HR strategy forum (5): avoiding trade union recognition claims in a 'command and control' culture
Personnel Today’s panel of experts offer practical guidance on how to avoid trade union recognition claims in a 'command and control' culture.
Command and control culture
A call centre employing 500 people has been in operation for five years, but forms only one division of a financial services business. It offers a 24/7 service to customers and has managed to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.
It has an annual employee turnover of 45 per cent and has difficulty recruiting the right calibre of staff. It is situated in an area of low unemployment and faces increasing competition for the pool of available labour. It offers reasonably attractive salaries for a call centre and its terms and conditions are quite generous, when compared to its competitors.
However, there are some serious issues around management style and a culture that is more command and control than empowering. The business environment is becoming more competitive, putting increasing strains on senior management. This strain is being transmitted down through the very minimal layers of management and supervision and is resulting in disgruntled employees seeking the support of a union. However, the company does not currently recognise the union.
There is a shift system in operation and many are employed on part-time and quite flexible contracts. There is a large number of graduates and young mothers and the age profile is low.
You are the new HR director. The managing director, who was not happy with the way HR was dealing with the likely encroachment of the union, squeezed the previous incumbent out.
What are your priorities in your new role?
Solution 1
By Ralph Tribe, vice-president of HR, Getty Images
Step 1 Although the MD's reaction to the possibility of trade union recognition is important, attempting to 'fight' the union is almost certainly the wrong thing to do if your ultimate intention is to avoid a recognition claim. You need to mobilise the MD and senior team in devising an HR strategy that addresses the employment issues and work environment that are causing the workforce to seek the support of an external body in preference to the management team.
Step 2 So forget the trade union, and get the management team focused on the rather more important issue of how much money you are losing by being at best, an average employer. How much could the business make if it became the best employer in the region? Concentrate on the costs associated with turnover, retraining and low productivity. Identify the revenue and productivity gains associated with high workforce loyalty, engagement and commitment.
Step 3 Having secured the senior team's commitment to improving your organisation's employment proposition and brand, you need to start talking to staff quickly. Avoid falling into the trap of corporately defining what the organisation's new, compelling employment proposition will be from a 'top down' perspective. The employees need to define it - your role is to provide a method or tool that allows the organisation to capture and prioritise its feedback.
Step 4 Having done so, you need to lead the process of building a plan that quickly delivers improvements in the four to six areas the workforce has defined as being most important. If your objective is to differentiate yourself from other employers in the region among a young workforce, you must keep the plan simple and obvious, as they are likely to have little basis for subtle comparisons.
Step 5 If empowerment (or the lack of) comes up as an action item, a quick win with obvious bottom-line benefits might be to engage staff in identifying opportunities for simple cross-selling or outbound selling in the call centre environment.An improved sales model offers the opportunity for more challenging and interesting work as well as improved, affordable financial rewards for employees in the form of sales incentives.
Solution 2
By Paul Kearns, director, PWL
The solution offered here is based on an assumption that you have carried out your own analysis of problems facing the business. Like most call centres, this is still a relatively young business and, as such, has had little or no strategic HR input.
Step 1 The first task is to bring the board up to speed from a strategic HR perspective. This will include taking a longer-term view, so that some of the underlying management issues (that is, management style) can be addressed. You should also link whatever you plan to do directly to business performance indicators. Any HR strategy should be able to articulate how it will impact on costs, efficiency and customer satisfaction in the medium to long-term. This is crucial for board commitment and buy-in.
Step 2 The priority will then be to get an agreement from board members that the union is not a welcome development. You must add, though, that the union, per se, is not the real issue but a symptom of it. The real issue surrounds loss of trust and motivation in the workforce, which is having a damaging effect on the business as a whole. HR strategy is always about dealing with root causes. Terms and conditions are already at an acceptable market level, so the underlying issue will not be related to pay or conditions. Nevertheless, these may well become issues if employees achieve union recognition.
Step 3 Once the board is behind you in principle, you need to identify the key strategic steps. This might include identifying sections where there are serious cases of employee disengagement. These should be identifiable through inefficiencies or deteriorating levels of service, absenteeism or higher turnover. A big strategic question is: do the managers who helped set the business up have the right skills for managing in a much tighter competitive environment?
Step 4 One advantage you have as the new HR director is that you could address a meeting of all employees to give your personal commitment and that of the board to trying to resolve their problems. This may buy you some time so that the big question of union recognition can be delayed long enough for you to be able to put your strategy into effect.
How the forum works
Duncan Brown, Assistant director general, CIPD
