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_ 13. December. 2011

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Do you know your employees? Really know them? Conventional

talent management provides information. But with Taleo, you gain

talent intelligence, the deeper understanding and insight you

need to attract, develop and retain the best people. After all, the

business with the best people wins.

To contact Taleo UK please call 0208 987 1210

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21ST CENTURY WORKPLACE

_ PAGE 04 Keeping staff motivated without money

_ PAGE 06 social media generates conversation - which generates business

_ PAGE 09 taKing the hype out of worKing in the cloud

_ PAGE 12 the worKers’ wish list: what do they really want?


21ST CENTURY WORKplaCE

© Digital Vision

Your feedback is valued by us. Please send in your opinions to [email protected] For information about partnering with Raconteur Media please contact Freddie Ossberg: +44 (0)20 7033 2100, [email protected], www.raconteurmedia.co.uk

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Nick MartiNdaleA freelance business writer and editor, Nick Martindale regularly contributes to a variety of national and trade publi-cations, as well as The Times. Specialist areas include HR and workplace issues.

Jo FaragherJo Faragher is a business journalist and editor, specialising in employment is-sues. She is a regular contributor to Per-sonneltoday.com and her work has also appeared in the Financial Times.

Sally whittleWhittle is a freelance writer, blogger and editor, who covers business, HR and technology for a range of publications.

clare gaScoigNeClare Gascoigne worked at the Financial Times for eight years before going freelance. She writes about personal finance, small and family business, and City matters.

Nick gordoNA writer specialising in business aviation and the travel industry, Nick Gordon is also a scriptwriter and is currently filming a psychologi-cal thriller.

claire MaNuelPublishing director of Witan Media, Claire Manuel also is a freelance busi-ness writer and editor.

tiM SMedleyTim Smedley is a freelance writer on business and social issues for a range of national publications including The Sunday Times, Financial Times, The Guardian.

rod NewiNgNewing is a freelance business writer who contributes regularly to the Financial Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph and Washington Post.

debbie lovewellLovewell has been deputy editor of Employee Benefits magazine for four years, having worked on the magazine for nine years in total.

CONTRIBUTORS

Ȗ Whatever the 21st century work-place looks like, it will include people-shaped spaces. New technology may be bringing about a revolution as pro-found as the move from an agrarian to an industrial society, but few would disagree with the idea that a commit-ted, engaged and productive work-force is essential for organisations to survive or maintain profitability.

But the current business climate has heightened the need for effec-tive talent nurturing, says Professor Paul Sparrow, director of the Centre for Performance-led HR at Lancas-ter University Management School.

“Competitive forces are requir-ing organisations to take control of the skills supply chain through the use of more forward planning,” he says. “Strategic workforce planning is aimed at identifying the charac-teristics of human capital needed to achieve a strategic objective and then scaling the activities needed.”

Cris Beswick, consultant and author of The Road to Innovation, believes that in the future how com-

panies operate will be just as impor-tant as what they do. “If we take it as given that organisations should have great products and services, their differentiator will be how their culture marks them out from the competition,” he says. “Organisa-tions that understand how to attract, retain and develop talent will be the ones we admire.”

Finding the right people is the first hurdle to overcome. On the face of it, increasing numbers of graduates imply a wider choice for employers; but there is a growing gulf between their skills and those required by businesses.

As graduates often have little in the way of relevant employment history, many employers opt to run talent assessments ahead of hiring, says Sean Howard, vice president of solu-tions marketing at SHL, a HR consul-tancy, with people skills becoming especially important.

Technology is particularly impor-tant in helping to attract graduates, says Professor Paul Sparrow, direc-

tor of the Centre for Performance-led HR at Lancaster University Management School, pointing to the use of “gamification” by com-panies such as Disney.

“They design their websites to reflect the sense of playing a strategy game,” he says. “It’s a more intense form of a realistic job preview.”

Once on board, one way of com-bining greater productivity with attracting and retaining the right staff is to develop a culture of “intre-preneurship”, where employees are encouraged to come up with solu-tions to problems or suggestions for revenue generation.

Human capital Technology may be changing but companies still need to nurture people talent, says Nick Martindale

It empowers people to solve problems themselves rather than pass them on

“It’s about giving employees an opportunity to share their thoughts and feed back ideas to management,” says Derek Bishop, director of Cul-ture Consultancy, a business advi-sory service. “It’s the frontline staff in most organisations who can see most clearly what’s not working.”

Such an approach is helping attract more staff for IT services company Fujitsu, according to Ella Bennett, the company’s HR director for UK and Ireland. “It empowers people to solve problems themselves rather than pass them on,” she says.

“Certainly with our service desks, we’re able to attract people because the jobs are inherently more interesting. One of the rea-sons we did this was because of the levels of attrition and the amount of onboarding and training that we needed to do. It’s a real differentia-tor for us in terms of getting senior people in too.”

Having an effective induction process can go a long way to ensur-ing employees become productive

quickly, as well as boosting overall retention rates. “Good onboard-ing should start when a candidate accepts an offer,” says Chris Phil-lips, vice president of marketing, EMEA, at Taleo, a recruitment and talent management company. “This can include doing simple things effi-ciently such as providing them with a BlackBerry or laptop through to offering them initial development activities and training supervised by a dedicated mentor.”

But failing to get the process right means more than the loss of a poten-tially talented employee, warns Raj Tulsiani, chief executive of Green Park Interim and Executive Resourc-ing. “It’s arguable that the greater cost is the time for all the people that are involved with that new hire, which takes them away from their own work. That magnifies the cost, some-times by a factor of three or four.”

And in a world where there are so many new calls on corporate expenses, that’s a cost no business needs to waste.

distributed in

a REvOlUTION with a human face

companies need the right

technology, but it’s still people that

make a business stand out

Publisher Sabilah Eboo Alwani

editor Clare Gascoigne

design The Surgery

04 RACONTEUR TWITTER.COM/RACONTEURMEDIA


Ȗ Engaging employees in the cur-rent economic climate is a chal-lenge. Unemployment is at its high-est level since the mid-1990s and, while those in work are thankful to have a job, they are also having to deal with increased workloads and doing more with fewer resources.

It is no surprise, then, that a recent survey of workers in 28 countries by Kenexa’s High Performance Institute found declining employee engage-ment levels for the second consecu-tive year. No job sector or job type was spared – everyone from clerical workers to senior managers reported feeling less positive about their work.

In the UK, it is becoming harder to reward employees when organi-sations are faced with making cuts in other areas. According to Mark Quinn, a partner in the human capi-tal practice at consulting firm Mer-cer, inflation stands at around 5 per cent at the moment, but average staff pay rises in the next year will only be around 3 per cent. “This will be the third year that base pay will be below inflation,” he says. “The challenge is: how do you make that work, and for whom?”

With this in mind, many organisa-tions choose to direct ‘variable’ types of reward such as bonuses and other benefits at the high performers in the organisation. While this has its advantages in that the employer can

easily show the correlation between performance and reward, Quinn sounds a word of warning: “Some companies follow the logic that if they’re not going to give as much money for pay awards, they want to target it at high performers. This might be a good strategy for now, but what is the long-term impact for the organisation? You could end up dis-enfranchising people.”

And while salary is an important ‘hygiene’ factor, it is often non-financial factors – like being treated fairly or being able to have an open dialogue with management – that make the difference between an engaged employee and someone who wants to leave.

While compiling the global engage-ment survey, Dr Jack Wiley, exec-utive director of the High Per-formance Institute, found that companies that bucked the trend in declining engagement were those that “listened to what employees want, took action on employee sur-veys and responded to needs”. Typi-cally, managers in these companies met four key criteria: they inspired confidence in the future, recognised employees’ contributions, provided staff with exciting work and dem-onstrated a responsibility to their employees and the communities they worked in.

