_ 13. December.

2011

21ST CENTURY
WORKPLACE

_ PAGE 04
Keeping staff
motivated
without money

_ PAGE 09
Taking the hype
out of working
in the cloud

_ PAGE 06
Social Media generates
conversation - which
generates business

_ PAGE 12
The workers wish
list: what do they
really want?

Copyright 2011, Taleo Corporation

SCAN. LEARN.

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.

WWW.TALEO.COM/KNOWS

To contact Taleo UK please call 0208 987 1210

TWITTER.COM/RACONTEURMEDIA

RACONTEUR 01

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

CONTRIBUTORS
Distributed in

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Sabilah Eboo Alwani

Editor
Clare Gascoigne

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Please send in your opinions to
editor@raconteurmedia.co.uk
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Design
The Surgery

The information contained in this

publication has been obtained from
sources the proprietors believe to be
correct. However, no legal liability can
be accepted for any errors. No part of this
publication may be reproduced without
the prior consent of the Publisher.
RACONTEUR MEDIA

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

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

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

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher is a business journalist and
editor, specialising in employment issues. She is a regular contributor to Personneltoday.com and her work has also
appeared in the Financial Times.

Nick Gordon
A writer specialising in business
aviation and the travel industry,
Nick Gordon is also a scriptwriter
and is currently filming a psychological thriller.

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

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

Claire Manuel
Publishing director of Witan Media,
Claire Manuel also is a freelance business writer and editor.

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

A revolution
with a human face
Digital Vision

Human capital Technology may be changing but companies

Companies need the right

technology, but its still people that

still need to nurture people talent, says Nick Martindale

Whatever the 21st century workplace looks like, it will include peopleshaped spaces. New technology may
be bringing about a revolution as profound as the move from an agrarian to
an industrial society, but few would
disagree with the idea that a committed, engaged and productive workforce is essential for organisations
to survive or maintain profitability.
But the current business climate
has heightened the need for effective talent nurturing, says Professor
Paul Sparrow, director of the Centre
for Performance-led HR at Lancaster University Management School.
Competitive forces are requiring 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 characteristics 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 important 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. Organisations 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 solutions marketing at SHL, a HR consultancy, with people skills becoming
especially important.
Technology is particularly important in helping to attract graduates,
says Professor Paul Sparrow, direc-

tor of the Centre for Performanceled HR at Lancaster University

Management School, pointing to
the use of gamification by companies such as Disney.
They design their websites to
reflect the sense of playing a strategy
game, he says. Its a more intense
form of a realistic job preview.

It empowers people
to solve problems
themselves rather than
pass them on
Once on board, one way of combining greater productivity with
attracting and retaining the right
staff is to develop a culture of intrepreneurship, where employees are
encouraged to come up with solutions to problems or suggestions for
revenue generation.

make a business stand out

Its about giving employees an

opportunity to share their thoughts
and feed back ideas to management,
says Derek Bishop, director of Culture Consultancy, a business advisory service. Its the frontline staff
in most organisations who can see
most clearly whats not working.
Such an approach is helping attract
more staff for IT services company
Fujitsu, according to Ella Bennett,
the companys 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, were able to attract people
because the jobs are inherently
more interesting. One of the reasons we did this was because of the
levels of attrition and the amount
of onboarding and training that we
needed to do. Its a real differentiator for us in terms of getting senior
people in too.
Having an effective induction
process can go a long way to ensuring employees become productive

quickly, as well as boosting overall

retention rates. Good onboarding should start when a candidate
accepts an offer, says Chris Phillips, vice president of marketing,
EMEA, at Taleo, a recruitment and
talent management company. This
can include doing simple things efficiently 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 potentially talented employee, warns Raj
Tulsiani, chief executive of Green
Park Interim and Executive Resourcing. Its 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, sometimes by a factor of three or four.
And in a world where there are
so many new calls on corporate
expenses, thats a cost no business
needs to waste.

