Casest

udy

JoiningGr atterpalm asHRmanagerf i

vey earsagowasachal l
engingpr oposi ti
on-bot hf orthe
companyandf ormy self.Anawar d-winningindependentr etai
l market-ingagencybasedi n
Leeds, Gratterpalm createsadv ert
ising,pointofsale,anddesi gaformaj orclientsincludingt he
UnitedKingdom gr ocer ygiantASDAandt hesofaretailerDES.WhenIj oinedt heagencyi n
January2003, Gratt
erpalm hadnoHRf unct i
onwhat soev er.Origi
nallyaf ami l
y -
runbusi ness, i
t
hadgr own, ov ertwenty -
fiveyears,toateam ofsev ent yandhadj ustunder goneamanagement
buyout.Thekeyt ointroducingHRt oGratterpal
m wast oi ntr
oduceaper formancer e-viewtool
thatall
owedust obenchmar kthesuccessofapeopl e-centeredcul t
ureandal l
owedev ery
empl oyeet heoppor tunitytohav etheirsay .Wetherefor elaunched“ Grat terchat t
er,
”an
empl oycesur v eythathasbecomet hebedr ockoftheagency ’
sHRf unction.Thei ni
tialsurvey
highli
ghtedsev erali
ssueswi thi
ntheagencyt hatdear l
yneededt obeaddr essed:

 Team st
ruct
ureswer
eunclear
;peopl
edi
dnotknowwhot
hei
rli
nemanagerwasand
repor
ti
ngli
neswerebl
urr
edinsomedepart
ments.

 Wor
k/l
i
febal
ancewaspoor
.

 Ther
ewasal
ackofunder
standi
ngofcompanyv
alues.

 Onl
y66per
centst
atedt
heyenj
oyedwor
kingatGr
att
erpal
m.

 Therewasal owcommi t
menttot r
aini
nganddevel
opment
.Employeesdidnotbel
iev
e
thesurveywasconfi
denti
aloranonymous,sot
hereani
nit
ial
lackoftr
ustandonly70
percentcomplet
ion.

 Manyinit
iat
iveshavebeentakentoaddr
esst
hei
ssuest
hrownupbyt
hef
ir
stand
subsequentsurv
eys.Theseincl
ude:

 Cl
ear
lydef
inedr
olepr
ofi
l
es,
soev
ery
oneunder
standst
hei
rrol
e.
  Biannual
peopl
eassetr
eviewstoensurethatwear
eawar
eofal
lempl
oycedev
elopment
needsandareabl
etotakerel
evantact
ion.

 Tohelpaddr
essthework/
li
febalancewei nt
roduceda“just
if
icati
ontorecrui
t”precedur
e
toensur
ethatt
herewasarigor
oust houghtprocessbef
orerecrui
tmenttookplace.

 Ani
ncreasei
nfl
exi
blewor
kingoppor
tuni
ti
es-
10per
centofempl
oyeesnowenj
oyf
lexi
bic
wor
king.

 Thei
ntr
oci
uct
ionofchi
l
dcar
evoucher
sasapar
tofourr
angeofbenef
it
s.

 Managementhuddlest
hatt
akeplaceonaweeklybasisasavaluablecommunicat
ion
tool
-weai
sohaveanannualcompanymeeti
ngfocusingonourthree-y
earbusi
nesspl
an
andther
eisr
egularcommunicat
ionandr
emindersofourval
ues.

 Int
roducti
onofanin-
houset
rai
ningschedul
ethati
srol
l
edoutr
wiceay
earandt
he
establ
ishmentofacour
seeval
uati
onprocess.

 Exi
tint
erv
iewst
hatt
akepl
acef
oral
ll
eav
ers.

Anot herimpor tantdev el

opmenthasbeent heintroduct
ionofast r
uct uredap-pr aisal
procedure,”Let ’
sTalk,”whichensuresthatempl oyeesar egivenfeedbackont heirperformance
andsetobj ectivesforthefort
hcomi ngyear.Weal soputi nt
opl aceacl earcar eerstrucrureso
thatempl oy eeswer eawar eofhowt heycouldpr ogresstothenextl evel.Aninternalvacancies
noticeboar dandpr ocedurewereintroduced,andasar esul
toft hesei niti
ati
ves10per centof
empl oyeeswer epromot edint
ernall
ylastyear.Someoft hecompany ’
sst arstodayar ethose
whower e,int hepast,notthoughttobest rongper f
ormer s,
butt heyhav emanagedt ot ur
nthei
r
careersar oundwi t
hchehel pofeffecti
vepeoplemanagement .Clientshav eplayedanact i
ve
roleinther ecruit-mentprocess.
Someoft hechail
engesf orHRhav ebeenal i
gni ngittothewi derbusi nessasGr at-terpalm
growsanddev el
opsinlinewi thit
sbusi nesspl an.Oneoft hesear easwasde-v elopingt he
company ’
scor por
atesoci alresponsibil
it
y(CSR)cr edential
s.I ni
tiati
vesincludeempl oy ees
readingt ochil
drenonaweekl ybasisatourl ocalprimaryschool , andtheintroduct i
onofpl asti
c,
met al,
andgl assrecycl
ingbi nsintothebusi nesst oencour ageempl oyeestor ecycle.Wear e
establi
shinglinkswithtwochar i
ties,andwear ecurrentl
ypl anningan“ empt ycarpar k”dayto
encour agecarshar i
ng,cy cl
i
ng, andtheuseofpubl ictranspor t.

 Thekeyresul
tsachi
evedbyHRatGr
att
erpal
mint
hef
ivey
ear
sfr
om 2003t
o2008ar
e
hi
ghl
i
ghtedasfoll
ows:

 Empl
oyeer
urnov
err
educedf
rom 30per
centt
o15per
cent
.

 At
tendancerat
esincr
easedfr
om 90percentt
o98per
centt
hroughsuccessf
ul
at
tendancemanagementincl
udi
ngwelcomebackmeeti
ngsaft
eral
labsences.

 Gratterchat
ter(
theempl
oyeesur
vey
)responser
atesi
ncr
easedf
rom 70per
centt
o100
percent.