Ensuring your organisation is

EngagEmEnt Keeping employees engaged and motivated without a big pay rise is possible, finds Jo Faragher

ThE baTTlE fOR hearts and minds

Responding to people as individuals is really important in keeping them engaged

recognition and

acknowledgment will

motivate staff

© Fancy / alamy

offering the sort of incentives employees want – whether that is the ability to buy and sell holiday, or discounts off day-to-day shopping – can pay dividends. Furniture retailer Ikea, for example, has re-organised its rewards and benefits around life stages. “Rather than just present co-workers with a package of ben-efits, we’ve thought about what will make the biggest difference to them in their lives,” explains Cathy Don-nelly, HR operations manager for UK and Ireland. Thirty-seven per cent of the workforce is under the age of 24, for example, so the company man-aged to secure a 25 per cent discount with mobile phone network Orange for staff. This didn’t cost Ikea any-thing, but staff place great value on it.

Ikea has also reviewed its benefits package and re-tendered arrange-ments with all of its suppliers. Small changes such as reducing the amount of physiotherapy available to manag-ers on its private medical insurance will only impact a few employees, but have reduced the company’s over-all outlay on benefits by 15 per cent.

“Responding to people as individu-als is really important to keeping them engaged,” agrees Ann Brown, vice president for HR at Capgemini, the technology, consulting and out-sourcing company. Her organisa-tion offers a flexible benefits package where staff can choose rewards that suit their lifestyle or their priorities. To ensure it continues to offer ben-efits they value, it monitors uptake every year and conducts an employee survey on what works best.

Regularly acknowledging the effort that staff put in can generate huge payback in terms of engagement – even if it is in a small way. One of the major coffee chains recognises high performing staff by present-ing them with a ‘golden bean’. You can’t do much with it, and it’s not worth a huge amount financially, but employees value the recognition. “Simply by supporting managers to say thank you, you can get a lot of benefit,” says Quinn. “The symbol itself is more important than the monetary value.” In these straitened times, a little can go a long way.

NEW PENSIONS REGIME COMES CLOSER

from October 2012, the Depart-

ment for Work and pensions has an-

nounced that employers will be re-

quired to auto-enrol people over 22

and earning a minimum of £7,475 per

annum into a workplace pension.

The regulations will be phased in

over a number of years, with only

larger organisations (employing more

than 120,000 staff) commencing en-

rolment from next October. auto-

matic enrolment for small businesses

(fewer than 50 staff) has been de-

layed, and will now commence in May

2015, instead of april 2014, as had

previously been announced.

These workers will have to join

either their employer’s current

scheme, or a brand new one such as

Nest (the National Employment Sav-

ings Trust). Employers are required

to make a minimum contribution of

three per cent of salary, and once au-

to-enrolment has commenced, must

identify and enrol new and eligible

job holders into a scheme. There is a

one-month joining window in which

staff are entitled to opt-out of the

scheme if they wish.

but while the reforms are well in-

tentioned in that they will get millions

of workers saving for their retire-

ment, even the government’s own

estimates suggest they will cost em-

ployers more than £4.5bn per year.

The requirement for small business-

es to auto-enrol may have been de-

layed, but it is thought it will hit them

hard. a recent survey by the british

Chambers of Commerce found that

a third of sole traders thought the

pensions requirements were a to-

tal or significant barrier to them tak-

ing on staff.

Employers will also need to think

about how they communicate the

changes to their workforce. a survey

earlier this year by the Chartered Insti-

tute of personnel and Development

found that more than half of workers

did not know about the reforms.



Ȗ While salaries and benefit pack-ages are important factors in choos-ing where we work, three quarters of workers questioned by recruit-ment group Adecco earlier this year said that they would prefer to work for a company that promotes a fun atmosphere.

“Generating loyalty and commit-ment need not be about hard cash,” says Andy Powell, director, Adecco. “In a strained economy, employers would do well to focus on employee wellbeing and happiness.”

The challenge for employers is how to balance fun and productiv-ity. “The key to knowing where to invest money is knowing what you want to achieve upfront, and what success will look like,” advises Lor-

raine Makepeace, head of talent management consultancy Chemistry Group. “So if you want people to be more energised and make more sales, that’s what you need to measure.”

A third of UK companies have sports teams, clubs and schemes that employees can join but some companies push the boat out just a little further. The Chemistry Group’s most successful ‘fun’ pro-ject has been a company nutrition

programme, which provides employ-ees with advice on a energy-rich diet, and invites workers to cook a meal together once a week.

Online retailer Appliances Online has enshrined fun in its HR strat-egy with a policy called “Engage Me”, which invites employees to get together with colleagues to take part in fun activities, and the company will pay 50 per cent of the cost.

These activities can include any-thing from Spanish and guitar les-sons to snowboarding and cookery workshops, explains Nicola Brown, people and engagement co-ordinator with Appliances Online. The com-pany also invests in a beer festival, Christmas party and summer gala for employees, along with a sports

day for employees and their fami-lies. There are regular dress-down Fridays, and employee charity drives, including one which saw 12 employ-ees climb Mount Kilimanjaro and raise £100,000 for a local children’s youth centre.

The Engage Me scheme has proved a particular success with the com-pany’s 400 employees, but it has also benefited the business, says Brown. “Taking a snowboarding lesson together, or getting together after work to go ice skating is a great way to get people from around the company interacting with one another, build-ing relationships, and friendships.”

The scheme has proved so suc-cessful that a dozen employees recently signed up for a brand new

“fun” opportunity – a five-day snow-boarding holiday for more than a dozen Appliances Online staff – with the company subsidising 5 per cent of the cost. This has proven some-thing of a challenge, Brown con-fesses: “It’s not easy to find five days when 12 people can all be out of the office, including the head of group finance!”

This warm and fuzzy factor trans-lates into hard benefits for the com-pany, however. “What we get from it is far higher levels of employee engage-ment, reduced turnover and better motivation,” says Brown. “Despite the recession we’re fortunate to still be growing as a business by 4 per cent a year,, and some of that is certainly down to our people.”

oFFicE culturE Sally Whittle discovers how what goes on outside can reap rewards inside the office

the hard business of having fun

Snowboarding together is a great way to get people interacting

your staff could

scale new heights

in the office after

climbing mount

Kilimanjaro

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

as the shockwaves of the london ri-

ots continue to rumble on, a host of

explanations have been offered as

to why the country descended into

chaos earlier this year. frustration

with the police and a complex mix of

political, social and economic griev-

ances were all given as reasons for

the unrest.

No matter what the reason, the lon-

don riots served thoroughly to test

the mettle of our country’s leaders. In

truth, even the greatest leaders of our

time may have struggled when faced

with the worst rioting britain has seen

in living memory. So is there a point

at which, no matter what your natural

propensity to lead, even the best could

afford to learn some new skills?

prime Minister David Cameron was

one of the many public figureheads

who found his leadership skills under

intense scrutiny. his decision not to

return home from his holiday as soon as

the first missiles were thrown was ques-

tioned by many experts, including Kevin

Young, General Manager of SkillSoft

EMEa, a leading provider of e-learning

and performance support solutions.

“While nobody was under the

impression that David Cameron was

going to don riot gear and defend the

front line himself – it was vital that his

leadership was visibly present,” says

Young. “When faced with leadership

in a time of crisis, the most important

thing is to act quickly. You must rec-

ognise there is a problem, because it is

only when you have accepted there is

an issue can you begin to think about

a resolution. ”

admittedly, many leaders, be they

the coach of a football team or the

manager of an office, will never deal

with crises on the scale of london

riots. but it is worth remembering that

the ability to lead effectively is equally

important for all types of leader.

Well-developed leaders are more

important than ever before, with eco-

nomic and global pressures forcing

organisations to do more at a faster

pace with fewer resources. In times

like these, strong, capable leaders are

key to achieving maximum employee

engagement and productivity, both in

government and business.