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RACONTEUR 03

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Recognition and
acknowledgment will
motivate staff

New pensions
regime comes
closer

The battle for

hearts and minds
Engagement Keeping employees engaged and motivated

without a big pay rise is possible, finds Jo Faragher

Fancy / Alamy

Engaging employees in the current economic climate is a challenge. Unemployment is at its highest 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
Kenexas High Performance Institute
found declining employee engagement levels for the second consecutive 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 organisations are faced with making cuts
in other areas. According to Mark
Quinn, a partner in the human capital practice at consulting firm Mercer, 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 organisations 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
theyre 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 disenfranchising people.
And while salary is an important
hygiene factor, it is often nonfinancial 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 engagement survey, Dr Jack Wiley, executive director of the High Performance Institute, found that
companies that bucked the trend in
declining engagement were those
that listened to what employees
want, took action on employee surveys and responded to needs. Typically, managers in these companies
met four key criteria: they inspired
confidence in the future, recognised
employees contributions, provided
staff with exciting work and demonstrated a responsibility to their
employees and the communities
they worked in.
Ensuring your organisation is

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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 benefits, weve thought about what will
make the biggest difference to them
in their lives, explains Cathy Donnelly, 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 managed to secure a 25 per cent discount
with mobile phone network Orange
for staff. This didnt cost Ikea anything, but staff place great value on it.
Ikea has also reviewed its benefits
package and re-tendered arrangements with all of its suppliers. Small
changes such as reducing the amount
of physiotherapy available to managers on its private medical insurance
will only impact a few employees, but
have reduced the companys overall outlay on benefits by 15 per cent.

Responding to people as individuals is really important to keeping

them engaged, agrees Ann Brown,
vice president for HR at Capgemini,
the technology, consulting and outsourcing company. Her organisation offers a flexible benefits package
where staff can choose rewards that
suit their lifestyle or their priorities.
To ensure it continues to offer benefits 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 presenting them with a golden bean. You
cant do much with it, and its 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.

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

From October 2012, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced that employers will be required 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 enrolment from next October. Automatic enrolment for small businesses
(fewer than 50 staff) has been delayed, and will now commence in May
2015, instead of April 2014, as had
previously been announced.
These workers will have to join
either their employers current
scheme, or a brand new one such as
Nest (the National Employment Savings Trust). Employers are required
to make a minimum contribution of
three per cent of salary, and once auto-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 intentioned in that they will get millions
of workers saving for their retirement, even the governments own
estimates suggest they will cost employers more than 4.5bn per year.
The requirement for small businesses to auto-enrol may have been delayed, 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 total or significant barrier to them taking 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 Institute of Personnel and Development
found that more than half of workers
did not know about the reforms.

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

The hard
business of
having fun
Office culture Sally Whittle discovers how what

goes on outside can reap rewards inside the office

While salaries and benefit packages are important factors in choosing where we work, three quarters
of workers questioned by recruitment group Adecco earlier this year
said that they would prefer to work
for a company that promotes a fun
atmosphere.
Generating loyalty and commitment 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 productivity. 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,
thats 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
Groups most successful fun project has been a company nutrition

Your staff could

scale new heights
in the office after
climbing Mount
Kilimanjaro

Snowboarding
together is a great way to
get people interacting

programme, which provides employees 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 strategy 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 anything from Spanish and guitar lessons to snowboarding and cookery
workshops, explains Nicola Brown,
people and engagement co-ordinator
with Appliances Online. The company also invests in a beer festival,
Christmas party and summer gala
for employees, along with a sports

day for employees and their families. There are regular dress-down
Fridays, and employee charity drives,
including one which saw 12 employees climb Mount Kilimanjaro and
raise 100,000 for a local childrens
youth centre.
The Engage Me scheme has proved
a particular success with the companys 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, building relationships, and friendships.
The scheme has proved so successful that a dozen employees
recently signed up for a brand new

fun opportunity a five-day snowboarding holiday for more than a

dozen Appliances Online staff with
the company subsidising 5 per cent
of the cost. This has proven something of a challenge, Brown confesses: Its 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 translates into hard benefits for the company, however. What we get from it is
far higher levels of employee engagement, reduced turnover and better
motivation, says Brown. Despite
the recession were fortunate to still
be growing as a business by 4 per cent
a year,, and some of that is certainly
down to our people.

