Background
Gateway Engineering Limited has been in business for 47 years. The company was founded and managed by and his family until earlier this year when it was acquired by a multi-national company.
The new Directors have appointed a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and have emphasized that they require the organisation to move towards a “customer focus” and over the next year, demonstrate to the parent organisation that they are embracing the idea of “Valuing Diversity”. (This is because the UK Government has let it be known that all public sector organisations should only sub-contract with organisations that can demonstrate “diversity in employment”.) The organisation has also managed to win a substantial new contract that will mean around 850 new jobs over the next two years (providing they can deliver the level of customer service they have promised!)
The organisation has a turnover of £40 million and currently employs around 1400 staff in 4 different Divisions at different locations in the North East of England, providing management services to both businesses and the general public.
Fifteen years ago the company employed 3,500 people. It had developed special techniques and management systems that made it an attractive contractor to many companies who were looking to “contract out” parts of their own businesses. These customers were not confined to the engineering and construction industries, and the organisation was proud of their “broad customer base”.
As operating costs rose, and IT systems developed, these business customers began to dwindle, and in an attempt to limit the number of redundancies, the company started offering some of its services to the general public. These services include the contract purchase of telecommunications time, gas, electricity and oil, which are sold on to the public at a premium. However, in spite of many “restructuring exercises”, it has continued to shed staff and has never really been very profitable. In recent years the company has seen its staff turnover rise and increased difficulty in attracting new employees.
Each Division has its own way of tackling its own Human Resource issues and negotiating pay and operating systems with their own staff.
The CEO visited each location soon after appointment and made the following observations on each Division:
Operations (950 staff)
This is the traditional heart of the organisation. Employees are divided into “project teams” of various sizes, depending upon the particular service they are providing, and the particular customer group. Groups can earn team bonus if their service is profitable, and managers are responsible for the distribution of the bonus amongst team members.
The groups are set up on the basis that when a new “project” is required, the Divisional General Manager appoints a project manager (internally) who recruits their own “project team”, either from other project teams, or from outside. There is no formal induction and new staff appear to learn “on the job”.
Most managers are male, and most of the teams are single gender (mostly male, with very few people from ethnic minorities). Teams appear to work independently and there is a strong spirit of competition between all the teams, with lots of good humoured “backchat” evident.
Support Services (69 staff)
This covers areas such as Finance and Accounts, Estates Management (Maintenance, Security, Porters and Catering), Internal IT support and Personnel Services.
The Finance Manager is responsible for the whole Division. He has 4 Heads of Department, each providing appropriate administrative support to the rest of the organisation.
The Finance Manager believes in ensuring that his staff are suitably qualified for their work. They are either recruited with the “right” qualification (ranging from Professional Qualifications e.g. ACCA, CIPD, through to NVQs in Security, Catering etc) or they are required to attend suitable courses to gain a qualification. All staff are encouraged to continue their education and will be supported by the company to part-time degree courses in areas such as Management or Information Technology.
However, it seems to take a long time to get things done, and things are only done when “the paperwork is correct”. This means that most things have to have the permission of a manager.
Information Technology Services (350 staff)
This is the “star” Division. It is profitable, providing information and “Help Desk” services to a wide range of customers.
It appears to have an informal atmosphere and people obviously talk to colleagues outside their own team. They are able to respond quickly to requests for new services from customers, (these usually come through sales representatives) or the staff themselves have ideas for improving services. Team leaders encourage staff to keep up to date on new IT applications, both through attendance on courses and through finding information on the Internet. The IT Manger also encourages weekly team briefings and regularly meets his staff for one to one progress meetings.
Staff turnover lower than average for IT in this area, although still quite high. Recruitment is formal, managers etc, but there is always a good response when it becomes known that Gateway are looking for IT staff.
Marketing & Sales (23 staff)
The Marketing Manager says he “knows when staff are any good” and can “spot good job candidates as soon as they walk through the door”. He feels there will be no problem in getting the right staff into the right positions to ensure that customer needs are met in the future. Like all other divisions, the Marketing Manager uses interviews as the sole method of selecting new staff, although is increasingly finding it difficult to attract candidates to the business and feels the quality of candidates replying to advertisements in the local press are poor.
Managers in the Division normally agree the details of any new contract or amendment to a contract before it is implemented, as “sales staff are not really experienced enough to understand all the loopholes that could occur in a contract”
DATA TABLES
Total Staff
Operations
Support Services
IT Services
Marketing & Sales
Total
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Divisional Managers
4
4
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
Senior Managers
16
12
4
4
0
2
2
4
1
2
1
Managers
72
49
23
28
7
3
5
15
10
3
1
Staff
1300
999
301
797
113
20
36
180
139
2
13
Totals
1392
950
69
350
23
Ethnicity
Staff with acknowledged disability
Ave employees
Staff Turnover Annual Index
White
Minority ethnic
2000 -2004
2004
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
Organisation Total
1047
322
17
6
9
1061
338
5.37%
18.64%
Operations
826
120
4
0
2
835
140
4.78%
13.31%
Support Services
23
41
3
2
2
26
41
19.20%
12.20%
IT Services
190
148
10
2
5
193
143
6.22%
6.99%
Marketing & Sales
8
14
0
1
0
7
14
0
21.42%
Regional Minority Ethnic population = 5.36%
Training budget spend (£000)
2004
2002
2000
Organisation Total
120
95
87
Operations
7
16
22
Support Services
12
10
9
IT Services
95
63
50
Marketing & Sales
6
6
6
Organisation Age Profile
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Divisional Managers
M
0
0
1
0
3
F
0
0
0
0
0
Senior Managers
M
0
2
5
1
4
F
0
0
3
1
0
Managers
M
3
15
11
13
7
F
2
5
10
5
1
Staff
M
352
303
137
166
41
F
118
45
77
58
3
Age Profile (Operations)
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Divisional Managers
M
0
0
0
0
1
F
0
0
0
0
0
Senior Managers
M
0
0
1
0
3
F
0
0
0
0
0
Managers
M
1
3
7
12
5
F
0
0
3
4
0
Staff
M
303
216
102
144
32
F
33
12
21
45
2
Age Profile (IT Services)
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Divisional Managers
M
0
0
1
0
0
F
0
0
0
0
0
Senior Managers
M
0
2
2
0
0
F
0
0
1
0
0
Managers
M
2
10
2
1
0
F
2
2
5
0
1
Staff
M
49
86
34
10
1
F
56
25
48
10
0
Age Profile (Support Services)
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Divisional Managers
M
0
0
0
0
1
F
0
0
0
0
0
Senior Managers
M
0
0
1
0
1
F
0
0
1
1
0
Managers
M
0
0
1
0
2
F
0
2
2
1
0
Staff
M
0
1
1
10
8
F
21
6
5
3
1
Age Profile (Marketing & Sales)
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Divisional Managers
M
0
0
0
0
1
F
0
0
0
0
0
Senior Managers
M
0
0
1
1
0
F
0
0
1
0
0
Managers
M
0
2
1
0
0
F
0
1
0
0
0
Staff
M
0
0
0
2
0
F
8
2
3
0
0
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