Thankfully, the worst types of situa-

tions, like those seen during the riots in

august, often fall into the hands of the

most qualified leaders. but if one was

to scale down the situation, it’s simple

to see the parallels in a working envi-

ronment. Office frictions cause tension,

tension creates a bad atmosphere and

a bad atmosphere has catastrophic

consequences on productivity.

“There is a raft of stresses and

strains which could cause friction in

a work environment. Unfairness, in

terms of how people are dealt with,

can be a massive issue. poor commu-

nication can also be a sticking point,

as can a lack of clear objectives,” says

Young. “as a leader the most impor-

tant thing is to keep developing your

own skills as well as the skills of those

you are leading.”

for those who would naturally class

themselves as followers not leaders,

it’s easy to fall into the trap of think-

ing leadership simply isn’t for you, but

leadership skills can without doubt be

learnt, taught and developed, says Skill-

Soft’s Young.

he says: “Some people naturally

have certain characteristics and traits

that perhaps lend themselves bet-

ter towards leadership positions,

but there is no doubt whatsoever

that leadership can be taught and

improved. It’s important to remem-

ber that there is a human aspect that

comes into leadership as well, and it’s

vital to develop that too.”

The riots may have exposed the flaws

of our country’s leaders - but it also

brought out their best. David Camer-

on’s approach was collected but firm,

and repercussions for the rioters have

been tough. Most importantly, lessons

were learned.

as a leader it is crucial to be strong,

assertive, quick to react and measured

in your response – but it is also impor-

tant to learn from your mistakes and

build upon past experiences. after all,

the best never stop learning.

Leading the riot act

Kevin Young Managaing Director, SkillSoft eMea



where individuals are connected to each other in a kind of permanent watercooler moment. But instead of relying on a chance and possibly infrequent physical encounter, eve-ryone can see exactly what everyone else is doing via brief but internally public comments.

“It’s about how to drive a more interactive company culture – becoming a culture of transpar-ency,” he says.

For businesses that rely on knowl-edge sharing or are geographically diverse, the benefits are obvious. An internal Wikipedia, where col-leagues add to the sum total of the company’s knowledge about differ-ent subjects, helps prevent duplica-tion of work. An internal Twitter can help people converse and col-laborate in such a way that research and innovation moves faster. Giving staff access to an internal blog can motivate and encourage everyone to feel connected.

“Suddenly, you have access to all these people and all these ideas,” says Mockett. “Aggregating tacit knowl-edge within a company adds value. The payoff is amazing.”

Much has been made of security problems with social media, leading some companies to ban the use of public sites at work. But the benefits far outweigh any risks, and experts are united dismissing such problems.

“The best policies for use of social media are common sense,” says Mann. “If you wouldn’t say it at a party or in the pub, don’t say it here. Most people want to do what’s right for themselves and the organisation.”

Companies need to make sure there is a clear agenda to any social networking, whether it’s listening to the customer or sharing knowl-edge. That agenda will help decide which networks, what information and which people should be involved.

But it’s not just inside companies that social media is being used. Many individuals are turning to these net-works to further their career outside the company umbrella. Such personal branding is particularly useful for freelance professionals, says Mockett.

“We are seeing the development of ‘virtual guilds’, which mimic old-style guilds based on profession-alism, individual reputation and shared job opportunities,” he says. “An individual’s reputation resides in the network, not a company.”

Like so much in the 21st century workplace, social networking is con-stantly evolving, and sometimes it seems to add to the corporate work-load rather than reduce it; just one more activity that businesses need to understand. But joining in just because everyone else is doing it is the worst possible strategy, and likely to lead to disaster.

Instead, the advice is to focus on what you want to get out of it. Then it becomes not an obstacle, but a resource to lead you into the 21st century workplace.

Ȗ BigRuckus has voted 1,980 times on mystarbucksidea.com, the three-year-old website that invites com-ment and suggestions from the cof-fee giant’s customers. And that’s just in November.

BigRuckus might be unusual (or perhaps just has a lot of time on his or her hands). But for Starbucks, BigRuckus, DadCooks, Charliebouse and the host of others who have posted product ideas, music sugges-tions and complaints about seating are a fantastic resource.

“This is all about conversation,” says Dr Tazeeb Rajwani, lecturer in strate-gic management at Cranfield School of Management. “Businesses are contin-ually trying to improve their delivery to the customer, and crowdsourcing [asking a large and often undefined group of people for input] provides free information and innovation.”

Starbucks is among many compa-nies harnessing the power of social media to improve the bottom line. Indeed, there are those who believe social media is fast becoming man-datory for corporate use.

“Companies that refuse to use social media will soon be as reviled as those that refuse to answer the phone,” says Jeffrey Mann, Vice President, researcher at Gartner, a technology consultancy. “Using this technology is critical to business suc-cess in the 21st century.”

But what is social networking? There are no hard and fast defini-tions, but anything that invites a response from a group of individu-als can fall under this term, whether in a public forum such as Facebook or an internal Twitter-style network.

“The way people interact at work is becoming more and more sophisti-cated,” says Max Mockett, researcher at Hot Spots Movement, a specialist research and consulting team that bridges academia and business. “There is a move to a more social approach at work, one based on friendship, not hierarchy.”

Generation Y (very roughly, those under age 30) are a key driver of this trend. The first generation to grow up with social media tools, this age group is bringing personal mobile

devices into work, and using them.“It is changing organisational

structures,” says Rajwani. “Compa-nies can no longer maintain the old command and control structures. These technologies are designed to engage with people; they are part of the mindset of Generation Y, which wants to talk to employers in a simi-lar, social way.”

But social business is not just for creative industries, where organisa-tional structures are often flatter and more fluid; the use of social media technologies brings huge benefits to all types of business.

“Social media is much more than is implied in the name,” says Xabier Ormazabul, director of product mar-keting at Salesforce.com, an enter-prise cloud computing company. “It’s a convenient and easy way to commu-nicate, and the main driver is context.”

Mann agrees. “If you look at the activities taking place on Face-book, but change the words, then it becomes highly relevant to business. So instead of keeping up with what your friends are doing, you are keep-

ing up with what your colleagues are doing. Instead of asking advice on what shoes to buy, you’re asking advice on which supplier to use.”

A 2010 report from McKinsey & Company, a management consul-tancy, found that the “networked enterprise” (one that uses these collaborative Web 2.0 technologies to connect employees internally, and reach out to customers and suppliers externally) significantly improved performance.

“Everyone understands the exter-nal-facing bit, the connection to the customer,” says Ormazabul. “It’s at the next level, when you apply these technologies internally, that you get a lot of value.”

He argues that any business will benefit from social networking,

nEtworking Social media is changing the way we work. The more conversations you can generate in the office, the more successful your business will be, finds Clare Gascoigne

The way people interact at work is becoming more sophisticated

Lifting the barriers to communication

social media can help a business connect to

many different employees at the same time

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COMMERCIAL FEATURE


Today’s employees demand to be

social. They are a generation of fa-

cebook status-updating, Twitter-

scanning, YouTube-grazing Internet

addicts and they expect to be able

to communicate as easily and quick-

ly in the workplace as they do in their

private lives.

In an age of remote working it is not

enough to have a staff notice board in

the kitchen advertising social activities

or events. If it isn’t on a news feed or

web group, it is likely to fall to the back

of people’s minds.

The power of the socially-connected

office is something that businesses are

beginning to take seriously. Recent

research by Coleman-parkes, on behalf

of salesforce.com, revealed that three

quarters of CEOs see social networks

or tools as important in attracting and

retaining skilled workers. a similar

number, 76 per cent, said they are use-

ful for employee communication and

engagement because of their real-time,

transparent nature.

as businesses increasingly reach out

to customers through social networks

– interacting with consumers through

social media and advertising products

and services through digital media – it

is important to realise the importance

of internal social networks. Only when

social networks are used both inter-

nally and externally, can an organisa-

tion truly become a Social Enterprise.