key to achieving maximum employee

engagement and productivity, both in
government and business.
Thankfully, the worst types of situations, 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, its simple
to see the parallels in a working environment. 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 communication can also be a sticking point,
as can a lack of clear objectives, says
Young. As a leader the most important 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,
its easy to fall into the trap of think-

ing leadership simply isnt for you, but

leadership skills can without doubt be
learnt, taught and developed, says SkillSofts Young.
He says: Some people naturally
have certain characteristics and traits
that perhaps lend themselves better towards leadership positions,
but there is no doubt whatsoever
that leadership can be taught and
improved. Its important to remember that there is a human aspect that
comes into leadership as well, and its
vital to develop that too.
The riots may have exposed the flaws
of our countrys leaders - but it also
brought out their best. David Camerons 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 important to learn from your mistakes and
build upon past experiences. After all,
the best never stop learning.

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RACONTEUR 05

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

Leading
the riot act
Kevin Young
Managaing Director, SkillSoft emea

As the shockwaves of the London riots 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 grievances were all given as reasons for
the unrest.
No matter what the reason, the London riots served thoroughly to test
the mettle of our countrys 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 questioned 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 recognise 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 economic and global pressures forcing
organisations to do more at a faster
pace with fewer resources. In times
like these, strong, capable leaders are

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Social media can help a business connect to

many different employees at the same time

63%
43%

55%

8%

24%

41%

Source: McKinsey & Company, The rise of the networked enterprise,

Web 2.0 finds its payday. Survey of 4,394 executives. December 2010

77%

Benefits of
social exchange

Improved collaboration across silos

BETTER INFORMATION SHARING
INCREASED REVENUE
INCREASED ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
INCREASED MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
GREATER MARKET SHARE
HIGHER MARGINS

Lifting the barriers

to communication
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

John Lund

BigRuckus has voted 1,980 times

on mystarbucksidea.com, the threeyear-old website that invites comment and suggestions from the coffee giants customers. And thats 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 suggestions and complaints about seating
are a fantastic resource.
This is all about conversation, says
Dr Tazeeb Rajwani, lecturer in strategic management at Cranfield School of
Management. Businesses are continually 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 companies harnessing the power of social
media to improve the bottom line.
Indeed, there are those who believe
social media is fast becoming mandatory 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 success in the 21st century.
But what is social networking?
There are no hard and fast definitions, but anything that invites a
response from a group of individuals 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 sophisticated, 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

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devices into work, and using them.

It is changing organisational
structures, says Rajwani. Companies 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 similar, social way.
But social business is not just for
creative industries, where organisational 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 marketing at Salesforce.com, an enterprise cloud computing company. Its
a convenient and easy way to communicate, and the main driver is context.
Mann agrees. If you look at the
activities taking place on Facebook, 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, youre asking
advice on which supplier to use.
A 2010 report from McKinsey &
Company, a management consultancy, 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 external-facing bit, the connection to the
customer, says Ormazabul. Its 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,

The way people

interact at work is becoming
more sophisticated

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, everyone can see exactly what everyone
else is doing via brief but internally
public comments.
Its about how to drive a more
interactive company culture
becoming a culture of transparency, he says.
For businesses that rely on knowledge sharing or are geographically
diverse, the benefits are obvious.
An internal Wikipedia, where colleagues add to the sum total of the
companys knowledge about different subjects, helps prevent duplication of work. An internal Twitter
can help people converse and collaborate 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 knowledge 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 wouldnt say it at a
party or in the pub, dont say it here.
Most people want to do whats right
for themselves and the organisation.
Companies need to make sure
there is a clear agenda to any social
networking, whether its listening
to the customer or sharing knowledge. That agenda will help decide
which networks, what information
and which people should be involved.
But its not just inside companies
that social media is being used. Many
individuals are turning to these networks 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 oldstyle guilds based on professionalism, individual reputation and
shared job opportunities, he says.
An individuals reputation resides in
the network, not a company.
Like so much in the 21st century
workplace, social networking is constantly evolving, and sometimes it
seems to add to the corporate workload 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.

