Award winning people management initiatives revealed

Six organisations from across the public and private sectors are in the running for the most prestigious award for cutting edge people management practice. The CIPD People Management Award will be held for the10th consecutive year and the winner will be announced on 26 October at the CIPDís Annual Conference and Exhibition. Each finalist has submitted entries demonstrating how good people management policies have helped them improve performance and achieve business objectives.

Duncan Brown, CIPD Assistant Director General, says:

ìPeople can add real value to an organisation and employers who realise this and implement policies to support and develop their staff will reap the benefits. The six finalists have illustrated how effective people management can help organisations achieve business success.î

The six finalists are:

Royal Mail Letters
From Absence to Attendance

In April 2004 10,000 postmen and women were absent from work every day, with an annual cost to the company of 350 million. Royal Mail recognised a need for cultural change to address this and has taken a two phased approach to solving the problem. The first phase has included a new emphasis on absence management and training for line-managers.

Attendance targets were set and procedures for managers and employees were provided. A ëBe in to winí incentive campaign was launched to reward employees who achieved 100 per cent attendance with cars and holiday vouchers. As a result, attendance has increased by 11 per cent, resulting in a saving of approximately 40 million.

Crown Prosecution Service
Delivering Justice through People

In 2002 the CPS was accused of racial bias, staff expressed poor levels of satisfaction in their employer and there were few opportunities for personal development. The organisation recognised a need to reformulate recruitment, improve training and staff support and make significant changes to their diversity and equality agenda.

Positive outcomes following a number of changes to their HR and training practices include:

Increased diversity

Improved training and development opportunities

Higher levels of staff satisfaction.


Kwik-Fit Financial Services
Making KFFS a fantastic place to work

At the start of 2003 Kwik-Fit Financial Services was facing increasing local competition for staff and existing employees felt ëthe buzz had goneí. They launched an initiative to involve staff in making the company a fantastic place to work.

The new changes have produced outstanding results, including:

Labour turnover has reduced by 17 per cent over the last two years

Absence has fallen

Customer retention and satisfaction have increased

The company was included in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for list at number 71 in 2004 and 15 in 2005.


Greater Glasgow
Working for Health in Greater Glasgow

High employment levels have made it more difficult for NHS Greater Glasgow to attract basic grade staff. Shortages of specialised workers have also meant that their tasks have been taken on by unspecialised staff. To address this the organisation developed a six week programme to help unemployed people in Glasgow to identify suitable jobs, and teach them basic NHS skills.

On completion of the programme participants are guaranteed a job interview. 136 people started the programme between January 2005 and March 2005, of those 114 completed it and 91 now have jobs in the NHS.

Bank of Scotland
RBS Group Human Capital Toolkit

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group has 137,000 staff in 27 countries. They wanted to create a way of measuring the effectiveness of the groupís people strategy and its impact on business performance. To do this they created the Human Capital Toolkit, an online resource that consolidates information and allows over 1000 HR staff to access a range of interactive and diagnostic tools.

The introduction of the toolkit has resulted in:

Increased management and leadership effectiveness in certain areas of the business

Deduplication in global surveys

Greater understanding of absence and turnover costs

Greater employee segmentation and analysis.


Jaguar and Land Rover UK
People Solutions ñ A Management Solution

Jaguar and Land Rover UK has 230 dealer franchises ranging from large PLCs to small family businesses. Between them they employ 7000 people. Realising that there was widespread lack of confidence and capability when dealing with HR issues, the company created People Solutions, an HR resource centre available to managers through the dealer communication site.

The project has achieved:

A consistent approach to HR management

Increased awareness of a managerís responsibility for people management and development

Boosted attendance at training courses

More informed decision making

Reduced reliance on outsourcing

It has also enabled members to ensure they are compliant with current employment law legislation.