Hager UK
The company was keen to take advantage of the ‘stretch’ offered by Profile. In particular HR Director, Karen Overmass, valued the way that Profile offered an in-depth, objective assessment
“It’s important that you decide what you want from Profile and take ownership of the process yourself.”
Karen Overmass, Human Resources Director, Hager UK Ltd
The Business
• Manufacturing
• 300 people
Hager is a German-owned manufacturer of low-voltage electrical distribution equipment. With operations across western Europe as well as in China and South America it employs more than 8,000 people worldwide. The company has been established in the UK for the past twenty years with local management having extensive autonomy in running this operation.
Around 300 people work in Hager’s manufacturing plant in Telford, Shropshire while a team of about 70 sales staff operate regionally. People are employed at both managerial/professional level and NVQ levels 2 (general production) and 4/5 (for technical roles).
The company has been a recognised Investor in People since 1995. The UK company has also been instrumental in introducing the Standard to the Hager Group worldwide.
The Background
• Globalisation
• Low cost competitors
Globalisation has meant that Hager, in common with many other manufacturing businesses, now faces a real challenge from low-cost competitors, especially in the Far East. In response to this it has outsourced some of its commodity product manufacture to Asia, while retaining a solid manufacturing base in the UK. This process has led, inevitably, to a restructuring within the business. The company makes use of the ‘balanced scorecard’ approach for its annual business planning. Against this background, the human resources team was keen to get a sense of how the company was performing on a range of ‘people issues’ in order to focus on the most important priorities as the company adjusted to its new shape.
Approaching Profile
With the next Standard assessment approaching it was felt that Profile could contribute directly to the wider human resource strategy currently being implemented. Having been recognised as an Investor in People for a decade the company was keen to take advantage of the ‘stretch’ offered by Profile. In particular Human Resources Director, Karen Overmass, valued the way that Profile would offer an in-depth, objective assessment of the company at this important time.
Having familiarised herself with Profile she was clear that some indicators were much more significant than others to the current business context of Hager UK. As a result it was not the target to simply achieve the highest possible level against all evidence requirements. In this sense Profile would be used as a genuine business diagnostic tool to identify performance as a basis for future planning.
Working with Profile
It was important for Hager that their previous Standard Assessor who, by now, knew the company well and whose experience was well respected should conduct the Profile assessment. This was agreed with the Quality Centre.
In the run-up to the assessment an Investor in People steering group was set up consisting of managers from across the organisation. A gap analysis was undertaken against Profile to get a sense internally of how the company’s performance was likely to stack up. Before the assessment commenced the results of the gap analysis were shared with the whole management team and a full briefing given on what the Profile assessment would involve. During a preliminary half-day planning meeting the Assessor discussed the mechanics of the Profile assessment and stressed the importance to the company of strong management involvement. Arising out of this the assessment was rescheduled to ensure that all the key managers would be available.
The assessment itself took three days during which time extensive interviews and discussions were held with management as well as a cross-section of the workforce. The interviews were more detailed than for a Standard assessment but because people understood this in advance sufficient time was allocated. No special paperwork had to be prepared although, of course, records and documents were examined.
Feedback and results
At the end of the assessment the Assessor met with the company’s Investors in People steering group and the management team to provide immediate feedback and an indication of the level that had been achieved. The results were pleasing with scores significantly higher in some areas than anticipated. Much more detail then followed in the written report, which came a couple of weeks later. This described the Assessors’ findings very thoroughly and was especially helpful, for example, on issues of succession and career planning and corporate social responsibility. Also, the Assessor provided valuable suggestions about steps to be taken in areas for improvement. "The added value came in the recommendations for what we might do when going forward", said Karen Overmass.
The Profile results have been added into the ‘balanced scorecard’ process and are now helping to shape the company’s future development activities.