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

The social workplace

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
Todays employees demand to be
social. They are a generation of Facebook status-updating, Twitterscanning, YouTube-grazing Internet
addicts and they expect to be able
to communicate as easily and quickly 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 isnt on a news feed or
web group, it is likely to fall to the back
of peoples 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 useful 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 internally and externally, can an organisation truly become a Social Enterprise.

Salesforce Chatter, a secure, private

social network for the enterprise, is a
tool being used by thousands of customers, including Saatchi & Saatchi,
Nikon and Santander Consumer
Finance, as well as salesforce.com staff
themselves. Similar to Facebook, Chatter 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 people rapidly collaborate across their company 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 published, but staff also get the opportunity 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.coms worldwide offsite management 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 comments. 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. Traditionally, they would have been lost in the hierarchy and it would have taken time to filter 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 recruitment team also uses social media to
source potential employees who suggest 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. Todays
young, tech-savvy workforce appreciates being able to communicate when
and how they want to.
Almost every one of salesforce.
coms UK staff has a company BlackBerry 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 working environment allows them to feel
invested in and engaged, she says.
As a young, innovative company our
employees want to be able to communicate 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 customers through Facebook and Twitter,
alongside more traditional methods
like telephone and email. This is facilitated 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 making work fun too. Recent events promoted 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 loyalty and a strong culture, which can
only help us to engage and retain our
employees, adds Pointet.

The social workplace in action:

How chatter helped children in Cambodia
Isabel Kelly, International Director,
Salesforce Foundation
Part of being a 21st century workplace
includes having a positive social impact
on the worlds communities who are
most in need . At the Salesforce Foundation, we have been amazed at the
power of social networks to build momentum and impact around staff-initiated philanthropy projects.
This year, teams from the UK, Switzerland and Singapore have been to
Siem Reap, Cambodia to work with
Que Rico, a UK-based NGO that builds
communities in Cambodia (www.voluntaryprojectsoverseas.org).

Stephen Fowler, a Regional Vice

President for field sales, called me from
his holiday in Cambodia last Christmas because hed met Que Rico and
wanted to know how to support them.
In January he set up a group on Chatter and persuaded other employees to
get involved. Word spread across our
internal social network that the children of Siem Reap would really benefit from toys and toothbrushes, and
that the staff needed laptops. Salesforce.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 dedicated Facebook group and updated
his Chatter feed while he was there.
Since then, two other groups have travelled 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 organisation they feel passionate about,
whether its 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 nonprofit 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 employees, who work in different departments on opposite sides of the world,
get the chance to share an experience like this and work together to
create greater social impact. It worked
because they found the project themselves, shared it with the world on
Facebook, YouTube and Chatter and
gave it a life of its own.

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21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Clever
technology
that helps
businesses
flex
Flexibility Forget 9 till 5; in the 21st century

successful businesses need to be far less rigid,

finds Nick Gordon

If theres one word that sums up

the 21st century workplace, its flexibility. And if theres one facilitator
for flexibility, its 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 worklife balance. Back in 2007, a British
Chambers of Commerces survey
found that adopting flexible working improved recruitment and
retention, created greater loyalty
and commitment from employees,
reduced employee stress, reduced
absence and employee turnover, and
enhanced a companys reputation.
Fast-forward to today and it would
seem the Government agrees. Its
recent Modern Workplaces consultation 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.

the ability to work from anywhere,

not just from home.
Cloud computing, is key to
remote working, allowing multiple employees to work on the same
project in real time even though
geographically spread.
British Telecom was one of the
first companies to embrace teleworking, launching its version in
1986; it now has 15,000 homeworkers 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 practice development at the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development. 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.