Salesforce Chatter, a secure, private

social network for the enterprise, is a

tool being used by thousands of cus-

tomers, including Saatchi & Saatchi,

Nikon and Santander Consumer

finance, as well as salesforce.com staff

themselves. Similar to facebook, Chat-

ter connects employees with the best

information and experts within their

own company, delivering information

directly to users, rather than making

them search for it themselves. private

employee social networks can help peo-

ple rapidly collaborate across their com-

pany so they can engage, service and

sell to their customers more effectively.

as Jane pointet, vp of Employee

Success EMEa at salesforce.com, sug-

gests, Chatter has been a fantastic way

of showcasing success and highlighting

achievements to the wider business.

Staff awards and promotions are pub-

lished, but staff also get the opportu-

nity to share with colleagues what they

have been working on themselves or

flag up problems and solutions.

The social business does not just

make itself heard, it listens to people

across the organisation. last month,

salesforce.com’s worldwide offsite man-

agement meeting in las vegas was

streamed live over Chatter and all 6,000

plus employees were given the chance

to ask live questions and make com-

ments. During the meeting, managers

followed the Chatter feed on their ipads

and responded in real time. Over the

two and a half day conference, more

than a hundred staff from across the

world addressed the meeting directly,

something that previously would have

been impossible to co-ordinate.

“Individual staff members have made

themselves visible in the company and

provided some brilliant ideas. Tradition-

ally, they would have been lost in the hier-

archy and it would have taken time to fil-

ter up. but this was instant,” says pointet.

Whilst internal collaboration is vital,

the social workplace continually has

its feelers out to the wider world. far

from banning facebook and Twitter

like some organisations, salesforce.

com actively monitors what the world

is saying about it through the Radian6

Social Marketing Cloud. The recruit-

ment team also uses social media to

source potential employees who sug-

gest they might be looking for a new

role. Most salesforce.com employees

are on linkedIn, reportedly making it

the most well-connected company on

the site, after linkedIn itself.

another defining feature of the 21st

century workplace is mobility. Today’s

young, tech-savvy workforce appreci-

ates being able to communicate when

and how they want to.

almost every one of salesforce.

com’s UK staff has a company black-

berry or iphone, lap top and, in many

cases, ipad. as pointet notes, this only

helps to increase staff engagement

and flexibility.

She said: “We are such a fast-moving

company and things change so quickly.

The fact that employees feel connected

at any time they want outside the work-

ing environment allows them to feel

invested in and engaged,” she says.

“as a young, innovative company our

employees want to be able to commu-

nicate quickly and easily and being a

Social Enterprise enables us to do this.”

as well as communicating internally

using social networks, staff can also

communicate directly with custom-

ers through facebook and Twitter,

alongside more traditional methods

like telephone and email. This is facili-

tated through the connection to social

media provided by the Service Cloud

from salesforce.com.

While it is clear that internal and

external social networks have helped

staff to work more effectively, it is

important to remember that social

networks have a role to play in mak-

ing work fun too. Recent events pro-

moted through the ‘Chatterati’ have

been a Thanksgiving lunch, updates on

male staff growing moustaches for the

‘Movember’ charity appeal and sharing

the all-important Christmas party plans.

“all of this helps to build staff loy-

alty and a strong culture, which can

only help us to engage and retain our

employees,” adds pointet.

Isabel Kelly, International Director, Salesforce Foundation

“part of being a 21st century workplace

includes having a positive social impact

on the world’s communities who are

most in need . at the Salesforce foun-

dation, we have been amazed at the

power of social networks to build mo-

mentum and impact around staff-ini-

tiated philanthropy projects.

This year, teams from the UK, Swit-

zerland and Singapore have been to

Siem Reap, Cambodia to work with

Que Rico, a UK-based NGO that builds

communities in Cambodia (www.vol-

untaryprojectsoverseas.org).

Stephen fowler, a Regional vice

president for field sales, called me from

his holiday in Cambodia last Christ-

mas because he’d met Que Rico and

wanted to know how to support them.

In January he set up a group on Chat-

ter and persuaded other employees to

get involved. Word spread across our

internal social network that the chil-

dren of Siem Reap would really ben-

efit from toys and toothbrushes, and

that the staff needed laptops. Sales-

force.com staff filled an entire room at

our office with toys, a customer

donated hundreds of toothbrushes

and the IT department repurposed five

older laptops.

In May, a volunteer team led by

Stephen went to Cambodia to build

houses for the community, most of

whom survive on less than £1.30 a

day. he shared his photos on a dedi-

cated facebook group and updated

his Chatter feed while he was there.

Since then, two other groups have trav-

elled out to volunteer and the YouTube

videos they made have added to the

momentum of support for the project

within salesforce.com.

all salesforce.com employees are

given six days a year to volunteer and

can use their time with any organi-

sation they feel passionate about,

whether it’s a school in Kenya or sup-

porting their local MS group – it really is

a personal choice. Salesforce.com also

donates its product licences to non-

profit and educational organisations.

Que Rico is proof that when staff

are passionate about a project, they

can shout about it and things happen.

Never normally would these employ-

ees, who work in different depart-

ments on opposite sides of the world,

get the chance to share an experi-

ence like this and work together to

create greater social impact. It worked

because they found the project them-

selves, shared it with the world on

facebook, YouTube and Chatter and

gave it a life of its own.

the social workplace

The social workplace in action:how chatter helped children in cambodia

Social networks are transforming how people communicate and share information, personally and professionally. As salesforce.com shows, the Social Enterprise takes customer and employee engagement to a new level



Ȗ If there’s one word that sums up the 21st century workplace, it’s flex-ibility. And if there’s one facilitator for flexibility, it’s technology.

But flexibility comes in different shapes and sizes, and finding the right combination is critical to a happy and productive workforce.

First up is flexibility of time, sometimes better known as work-life balance. Back in 2007, a British Chambers of Commerce’s survey found that adopting flexible work-ing improved recruitment and retention, created greater loyalty and commitment from employees, reduced employee stress, reduced absence and employee turnover, and enhanced a company’s reputation.

Fast-forward to today and it would seem the Government agrees. Its recent Modern Workplaces con-sultation advocates extending the statutory right to request flexible working to all employees, rather than the current position where only parents and carers of adults can do so.

A report by the think-tank Demos, Reinventing the Workplace, backs the Government’s proposals, argu-ing that “the key question is not whether businesses can afford flexible working arrangements, but whether in the 21st century countries like Britain can afford to forego them”.

It found that 91 per cent of offer at least one form of flexible work-ing arrangement, and that 83 per cent of requests for flexible working are approved. Yet of firms that cur-rently do not offer any form of flex-ible working, 92 per cent said they were unlikely to start offering it in the next two years.

But working hours is only one form of flexibility; the other and related form is flexibility of place – and it is this that technology has made possible. Networked com-puting, cheaper telecoms, mobile telephony – these all contribute to

the ability to work from anywhere, not just from home.

Cloud computing, is key to remote working, allowing multi-ple employees to work on the same project in real time even though geographically spread.

British Telecom was one of the first companies to embrace tele-working, launching its version in 1986; it now has 15,000 homework-ers out of 92,000 employees. The company argues that, on average, its homeworkers save it around £6,000 a year, are 20 per cent more productive and take fewer sick days.

But remote working requires different managerial skills, says Vanessa Robinson, head of HR prac-tice development at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Devel-opment. “It involves a move from a command-and-control style of management to one based on trust and empowerment. Performance measures also need to be more clearly output focussed.

“Managers and leaders need to be aware that, at times, people who work remotely may feel isolated from their organisation, so efforts need to be made to keep in touch, to keep them engaged with what’s going on in the organisation and their team.

That can be done through one-to-one telephone calls and intranet discussion groups, as well as occa-sional face to face meetings. Tech-nology such as web-based cameras or real time video conferencing help keep staff engaged with colleagues, whether at the office or the other side of the world. An internal social net-work can also help mimic the brief interactions that go on in any office.

