CIPD reveals award winning people management initiatives

Eight organisations fought off fierce competition to be short listed as finalists in the running for the prestigious People Management Award. The award recognises cutting edge people management practice and this year it was divided into four categories ñ learning and development; engagement; talent management; and the role of line managers. These new categories reflect the need for employers to engage and retain staff through effective talent management and learning and development initiatives in order to succeed.

The award will be held for the 12th consecutive year and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 19 September, at the CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition 2007. This event is being held at the Harrogate International Centre, from 18-20 September 2007, and it attracts around 5000 people management and development professionals each year.

Geoff Armstrong, CIPD Director General, says: ìThe People Management Award acknowledges the creative initiatives employers are using to improve performance and achieve business objectives. The high quality of entrants this year demonstrates how good people management practice can produce both productive and profitable organisations and positive working environment for employees.î

The eight finalists are:

Network Rail
BBC
B&Q
Royal Mail
Legal Services Commission
Malmaison/Learnpurple
Metropolitan Police
Surrey County Council

Business impact through learning and development

Network Rail ñ Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme
In 2004 Network Rail in-sourced maintenance from a variety of contractors, doubling the size of the company overnight. This led to the introduction of the Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme, designed to effect a long term change to both the technical capability of staff and the company culture. This three year programme incorporates technical training, qualifications, and a range of other personal development activities.

The introduction of this scheme has enabled Network Rail to:

attract highly motivated employees with good academic backgrounds

instil its values and behaviours into new employees from day one

generate excitement among staff throughout the organisation as a consequence of their commitment to training and development.

BBC ñ Future Now
Changing trends in media consumption have presented new challenges in attracting audiences to the BBC. To address this, the BBC conducted an internal review and created Future Now, a programme of workshops to support the development and delivery of multiplatform programmes across all genres. The workshops were designed to provide insight into the BBCís strategic direction and identify current and future audience needs. They also provided an opportunity to draw on external expertise, share knowledge and form networks with the aim of delivering new forms of programming. After participating in the workshops delegates receive ongoing support through alumni events, briefings, mentoring and technical instruction.

The programme has:

enabled collaboration between BBC practitioners from different fields to develop a shared vision

allowed the development of projects that have increased audience reach

allowed a range of key programmes and brands to be extended across multiplatforms


Improving business performance through engaging staff

B&Q ñ Hands Hearts and Minds ñ How Engagement Can Drive Business Recovery
As a result of decline in an increasingly competitive market, B&Q developed a programme of cultural change. They had previously measured employee engagement, but recognised a need to improve engagement levels to boost customer satisfaction and drive business recovery. To achieve this they introduced mechanisms to listen to and act on employee feedback, used a multimedia programme to bring values and strategy to life and changed the focus of staff deployment in stores to put customers at the centre of everything they do.

This programme has produced excellent results in terms of employee engagement, including:

an increase in numbers of staff participating in engagement surveys
the number of staff who class themselves as positively engaged has risen from 33% in 2005 to 59% in 2006
outperforming the sales budget
an increase in average transaction values
improved customer satisfaction.

Royal Mail ñ The Transformation of HR Shared Services
Royal Mail identified a need to transform their HR services in order to reduce costs, exceed customer perception targets and ensure staff were customer focussed and enthusiastic. They embarked on a programme of change which, was designed to reduce staff numbers while ensuring employee engagement. This was achieved through face to face briefings and newsletters to ensure everyone was kept up to date, the implementation of an NVQ programme and the introduction of a new employment framework to provide a link between pay, progression and development. They also introduced Weekly Worktime Listening and Learning sessions to give everyone the opportunity to be involved and give feedback.

The new changes have achieved:

- A greater breadth of HR services, at a saving of 57 million Per year and with 50% less staff
- Improvements in customer perception scores
-Implementation of a range of schemes to develop employees

Talent Management for Business Benefit

Legal Services Commission ñ Talent Management Programme
In September 2005 the Legal Services Commission was undergoing a major change programme and as a result introduced this initiative to help retain high performing employees. The programme was designed to measure current performance and potential for the future. Individuals on the programme took a self-managed approach, by building up personal development plans and working to develop themselves to fill any gaps in their knowledge, skills and competencies. The organisation offered a number of flexible ways for employees to develop, including coaching, work shadowing, mentoring and secondments.

As a result of the project the organisation is more able to manage resources and fill key short term vacancies, 40% of the first cohort were promoted in the first year and job satisfaction, staff commitment and motivation has improved.



Malmaison/Learnpurple ñ Managing Talent for Excellence
In 2004 Malmaison merged with Hotel Du Vin. As a result the organisation faced the challenge of preserving the separate brands while working under the same leadership and merging the strengths of both without destroying the individual cultures. They were also working towards challenging expansion plans and needed to retain and motivate staff. To achieve this they introduced a new online appraisal system, which is used to identify training needs and measure staff happiness and competency. A range of activities have been introduced to enable staff to meet their developmental needs, for example each hotel has launched a food, wine & bar school, an exchange programme is offered between the two brands, and learning booths and e-learning programmes have been introduced with programmes designed to he accessible to fit the working programmes of all staff.

70% of general managers are now recruited from within the organisation, labour turnover and working hours have been reduced and hotel occupancy, room rates and revenue have all increased.

Turning HR policies into practice: The vital role of line managers

Metropolitan Police ñ Making London Safer by Reducing Absence
Identifying an opportunity to improve the service offered to the public, while positively impacting on the health of employees, the Directorate of Forensic Services at the Metropolitan Police introduced this programme to reduce the average number of working days lost through sickness. To achieve this they worked to identify issues and develop the management tools to address them. This included the introduction of annual questionnaires to identify early signs of stress, depression and burn out in employees. And they liaised with the National Disabled Police Association to provide insight into finding solutions for employees who find themselves with a disability.

As a result of the project absence levels were reduced from 6.7 sickness days per employee per year, to 5.1 days, a 23.9% improvement leading to cost savings and the equivalent of 6.45 working years reintroduced to the business per year.

Surrey County Council ñ ëOne Councilí bringing unified HR to line managers
Surrey County Councilís vision to unify the fragmented organisation into one council required a cultural and behavioural change in the way line managers delivered people management. To achieve this, the organisation introduced a self-service system, which was supported by a redefined specialist HR service. The programme involved setting up intranet pages to make HR accessible to line managers and setting up a support structure for managers and HR staff to adapt to cultural and behavioural change.

The self service system has reduced costs, created a single source of high quality, consistent advice and clarified the role and responsibilities of line managers. The number of HR staff has been reduced from 400 to 40 leading to a saving of 9 million, whilst improving delivery times and performance indicators.