It involves a move from a

command-and-control style of
management to trust and empowerment
A report by the think-tank Demos,
Reinventing the Workplace, backs
the Governments proposals, arguing 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 working arrangement, and that 83 per
cent of requests for flexible working
are approved. Yet of firms that currently do not offer any form of flexible 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 computing, cheaper telecoms, mobile
telephony these all contribute to

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 whats going on in the
organisation and their team.
That can be done through oneto-one telephone calls and intranet
discussion groups, as well as occasional face to face meetings. Technology 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 network 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 successful at bringing flexibility to the
workplace will find it is one of the
most useful tools in achieving maximum output from staff.

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50%

By 2016 at least

of enterprise email
users will rely primarily
on a browser, tablet or
mobile client instead of
a desktop client

60%
Almost

of employees stated
they currently used
a form of flexible
working

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

BLOWING THE
CLOUDS AWAY
WORKING IN THE CLOUD Youre probably already

using cloud computing, says Nick Gordon. But

could you be using it even more effectively?

83%
of requests
for flexible
working are
approved

The tablet market

will grow from
next to zero in 2009

320million
units
sold in 2015

sales of
smartphones
will rise to

645million
in 2012

60%
ALMOST

staff access
social networks
at work,
either via their
computer or
smartphone

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 little 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 revolution that is cloud, which is essentially 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 companys server has been
transferred to a cloud service provider (such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce.com, Rackspace or Virgin Media Business),
employees with web access, irrespective of their location, are a
mere password away from accessing data and apps remotely.
Andy Perrin, senior product manager, 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.
Its 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-yougo, 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 consumption 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 chairman, says: The marketing of
the industry has been primarily
focusing on the cost savings, [but]
research proves that initial adoption is usually driven by non-financial activity. The organisation values
the flexible attributes of a cloud service over on-premise solutions.
But two issues demand scrutiny:
security and outages. In September, Microsofts online systems were
affected by a two-and-a-half hour
service failure, while Googles Google
Docs also had an involuntary timeout. Amazons EC2 had failures in
April and August.
In November, the Ponemon Institute, which researches data security,
surveyed 1,000 IT security practitioners and enterprise compliance
officers. One third of the former
group believes cloud is as secure as
on-premise solutions, while the latter 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 manage staff differently with employees no longer based in an office but
potentially around the globe, different 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
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21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Who will
manage the
managers?
Training Claire Manuel explores how

technology can help improve management

skills and why its not the whole story

tives and effective communication.

People development doesnt 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 technological 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 management training guides available
digitally and applications that emulate business scenarios. Online management courses abound, as well as
online knowledge bases with answers
to many management queries or references to solutions others have tried.
There are even management games
where one can pit ones management

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. Anyone who has ever been an employee
will know at least one individual
who was good at their job, got promoted and then found themselves
disastrously ill-equipped to manage others.
A recent survey by the Chartered
Management Institute (CMI) suggests 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 managers. The worst management practices responsible for time lost include
unclear communication, lack of support, 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-

When the right

technology is found, it can
improve productivity

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THE SURGERY

Proper
management
training will filter
down through
the company

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. Smartphones, laptops and tablets are part
of the workers 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 networking 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 productive rather than a distraction.
The economic downturn means
that accurate business intelligence
is a highly prized commodity, as

companies strive to better understand their customers, make better

decisions and achieve a leaner operation. Accurate data is key and business analytics, which involves the
use of data, statistical analysis and
predictive modelling to drive decision making, can also be an effective
tool for the manager.
Todays 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 multiple ways, often as dashboards, visual
graphs and spreadsheets. This provides ideal media for digital distribution, 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 benchmark their performance against similar players in the marketplace. When
tied with business analytics, these
become invaluable tools for todays
management, says Poulos.