As with any change, it is not easy to make the leap to flexible working. But those companies that are suc-cessful at bringing flexibility to the workplace will find it is one of the most useful tools in achieving maxi-mum output from staff.

FlExibility Forget 9 till 5; in the 21st century successful businesses need to be far less rigid, finds Nick Gordon

It involves a move from a command-and-control style of management to trust and empowerment

cLever technoLogy that heLps businesses fLex

60%almost

oF EmployEEs statED tHEy currEntly usED a Form oF FlExiblE working

50%by 2016 at lEast

oF EntErprisE Email usErs will rEly primarily on a browsEr, tablEt or mobilE cliEnt instEaD oF a DEsktop cliEnt



Ȗ Pundits have been predicting the “paperless office” for nearly 40 years, yet most of us are still surrounded by piles of printed matter. But that seductively elusive image of the office of the future is moving a lit-tle closer, with the increasing use of cloud computing.

A reduction in paper is not the only change to the 21st century office that could be brought about by the revo-lution that is cloud, which is essen-tially a flexible and cost-effective way of sharing resources, whether data or services.

Though the term cloud computing strikes fear into the non-technical, many of us have been using it for years; if you have used Yahoo! Mail, music download service Spotify or the ubiquitous Facebook, you are already “working in the cloud”.

For a business, the advantages are numerous. Once the contents of your company’s server has been transferred to a cloud service pro-vider (such as Amazon Web Ser-vices (AWS), Salesforce.com, Rack-space or Virgin Media Business), employees with web access, irre-spective of their location, are a mere password away from access-ing data and apps remotely.

Andy Perrin, senior product man-ager, Cloud Services, Virgin Media Business, explains: “Connecting to the cloud via a fast, private network means you can transfer your data as easily and securely as you do today around your business.”

It’s not only data use that can change. Cloud computing allows a business to access services, ranging from HR to credit card processing, choosing as much or as little as is needed.

And because cloud is pay-as-you-go, with pre-agreed credit limits, “a virtual server can cost less than £70 a month,” explains Perrin. Cloud turns IT into an operating rather than a capital expense.

Cloud can also save companies money by reducing energy con-sumption and cutting capital spend on IT; a recent study by the Carbon

Disclosure Project found that UK blue-chip companies could achieve annual energy savings of £1.2bn if, as projected, cloud computing grows from 10 to almost 70 per cent of their IT spend by 2020.

However, recent research for industry body Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) revealed that the prime motivator for companies is not cost. Andy Burton, CIF chair-man, says: “The marketing of the industry has been primarily focusing on the cost savings, [but] research proves that initial adop-tion is usually driven by non-finan-cial activity. The organisation values the flexible attributes of a cloud ser-vice over on-premise solutions.”

But two issues demand scrutiny: security and outages. In Septem-ber, Microsoft’s online systems were affected by a two-and-a-half hour service failure, while Google’s Google Docs also had an involuntary time-out. Amazon’s EC2 had failures in April and August.

In November, the Ponemon Insti-tute, which researches data security, surveyed 1,000 IT security practi-tioners and enterprise compliance officers. One third of the former group believes cloud is as secure as on-premise solutions, while the lat-ter group is split 50:50.

So there is still work to be done by cloud proponents, though recent CIF research found that 96 per cent of those using cloud services were happy with the result. Much depends on a cultural willingness to man-age staff differently – with employ-ees no longer based in an office but potentially around the globe, differ-ent skills are needed to ensure the security of corporate data.

Says Burton: “Cloud services are a reality today, they are proven, and they will continue to improve in both capability and adoption. All organisations need to be aware of, and consider how to best make use of this agile and efficient IT supply model to improve their performance and agility.”

With employees based around the globe, different skills are needed to ensure security

working in tHE clouD You’re probably already using cloud computing, says Nick Gordon. But could you be using it even more effectively?

bLowing the cLouds away

320tHE tablEt markEt will grow From nExt to zEro in 2009

solD in 2015

millionunits

645salEs oF smartpHonEs will risE to

in 2012million

60%almost

staFF accEss social nEtworks at work, EitHEr Via tHEir computEr or smartpHonE

83%oF rEquEsts For FlExiblE working arE approVED



skills against an online programme or a number of other online players.”

The growth of Generation Y has brought about a sea change in the working environment. The so-called ‘millennial’ workforce (those born after 1982) is heavily reliant on the mobile internet and this has led to a fundamental shift in the way in which businesses are run. Smart-phones, laptops and tablets are part of the worker’s everyday arsenal. Staff are constantly online and have instant access to data in real time: communicating with colleagues and customers around the world, and using social and professional net-working sites. Managers need to be aware of this and encourage their staff to maximise the potential of the technology at their disposal. At the same time they need to manage the process, ensuring that information sharing and networking is produc-tive rather than a distraction.

The economic downturn means that accurate business intelligence is a highly prized commodity, as

companies strive to better under-stand their customers, make better decisions and achieve a leaner oper-ation. Accurate data is key and busi-ness analytics, which involves the use of data, statistical analysis and predictive modelling to drive deci-sion making, can also be an effective tool for the manager.

“Today’s business analytics and modelling tools are easy to use,” says Poulos. “Users are able to access data from almost any source and the results can be presented in multi-ple ways, often as dashboards, visual graphs and spreadsheets. This pro-vides ideal media for digital distri-bution, web browser access and even to applications on mobile devices for presentation anywhere, anytime.”

Technology that utilises industry key performance indicators can help companies and individual staff bench-mark their performance against simi-lar players in the marketplace. “When tied with business analytics, these become invaluable tools for today’s management,” says Poulos.

Locating the most suitable tools can take time, which is hardly ideal when looking to improve perfor-mance. “Finding the right technol-ogy is one thing, implementing and maintaining it, quite another,” says Poulos. “Technology, in this case, can become a distraction. But when the right one is found, it can improve productivity and the quality of deci-sion-making.”

Ultimately, technology is only a tool to assist and evaluate the indi-vidual. Traditional management dis-ciplines are still important, though technology can be a useful ally. “It has to be the right person and they have to have clear direction and leadership,” says Cresswell Phillips. “Management culture has to come from the top down and ineffective leadership at this level will result in ineffective middle management.”

Whatever the management skills a business needs, it is the clever com-bination of traditional training and today’s technology that will make a real difference.

Ȗ Not all managers are good, and poor ones can have a catastrophic effect on any business. At best they create a culture of low morale and resentment; at worst they make bad decisions that can lose money or even bring a company down. Any-one who has ever been an employee will know at least one individual who was good at their job, got pro-moted and then found themselves disastrously ill-equipped to man-age others.

A recent survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) sug-gests that ineffective management could be costing UK businesses more than £19bn per year in lost working hours. The study of 2,000 employees revealed that 75 per cent of workers waste almost two hours out of their working week due to inefficient man-agers. The worst management prac-tices responsible for time lost include unclear communication, lack of sup-port, micro-management and lack of direction, while 13 per cent of those surveyed had witnessed managers exhibiting discriminatory behaviour towards employees and 27 per cent had witnessed managers bullying or harassing their staff.

Management training is an often neglected area, with companies underestimating the importance of a strong corporate culture, structured training programmes, clear objec-

tives and effective communication.“People development doesn’t have

to cost a lot of money,” says Mandy Cresswell Phillips, a coaching and development professional. “The important thing is to remove poor managers and replace them with good ones who can spot and nurture talent and use a more democratic style to motivate, collaborate and increase staff potential and morale.”

Effective training is obviously one method of tackling the problem but there are also a number of techno-logical tools that can help. “People management needs people skills and no technology can assist there,” says Tony Poulos, market strategist for industry association TM Forum. “However, there are no end of man-agement training guides available digitally and applications that emu-late business scenarios. Online man-agement courses abound, as well as online knowledge bases with answers to many management queries or ref-erences to solutions others have tried. There are even management games where one can pit one’s management

training Claire Manuel explores how technology can help improve management skills – and why it’s not the whole story

WhO WIll manage the managers?

proper

management

training will filter

down through

the company

When the right technology is found, it can improve productivity

© tHE surgEry



Ȗ Modern businesses are disrupted by rapid changes in customer needs, fashions, social trends, economics, governments, mergers, supply chain and technology. Success in such a fast-changing world comes only to the agile organisations.

