Pace plc outpaces competitors at this yearís CIPD People Management Awards

Pace plc, a payTV operator, has been selected as the overall winner of The CIPD People Management Awards 2009, for its delivery of a change management programme that completely turned the business around. The prestigious award was announced last night at the CIPD People Management Awards dinner in Manchester.

Within 3 years Pace plc have gone from facing loses of over 15m and borrowings of over 30m, to being debt free. Revenues rose from 175m to 745m, the company boasted profits of 28m, customers increased fivefold from 20 to 100 and they have moved into the FTSE 250 while also winning two Queenís awards for export and innovation along the way.

These impressive financials were achieved through a far-reaching change management programme that put its people at the core, leading to formal recognition by winning the professionís most sought after award. The strategy from the onset focused on four key areas – developing great leadership, implementing efficient and effective organisational design, improving individual performance and ensuring HR functional excellence. As the business began to grow, the project was reviewed in line with the corporate strategy and a final focus - Improve the Working Environment - was added.

The relentless drive to deliver the HR strategy meant that the organisational change was lead by senior leaders and a new focus on behaviours has improved workplace relations. Employee engagement considerably improved as a result and employee satisfaction increased with a rise of 6 percentage points in just one year, contributing hugely to the bottom line

Pace plcís Business Transformation Scheme was initiated in 2006. At that time the business lacked a customer focus, strong management and suffered from an inflexible and unresponsive organisational structure. Systematic change of every aspect of the business was needed in order to achieve the transformation envisaged.

Jackie Orme, CIPD Chief Executive, says: ìPace plcís journey is a wonderful example of the degree of success that can be achieved when a clear strategy is developed and delivered. It puts business success at its heart, which is especially important when implementing a wide-ranging change programme. By aligning cultural, leadership and performance transformation to the corporate objectives, the HR team are putting the HR agenda at the forefront of business strategy. They have also demonstrated that strong leadership and a commitment to employee engagement and professional development are essential ingredients in the recipe for organisational success.î

The CIPD People Management Awards also recognises best practice in a six specific people management and development categories. An award was given to the winner for each category below:

Change management through HR impact:
Winner: Pace plc

Runner Up: Thomson Reuters

Employee engagement:
Winner: Firmdale Hotels

Runner up: Tube Lines

Excellence through technology:
Winner: IHG

Runner Up: Beds and Bars Ltd

Learning and development:
Winner: Metropolitan Police – Police Constable Foundation Training

Runner Up: Sainsburyís Supermarkets Limited

Talent Management:
Winner: PizzaExpress

Runner Up: Birmingham City Council Human Resources

Total Reward:
Winner: TD Waterhouse Investor Services (Europe) Ltd

Runner Up: Virgin Media

BT is the overall sponsor for the CIPD People Management Awards. Category sponsors include DBM for Change management through HR impact, Cascade for Excellence through technology and JM Presentations for Total reward.