Locating the most suitable tools

can take time, which is hardly ideal
when looking to improve performance. Finding the right technology 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 decision-making.
Ultimately, technology is only a
tool to assist and evaluate the individual. Traditional management disciplines 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 combination of traditional training and
todays technology that will make a
real difference.

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Intrepreneurship
harnesses passion
Empowerment Management must step back and give employees

freedom to act within an overall vision, says Rod Newing

Sean Justice

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 overall vision, which endures through
the constant changes. It empowers
staff, constantly experiments, tolerates errors and regularly re-organises 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 todays
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 exhortations 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 organisations 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 havent yet worked out

helps them to get a solid start. Employees are expected to select several 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 mentors. Mentoring is a little like dating,
you need to have a chemistry between individuals, based on shared
passions, so there is a spark.
Mentoring extends beyond the
working life. In one example, an em-

more likely to
be creative if
encouraged to find
their own way

Key to success is
encouraging [staff] to
spot opportunities

Grow the employee, grow the company

As a service organisation, it is essential that Accenture helps its staff
to maximize their ability to satisfy its clients. One of its tools is a series of formal and informal mentoring programmes to support them in
all aspects of their lives.
Every employee is assigned a career 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 companys human capital and diversity lead for UK
and Ireland.
New employees are encouraged
to select their own peer buddy
to explain the culture, the unwritten rules and the way things work. It

Employees are

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 seeing 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.

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 isnt successful they
wont be blamed.
Creating an intrepreneurial culture 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 simply 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 planning recast; new processes installed
to drive staged investment in taking ideas to fruition; and a new talent management procedure, from
recruitment to matching talent
to where key decisions are made.
Innovation doesnt come from an
exceptional leader waving a magic
wand, he says.
Whereas traditional organisations have a suggestion scheme
that rewards staff, an agile company
encourages intrepreneurship by
letting them implement their ideas
themselves. At global services company Ricoh, ideas from individuals 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 training schemes to help staff recognise internal opportunities, says
Rebekah Wallis, the companys
human resources director. It provides a platform for them to further
develop their entrepreneurial skills
and helps with staff retention.
Professor Vlatka Hlupic of Westminster Business School says that selforganisation 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 overall vision isnt 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 pursue things that may not result in any
commercial benefit.
Another problem is if key intrepreneurs who are hard to replace
want to flex their newfound entrepreneurial 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 company, he says.
In todays tough marketplace,
organisations can only get an edge
through innovative and creative staff
who can find new ways to work with
customers. Developing an entrepreneurial culture is vital not just for
profitability, but survival.

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RACONTEUR 11

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Improving morale Tim Smedley finds out what

workers would really like from the office Secret Santa

Noun Project

1. Recognition
and Respect

Recognition can be as literal as

the CEO knowing you by name or
simply having your work acknowledged. Employee of the month
schemes and annual award ceremonies are helpful but not sufficient
says Mike Emmott, CIPD Adviser
Employee Relations. Praise is good
but not essential, whereas recognition is its your line manager
being aware of what you are doing
from day-to-day and acknowledging targets achieved, tasks accomplished. Similarly Tom OByrne,
CEO at consultancy Great Place

12 RACONTEUR

to Work argues: What workers

really want is being treated and valued as a person. Just small touches
such as a personal thanks from the
boss... mean more job satisfaction.

Noun Project

Many myths surround what

workers want, the main one being
that its just higher salary and
bonuses. While employees want
to feel sufficiently financially
rewarded, simply increasing pay
doesnt necessarily increase happiness. And in times of economic
stagnation, that option isnt
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 workers companies need to make their
working lives better. So just what
is the 21st Century workforce asking for this Christmas?

2. To work for
an organisation
they value

If 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 company resembles Ricky Gervais fictional 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 coffers of the shareholders. They want
to feel their company makes a positive 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.

7. A healthy workplace

3. A clear job description

It 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 dont know the
real purpose of their job.

