahead Tours, seasonal employees will have
priority application status when applying for a seasonal job. Each
employee will receive a personally written letter of recommendation
from a higher level management employee for Boston Duck Tours.
The same will be installed for a position at G Adventures. The
position will be a travel consultant however, as opposed to a guest
services representative.
B.

Proposed activities and timelines

This plan will be introduced at the end of the 2016 season,
going into the 2017 season. We chose this time because the
seasonal employees will be able to start their job partnership in the
offseason, then transition back into their job at Boston Duck Tours
at the beginning of the 2017 season. This will increase the season to
season retention rate of the part-time employees. The commission
plan will go into effect starting in the 2016 season, so the sales
17

representatives can start gaining their commission during the

spring, summer and fall.

Spring 2016Introduce sales

commission for
sales reps

The
Turducken
Plan

Spring 2017Readmit partnered

employees for 2017
season

December 2016Start part time job

partnership

Increased
Incentive
Higher
Retention
Rate
Better
Employee
Turnaround

C.

Proposed metrics or key performance indicators to measure plan

effectiveness
One way that Boston Duck Tours can indicate the success of the
plan is to survey the employees or interview them about how they feel.
Originally, when we surveyed them, they were very honest about how they
feel about their job and their quality of work. So creating a companywide
employee survey will get honest answers out of the workers.
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Measuring the employee retention rate would be easy because HR

could just measure how many new employees are coming in, opposed to
employees not returning after the start of a new season. The
implementation of the Turducken Plan will make the rate of employees
coming back go up and then even out, so Boston Duck Tours will not have
to spend time and money on training new employees every season.
Higher incentive can just be measure by feeling for the workplace
atmosphere. If everybody is working hard and taking pride in their work,
the workplace atmosphere will be better and everybody will produce a
higher quality of work.
VI.

Proposed Budget
Due to the fact that the Turducken Plan is essentially cost-free, it is hard

to predict a proposed budget. The only thing that would be able to predict is a
commission of the sales representatives and guest services representatives.
Any representative will makes a 7% commission on all tickets sold on site,
while they will make 5% on sales over the phone. This can be calculated by:
Price of Ticket x 0.07 or 0.05 x Amount of Tickets sold
The prices of the tickets vary due to the age of the riders and the locations at
which the tour starts from. Boston Duck Tours offers four different pricing
options: Adult, Student 12+ Senior 62+ or Military, Child 3-11, and Children
including infants under the age of 3. A graph taken from the Boston Duck
Tours website is below.

19

With the implementation of the commission, it seems as though Boston Duck

Tours will lose money, but on a scale, if the employee is making a commission,
upwards of $2.63 on each ticket, it will give that sales representative a higher
motivation to sell the tickets. So in reality the total revenue should even out.
Lastly, the partnership with neighboring tourism companies will not make
the company lose money; it will only boost the competition moral and create
partnerships instead of rivals within the city of Boston. The seasonal employees
do not work at Boston Duck Tours so they do not get paid in the off season, but if
they work for another company, it will help out the other tourism company and
also will create a better employee turnaround.

20

Bibliography

"Boston Duck Tours - Back Bay - Boston, MA." Yelp. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb.
2016.

"Boston Duck Tours (MA): Hours, Address, Tickets & Tours, Attraction
Reviews - TripAdvisor." Boston Duck Tours (MA): Hours, Address, Tickets &
Tours, Attraction Reviews - TripAdvisor. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

"Boston Duck Tours - The Official Website and Ticketing Site." Boston Duck
Tours New Home Page Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

Schwartz, Bob. "Employee Engagement Strategies." Message to the author.

1 Nov. 2015. E-mail.

Schwartz, Bob. "Employee Survey." Message to the author. 8 Dec. 2015. Email.

Schwartz, Bob. "Part Time Employee Benefits." Message to the author. 11

Jan. 2016. E-mail.

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Appendix
Emails exchanged with Bob Schwartz

22

23

Customer Reviews from Travelocity.com

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25