An agile business has a clear over-all vision, which endures through the constant changes. It empowers staff, constantly experiments, toler-ates errors and regularly re-organ-ises itself. It achieves its objectives through informal self-organising project teams that work closely with suppliers and customers.

“It is in times of adversity that some of the greatest innovations

have appeared,” says Stephen Archer, a director at Spring Partnerships, a business consultancy. “In today’s straightened times there is a healthy pressure to differentiate, become more competitive and establish more intrinsic value in the organisation. This does not come from exhorta-tions by the chief executive, but by establishing a culture of freedom to think and innovate.”

The key to success is no longer telling people what to do, but encouraging them to spot new opportunities and unforeseen changes and then implement their own successful solutions. This requires an entrepreneurial atti-

tude in staff, which is often referred to as ‘intrepreneurship’.

The organisation’s overall vision and focus on the customer are the glue to hold everything together and prevents chaos. Management helps by stepping back, but encouraging and supporting.

“I often say ‘we can do anything – we just haven’t yet worked out

how’, and that attitude has rubbed off on the team,” says Clive Birnie, managing director of Severn Delta, a manufacturer. “The keys are in giving people space, trust and a safety net to be creative. Give them power, but also the reassurance that if their idea isn’t successful they won’t be blamed.”

Creating an ‘intrepreneurial’ cul-ture must begin at the recruitment stage. Ashley Ward, a director at European Leaders, a recruitment, consulting and coaching company, says that entrepreneurship can be recognised when candidates get fired up about doing something, not sim-ply wanting to be someone.

Many traditional structures and processes need to be changed. Matt Crosby, head of business solutions at management consultancy Hay Group, says that knowledge must be managed differently; corporate plan-ning recast; new processes installed to drive staged investment in tak-ing ideas to fruition; and a new tal-ent management procedure, from recruitment to matching talent to where key decisions are made. “Innovation doesn’t come from an exceptional leader waving a magic wand,” he says.

Whereas traditional organisa-tions have a suggestion scheme that rewards staff, an agile company encourages intrepreneurship by letting them implement their ideas themselves. At global services com-pany Ricoh, ideas from individu-als go to the board, which agrees a budget; the employee then manages his or her suggestion from start to finish, forming a cross-functional team to deliver it within the wider company framework.

“ We develop tailored train-ing schemes to help staff recog-nise internal opportunities,” says Rebekah Wallis, the company’s human resources director. “It pro-vides a platform for them to further develop their entrepreneurial skills and helps with staff retention.”

Professor Vlatka Hlupic of West-minster Business School says that self-organisation results in ‘communities of passion’, often using social media. They allow people to pursue projects, initiatives or topics that they are very knowledgeable and passionate about.

The downside is that if the over-all vision isn’t clear enough, people could go off at a tangent. Professor Hlupic warns that too many people could pursue too many interesting things that have nothing to do with the strategy of the company or what its customers want. “They may be very innovative,” she says, “but pur-sue things that may not result in any commercial benefit.”

Another problem is if key intre-preneurs who are hard to replace want to flex their newfound entre-preneurial flair by setting up their own company, possibly even in competition. Peter Cochrane, a futurologist, says the employer should encourage them, take a stakeholding and even give them their first order. “It stops them becoming a competitor and makes them an evangelist for the com-pany,” he says.

In today’s tough marketplace, organisations can only get an edge through innovative and creative staff who can find new ways to work with customers. Developing an entrepre-neurial culture is vital not just for profitability, but survival.

as a service organisation, it is es-

sential that accenture helps its staff

to maximize their ability to satis-

fy its clients. One of its tools is a se-

ries of formal and informal mentor-

ing programmes to support them in

all aspects of their lives.

Every employee is assigned a ca-

reer counsellor. “They help to shape

and grow the employee, navigate

their career, decide the next career

move and find a path to success,”

says Suzy levy, the company’s hu-

man capital and diversity lead for UK

and Ireland.

New employees are encouraged

to select their own peer ‘buddy’

to explain the culture, the unwrit-

ten rules and the way things work. It

helps them to get a solid start. Em-

ployees are expected to select sev-

eral appropriate mentors, to deal

with different issues as they arise.

There is also reverse mentoring,

where members of minority groups

share with managers the issues they

face, to help ensure an inclusive

working environment.

“line managers coach people so

that they are confident and capable

in their role,” explains Ms levy, “but

staff can raise other issues with men-

tors. Mentoring is a little like dating,

you need to have a chemistry be-

tween individuals, based on shared

passions, so there is a spark.”

Mentoring extends beyond the

working life. In one example, an em-

ployee suffered long spells of ill

health. Their mentor helped them to

look at the issues causing it and two

years later the employee completed

an Ironman triathlon.

Ms levy is personally mentoring

more than ten employees. She says

that mentors get pleasure from see-

ing people blossom and grow. It also

gives the mentor the ability to see

the organisation, and the world, from

a different viewpoint.

“The flow of ideas to support

our clients is fundamental to our

success,” she concludes. “There is

as much, or more, to be gained from

people coaching, supporting and

mentoring each other than from

any methodology.”

EmpowErmEnt Management must step back and give employees freedom to act within an overall vision, says Rod Newing

Key to success is encouraging [staff] to spot opportunities

INTREpRENEURShIp harnesses passion

employees are

more likely to

be creative if

encouraged to find

their own way

GROW ThE EMPLOyEE, GROW ThE COMPANy

© sEan JusticE



Whether it’s commuting pressures, the school run, or simply natural pref-erence, employees want some flexibil-ity around their working hours. Flexi-time, time off in lieu, and the option to work from home can all help.” Some companies – such as Cisco Systems – don’t have set working hours at all, measuring employees on output rather than how many minutes after 9am they get to their desk.

5. TIME OFF AND MORE hOLIDAySThis one actually does mean time off and more holidays. The strains of ‘doing more with less’, as organisations shed staff and ask people to take on more job responsibilities, are showing. “Working longer not only impacts on work-life balance and well-being, but also impacts how employees feel about their pay and benefits,” says Cavanagh. “Where companies are not in a posi-tion to offer pay rises, they should be sensitive to employees’ working hours.” Adding an extra day off over Christmas could give workers vital recuperation time. Allowing time off for volunteering and charity work is also highly valued.

6. FLExIBLE BENEFITSWhere companies offer bene-fits such as travel cards and gym membership, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for the 21st Century worker. “When it comes to benefits, flexibility is the key here too,” says Cavanagh. “It’s impossi-ble to please all the people all the

time, so allowing employees the flexibility to choose the benefits that best fit their circumstances will certainly help.” Make sure there’s enough choice to keep a variety of employees happy.

7. A hEALThy WORKPLACEAs working hours rise along with obesity levels, people are increas-ingly health conscious – and a healthy workplace makes healthy living far easier. Cavanagh points out that “in many of the ‘best’ com-panies, employees are provided with free fruit and more companies are offering free healthy breakfasts. This makes people feel their com-pany cares about their wellbeing”. Research by Great Place To Work also finds that employees highly rate health facilities and health club membership in the workplace.

8. A PROMOTIONOK, everyone wants this one – but even the possibility of a promotion is enough. Workers need to feel they are going somewhere and a clear career progression plan is integral to this. Salary caps and even cuts can be accepted in the face of dif-ficult markets, but a halt in career progression cannot. “As there is less movement between compa-nies, employees are looking to see where they can go within their cur-rent companies”, says Cavanagh. “Companies that offer better devel-opment opportunities have the more engaged employees.”