5. Time off and

more holidays

This 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 position 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.

As working hours rise along with

obesity levels, people are increasingly health conscious and a
healthy workplace makes healthy
living far easier. Cavanagh points
out that in many of the best companies, employees are provided with
free fruit and more companies are
offering free healthy breakfasts.
This makes people feel their company 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 promotion

4. Flexible working

This doesnt mean time off and more

holidays. Cavanagh explains, traditional 9-til-5 working is losing favour
with the majority of employees.

Workers need to feel they are going

somewhere and a clear career progression
plan is integral to this

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time, so allowing employees the

flexibility to choose the benefits
that best fit their circumstances
will certainly help. Make sure
theres enough choice to keep a
variety of employees happy.

Noun Project

The workers wish list

Whether its commuting pressures,

the school run, or simply natural preference, employees want some flexibility around their working hours. Flexitime, time off in lieu, and the option to
work from home can all help. Some
companies such as Cisco Systems
dont have set working hours at
all, measuring employees on output
rather than how many minutes after
9am they get to their desk.

6. Flexible benefits

Where companies offer benefits such as travel cards and gym

membership, a one-size-fits-all
approach doesnt work for the 21st
Century worker. When it comes to
benefits, flexibility is the key here
too, says Cavanagh. Its impossible to please all the people all the

OK, 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 difficult markets, but a halt in career
progression cannot. As there is
less movement between companies, employees are looking to see
where they can go within their current companies, says Cavanagh.
Companies that offer better development opportunities have the more
engaged employees.

GENDER DIVERSITY

Source: McKinsey and Companys study Women matter

48%

higher operating result

than the average for
their sector

64%

89 EUropean companies
with highest level of
gender diversity in top
management

Stock price growth

compared to an
average of 47 per cent

MIX IT UP FOR
THE BEST RESULT
Diversity Far from being a muddle, diversity plays

a key role in corporate success, says Debbie Lovewell

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 personalities and cultures can make a big difference to your business performance.
It is about [having] greater access
to different perspectives and sources
of information, better understanding
of customer needs, and better communication 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 membership 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 McKinsey and Companys 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, meanwhile, research by the Centre for
Performance-led HR at Lancaster
University Management School
showed customer satisfaction levels 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

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21ST CENTURY WORKplace

psychology consultancy, says: People

often make the mistake of assuming 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 starting point is usually the visible; employers 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 information on these. This data can then be
analysed to identify an organisations
current diversity levels and where any
gaps may exist, with a view to finding
out the reasons behind the companys
workforce profile.
Dianah Worman, adviser, diversity
at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development , says: Is
it the way [the business] is recruiting 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
organisations] behalf, what is the
recruitment process like and so on.
Organisations should also look at
diversity in relation to how employees are rewarded, which groups
receive access to training, staff retention 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 personal identity, adds Worman.
Online diversity training can help
to boost understanding of the issue.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC),
uses a programme to improve understanding 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 differences in perspectives and opinions. 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 todays
seriously competitive marketplace,
[businesses] look for every way of
getting an insight into being creative
and innovative in order to reengineer themselves, keep things fresh
and keep ahead. Thats exactly what
this is about, concludes Worman.

Having different personalities

is one of the biggest contributors
to increased innovation

Social media policies:

Can your business
afford to be without one?
Use of social media has rocketed in
recent years, with an inevitable impact on the workplace. Employers
attitudes to it vary: some impose a
strict ban on the use of social media
at work, while others actively encourage it as part of a new way of working.
Whatever their approach, employers need to understand the potential
impact of worker use of the likes of
Facebook and Twitter on their business, 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 defamatory commentary about clients or
competitors in employee-penned
social media posts, to vicarious liability for discriminatory comments
about colleagues.
But the potential consequence that
can be most difficult and expensive to
rectify is the damage to the organisations reputation or brand that is likely
to result from a disgruntled employees
online comments.