Ȗ Many myths surround what workers want, the main one being that it’s just higher salary and bonuses. While employees want to feel sufficiently financially rewarded, simply increasing pay doesn’t necessarily increase hap-piness. and in times of economic stagnation, that option isn’t open to many companies. Years of research from organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) show that to improve the morale and productivity of work-ers companies need to make their working lives better. So just what is the 21st Century workforce ask-ing for this Christmas?

1. RECOGNITION AND RESPECTRecognition can be as literal as the CEO knowing you by name or simply having your work acknowl-edged. Employee of the month schemes and annual award cere-monies are helpful but not sufficient says Mike Emmott, CIPD Adviser Employee Relations. “Praise is good but not essential, whereas recog-nition is – it’s your line manager being aware of what you are doing from day-to-day and acknowledg-ing targets achieved, tasks accom-plished.” Similarly Tom O’Byrne, CEO at consultancy Great Place

to Work® argues: “What workers really want is being treated and val-ued as a person. Just small touches such as a personal thanks from the boss... mean more job satisfaction.”

2. TO WORK FOR AN ORGANISATION ThEy vALUEIf people work for an organisation they believe in they will do more for it, regardless of salary (see charities). This may seem tricky if your com-pany resembles Ricky Gervais’ fic-tional paper company in Slough, but not if you produce recycled paper and give it out free to local schools. Carla Cavanagh, Head of Research at Best Companies, which runs The Sunday Times’ awards, Best Companies to Work For, and advises on workplace engagement, says, “Employees want to feel like they are doing something more worthwhile than lining the cof-fers of the shareholders. They want to feel their company makes a posi-tive difference.” And according to Emmott, “M&S has a long-held belief that corporate responsibility plays even better with employees than it does with customers.”

3. A CLEAR jOB DESCRIPTIONIt may seem an absurdly simple wish, bu1t a clear job description can easily get forgotten as roles evolve and team structures change. Annually re-assessing and agreeing job descriptions and specifications can eradicate resentful suspicions that the employer is making them do too much (or too little), but few companies actually get round to doing so. “People want to be clear about what their job is and what they are supposed to be doing,” says Emmott. “There are quite a lot of people who don’t know the real purpose of their job.”

4. FLExIBLE WORKINGThis doesn’t mean time off and more holidays. Cavanagh explains, “tradi-tional 9-til-5 working is losing favour with the majority of employees.

the workers’ wish List improVing moralE Tim Smedley finds out what workers would really like from the office Secret Santa

Workers need to feel they are going somewhere and a clear career progression plan is integral to this

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Ȗ In a world where united teamwork is often the focus of HR, it might seem odd to deliberately employ a wide variety of people. But making sure you have a melting pot of personali-ties and cultures can make a big differ-ence to your business performance.

“It is about [having] greater access to different perspectives and sources of information, better understanding of customer needs, and better com-munication with customers because you are getting a more diverse group to inform that,” says Denise Keating, CEO of the Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion, a member-ship and lobbying group.

Research by Catalyst entitles ‘The Bottom Line: Connecting corporate performance and gender diversity’, for example, found companies with the highest proportion of women on top management teams experienced 53per cent higher total return on equity and 66 per cent higher return on invested capital.

These findings are echoed by McK-insey and Company’s study Women matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver, which found the 89 European listed companies with the highest level of gender diversity in top management posts reported a 48 per cent higher operating result than the average for their sector and a stock price growth of 64 per cent compared to an average of 47 per cent.

Looking at age diversity, mean-while, research by the Centre for Performance-led HR at Lancaster University Management School showed customer satisfaction lev-els to be, on average, 20 per cent higher in McDonalds restaurants that employ staff aged over 60.

But achieving workplace diversity can be a complex task. Employers have to ensure they have the right kind of diversity and learn how to manage it.

Even defining diversity is not always easy. Dr Nic Hammarling, head of diversity at Pearn Kandola, a business

psychology consultancy, says: “People often make the mistake of assum-ing diversity is just about the obvious stuff – gender, ethnicity etc. It is not. It includes non-visible differences as well, such as personality types. In fact, having different personalities is one of the biggest contributors to increased innovation and creativity.”

Non-visible differences, however, can be difficult to measure. The start-ing point is usually the visible; employ-ers profile their workforce by gender, ethnic origin, disability and age. Sexual orientation and gender reassignment should also be considered, although it is more difficult to gather informa-tion on these. This data can then be analysed to identify an organisation’s current diversity levels and where any gaps may exist, with a view to finding out the reasons behind the company’s workforce profile.

Dianah Worman, adviser, diversity at the Chartered Institute of Per-sonnel and Development , says: “Is it the way [the business] is recruit-ing people, is it making assumptions about the kind of people it needs, is it looking too narrowly in the labour market, is it setting out what it really needs from recruitment agencies, are these making assumptions on [the organisation’s] behalf, what is the recruitment process like and so on.”

Organisations should also look at diversity in relation to how employ-ees are rewarded, which groups receive access to training, staff reten-tion issues, work-life balance and flexible working practices, and how they manage employees who stay on past the traditional retirement age.

“[Employers] then have to make sure the [corporate] environment is one

where people feel valued, that it is open and they can put their point of view across without being dismissed, and where they feel respected for their per-sonal identity,” adds Worman.

Online diversity training can help to boost understanding of the issue. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), uses a programme to improve under-standing of cultural diversity among its globally mobile workforce. It also recently asked all of its partners and staff to undertake mandatory bias awareness training to open their minds to difference, explains Sarah Churchman, HR director (equality and inclusion) at PWC.

Greater corporate diversity can lead to more palpable tension among some groups, due to increased dif-ferences in perspectives and opin-ions. To ensure they continue to work as a united team, Keating explains employers should “identify what the common goal is, identify what each person in the team brings to the party and hold people to account for playing their part in delivering that outcome”.

Team diversity can result in better outcomes for businesses. “Sometimes in a high-performing team there is more challenge and debate but the result will be more robust and more thought through. Diversity eliminates group think,” explains Churchman.

Get it right and a diverse corporate culture can be a significant business asset. “In order to respond to today’s seriously competitive marketplace, [businesses] look for every way of getting an insight into being creative and innovative in order to reengi-neer themselves, keep things fresh and keep ahead. That’s exactly what this is about,” concludes Worman.

mix it up for the best resuLtDiVErsity Far from being a muddle, diversity plays a key role in corporate success, says Debbie Lovewell

Use of social media has rocketed in

recent years, with an inevitable im-

pact on the workplace. Employers’

attitudes to it vary: some impose a

strict ban on the use of social media

at work, while others actively encour-

age it as part of a new way of working.

Whatever their approach, employ-

ers need to understand the potential

impact of worker use of the likes of

facebook and Twitter on their busi-

ness, and take measures to protect

themselves. as XperthR explains, this

includes putting in place a robust social

media policy.

PoteNtial daMage Employers need to be aware of the

problems that can arise from use

of social media by their workforce.

These range from liability for defam-

atory commentary about clients or

competitors in employee-penned

social media posts, to vicarious lia-

bility for discriminatory comments

about colleagues.

but the potential consequence that

can be most difficult and expensive to

rectify is the damage to the organisa-

tion’s reputation or brand that is likely

to result from a disgruntled employee’s

online comments.

the Private eaSily becoMeS PublicOf course, employees have always

moaned about work and their em-

ployer over a pint in the pub. but if

equivalent comments are posted

on facebook, they have the poten-

tial to reach a much wider audience,

with a corresponding dramatic in-

crease in the potential for damage.

and once something is “out there”

on social media, it is virtually impos-

sible to contain.

as there is no recognised etiquette

for the personal use of social media in

connection with employment, employ-

ers need to be proactive in setting their

own standards.

PreveNtioN iS better thaN curea well-drafted social media policy

can be used to educate the work-

force about acceptable social media

practices, and reduce the chances of

inappropriate material being posted

in the first place. a failure to lay down

rules about social media will result in

uncertainty for workers about where

to draw the line and a lack of under-

standing about the possible conse-

quences of their actions.

the Power to take actioNhaving a social media policy also

empowers employers to take action

where necessary. Where they fail to

set out social media guidelines, im-

posing disciplinary sanctions for what

they view as inappropriate use is like-

ly to result in problems.

at the very least, lack of a clear policy

could result in inconsistencies in treat-

ment, and ill-feeling and resentment

among staff. however, employers also

need to remember that any dismissal

for posting inappropriate comments

could well result in an unfair dismissal

claim in the employment tribunal. In

the absence of a clear policy on social

media use, and importantly one that

has been brought to the individual’s

attention, the employer is likely to face

an uphill battle to convince the tribu-

nal that it acted reasonably. With the

maximum compensatory award for

unfair dismissal set at £68,400, this is

not something employers can afford to

take lightly.

Social media policies: can your business afford to be without one?

CO

MM

ER

CIA

L F

EA

TU

RE

having different personalities is one of the biggest contributors to increased innovation

GENDER DIvERSITy

89 EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITh hIGhEST LEvEL OF GENDER DIvERSITy IN TOP MANAGEMENT

48%hIGhER OPERATING RESULT ThAN ThE AvERAGE FOR ThEIR SECTOR

64%STOCK PRICE GROWTh COMPARED TO AN AvERAGE OF 47 PER CENT

Source: McKinsey and Company’s study ‘Women matter’

Download the free XpertHR model policy on the use of social media today at www.xperthr.co.uk/socialmediapolicy



© crEDit

Ȗ A s k L a u r a W hy t e , p e r s o n -nel director at John Lewis, what makes her employees tick, and she describes it very succinctly. “If you start with an engaged partner, they’ll deliver a great customer ser-vice, which delivers profit, which in turn goes back to the partner,” she explains. This ‘virtuous’ circle of partners (as employees are called), customers and profit is what makes people want to work for John Lewis and stay there – staff turnover there is around half of what it is in the rest of the retail sector.

As partners, employees of John Lewis ‘co-own’ the company, so they have a vested interest in making it succeed. And while each partner receives an annual profit-related bonus every March (this year it was 18 per cent of salary – equivalent to nine weeks’ pay), their engage-ment with the company is more than financial. The partnership boasts a unique structure of democratic bodies, where partners can air their views and influence how the com-pany is run. The role of personnel director is a board-level position, and any business development decisions are always taken with one eye on the impact on the partners.

To some, this highly democratic, co-operative approach may seem at odds with the fast-moving mar-kets retailers operate in today. But Whyte argues that the values set out in 1929 by John Spedan Lewis, son of

the original John Lewis, contribute to rather than hamper its success. “We are probably more demanding now of ourselves in terms of cus-tomer service and our leaders, but our cultural DNA hasn’t changed,” she says. “The fact that our business model has been around since 1929 is a huge plus.”

That John Lewis has been working with respected management profes-sor Lynda Gratton on her Future of Work programme suggests the retailer is working to future-proof its brand as an employer. Research-ers from Gratton’s Hot Spots Move-ment have been working with the partnership to embed some of their findings in the John Lewis business strategy through to 2020. “One of the risks of a long cultural legacy is that you become insular and you look to your history rather than your future, so I’m very conscious of the need to challenge myself and my team to make sure we don’t do that,” says Whyte.

Low staff turnover compared with the rest of the sector means it is eas-ier to justify investments in train-ing and developing staff, she adds. “I don’t have to do a lot of arm twisting to get the board to invest in learning and development, based on the lon-

gevity of service here. While longev-ity of service is decreasing in terms of social trends, for us it’s a key part of our proposition.”

Investing in leadership, in par-ticular, is a priority at John Lewis. The partnership runs an in-house, bespoke leadership development programme and even includes the leadership behaviours it expects in its formal appraisal process. One leadership path, known as ‘Hori-zons’, offers a formal route for some-one on the shop floor to work their way up to a section manager to even run a store.

Added to this is a comprehensive list of rewards and benefits, which includes subsidised ‘leisure learn-ing’ – something Whyte took advan-tage of “as a broke graduate” to learn horse-riding.

Whyte will herself celebrate 30 years working for John Lewis next April. Whenever she attends a retire-ment party, the refrain is always the same: “Every single time they say ‘I will miss the people’,” she says. “Ask someone what the best thing about working here is and they’d say the people they work with and the leaders they work for. Ask them the first Thursday in March though, and they’d probably say their bonus.”

buiLding the future on the pastintErViEw The John Lewis Partnership’s values are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago, finds Jo Faragher

laura whyte: conscious of the need

to challenge herself and her team

The retailer is working to future-proof its brand as an employer



he says. “For the employee, there is a danger of being trapped in “commod-itised work” that has been outsourced, such as in call centres, with limited career development prospects.”

Susy Roberts, director at Hunter Roberts, a change management con-sultancy, points out the opportunities that can also arise for those staff being transferred to new providers, and it is this aspect that employers will need to stress to ensure they get the buy-in that is required.

“It can mean more career opportu-nities, more development and more status,” she says. “If you’re working within a small internal team in HR or payroll in a large organisation, you might feel detached and unin-volved. Working for an outsourced operation where HR and payroll is the core business, your work takes on more value and significance.”

Technology also has a pivotal part to play in shaping the workplace of the future, with flexible and remote working allowing organisations to implement new models that will keep overheads down. The deployment of corporate tools based on social net-working technologies is also helping both organisations and outsourced providers operate more efficiently.

This is something with which the “millennial generation” is entirely com-fortable, says Sanjiv Gossain, senior vice president and head of UK and Ireland operations at IT outsourcer Cognizant.

“The onus is on corporations to bring consumer IT to corporate IT to attract and retain employees,” he says. “Being a part of this global eco-system invigorates employees and makes businesses stronger.”

Ȗ The trials and tribulations of the last four years have led many organisations to re-evaluate both their business strategy and oper-ating model.

Whether downsizing to reduce bot-tom-line costs, finding opportunities through mergers and acquisitions or investing in new markets, hardly any organisation has escaped a large degree of turmoil.

Understanding the people side is essential for any organisation going through a period of transition. “Pro-jects often die because employees aren’t trained to understand how the change will impact them and affect their daily role,” says Tony Maurice,

a partner in Deloitte’s change man-agement practice.

“For a change management pro-gramme to be successful, the leader-ship team needs to demonstrate the benefits of the change by leading their people, gaining their trust and engag-ing them in the process from day one. If people don’t understand their role in the process, they won’t take part.”

For many companies, the empha-sis is on keeping headcount low, meaning change management pro-grammes have often been accom-panied by outsourcing, where staff may be transferred to a dedicated provider of non-specialist services, and a greater use of contract labour.

“Organisations are being forced to think about the way in which they operate,” says Richard Goold, execu-tive director at Moorhouse Consult-ing. “This includes the need to dif-ferentiate between what is core and non-core in terms of what they do and to engage with outsourcing providers which can take on the non-core com-ponents and deliver them at a cheaper cost with no degradation of service.”

Paul Lambert, associate director at management consultancy Hay Group, says companies looking to go down this route need to ensure they identify the right blend of core and contracted workforce for their particular busi-ness strategy, and then contrast that

against the likely future shape of the business, taking into account antici-pated requirements and both reten-tion and retirement trends.

Such outsourced relationships can offer both risk and opportunities to employers and employees, he adds. “For employers, care needs to be taken to identify what is core, high value-adding work and to make sure the skills are not lost to the core business,”

© DiamonD sky imagEs

ChaNGING WITh the changing times cHangE managEmEnt Nick Martindale finds out how companies can best deal with a constantly evolving business landscape

take care to

ensure skills are

not lost to the

business

The leadership team needs to demonstrate the benefits of change

13. december. 2011 -...

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