The private easily

becomes public
Of course, employees have always
moaned about work and their employer over a pint in the pub. But if
equivalent comments are posted
on Facebook, they have the potential to reach a much wider audience,
with a corresponding dramatic increase in the potential for damage.
And once something is out there
on social media, it is virtually impossible to contain.

As there is no recognised etiquette

for the personal use of social media in
connection with employment, employers need to be proactive in setting their
own standards.

Prevention is better
than cure
A well-drafted social media policy
can be used to educate the workforce 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 understanding about the possible consequences of their actions.

The power to take action

Having a social media policy also
empowers employers to take action
where necessary. Where they fail to
set out social media guidelines, imposing disciplinary sanctions for what
they view as inappropriate use is likely to result in problems.
At the very least, lack of a clear policy
could result in inconsistencies in treatment, 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 individuals
attention, the employer is likely to face
an uphill battle to convince the tribunal 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.

Download the free XpertHR model policy on the use of social

media today at www.xperthr.co.uk/socialmediapolicy

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RACONTEUR 13

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Laura Whyte: conscious of the need

to challenge herself and her team

Building the
future on the past
credit

Interview The John Lewis Partnerships values are as

relevant today as they were 80 years ago, finds Jo Faragher

14 RACONTEUR

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Ask Laura Whyte, personnel director at John Lewis, what

makes her employees tick, and
she describes it very succinctly. If
you start with an engaged partner,
theyll deliver a great customer service, 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 engagement 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 company 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 markets 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 customer service and our leaders, but
our cultural DNA hasnt 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 professor Lynda Gratton on her Future
of Work programme suggests the
retailer is working to future-proof
its brand as an employer. Researchers from Grattons Hot Spots Movement 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 Im very conscious of the
need to challenge myself and my
team to make sure we dont do that,
says Whyte.
Low staff turnover compared with
the rest of the sector means it is easier to justify investments in training and developing staff, she adds. I
dont 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 longevity of service is decreasing in terms

of social trends, for us its a key part
of our proposition.
Investing in leadership, in particular, 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 Horizons, offers a formal route for someone 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 learning something Whyte took advantage 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 retirement 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 theyd say
the people they work with and the
leaders they work for. Ask them the
first Thursday in March though, and
theyd probably say their bonus.

The retailer is working to

future-proof its brand as an employer

21ST CENTURY WORKplace

Changing with
the changing times
Change management Nick Martindale finds out how companies

can best deal with a constantly evolving business landscape

DIAMOND SKY IMAGES

The trials and tribulations of

the last four years have led many
organisations to re-evaluate both
their business strategy and operating model.
Whether downsizing to reduce bottom-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. Projects often die because employees
arent trained to understand how the
change will impact them and affect
their daily role, says Tony Maurice,

a partner in Deloittes change management practice.

For a change management programme to be successful, the leadership team needs to demonstrate the
benefits of the change by leading their
people, gaining their trust and engaging them in the process from day one.
If people dont understand their role
in the process, they wont take part.
For many companies, the emphasis is on keeping headcount low,
meaning change management programmes have often been accompanied 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, executive director at Moorhouse Consulting. This includes the need to differentiate 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 components 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 business strategy, and then contrast that

against the likely future shape of the

business, taking into account anticipated requirements and both retention 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 valueadding work and to make sure the
skills are not lost to the core business,

Take care to
ensure skills are
not lost to the
business

The leadership team

needs to demonstrate the
benefits of change

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he says. For the employee, there is a

danger of being trapped in commoditised work that has been outsourced,
such as in call centres, with limited
career development prospects.
Susy Roberts, director at Hunter
Roberts, a change management consultancy, 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 opportunities, more development and more
status, she says. If youre working
within a small internal team in HR
or payroll in a large organisation,
you might feel detached and uninvolved. 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 networking technologies is also helping
both organisations and outsourced
providers operate more efficiently.
This is something with which the
millennial generation is entirely comfortable, 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 ecosystem invigorates employees and
makes businesses stronger.

RACONTEUR 15