Q&A WITH IAN MUIR, VP GROUP HR POLICY, CABLE & WIRELESS
Cable & Wireless is a leading international telecommunications company, with customers in 80 countries.
It provides IP, voice and data services to business customers, and to residential customers in some markets, as well as services to other telecoms carriers, mobile operators and providers of content, applications and internet services.
Ian Muir is VP, Group HR Policy at Cable & Wireless plc. He is a fellow of the CIPD and an alumnus of Bath University and INSEAD.
He joined Mercury Communications at the end of 1988. On the formation of Cable & Wireless Communications in 1997 he was Head of HR Operations and then HR Director of the UK business before the consumer division was sold to NTL in mid 2000.
In his current role he provides employment policy, remuneration, international assignment and employee relations guidance to group companies.
We caught up with Ian to see what C&W are doing to ensure that HR extends into all areas of the business and is not seen merely as an adjunct to the business.
How have C&W responded to the new market structure?
We've gone through the same pain as many other organisations and have experienced a huge reduction in headcount. At our peak our headcount was 55000. In the last 12 months we have had a reduction of 7000 to give us a global headcount of 16000.
Our focus has been to reduce costs and make them as variable and scalable as possible, whilst changing our processes and becoming more agile and customer focused.
We've 'refreshed' our management team. These changes have been fundamental to invigorate the company and make it feel new. There is a renewed sense of excitement and interest in where the company is going.
What's your focus now?
Our focus now is to ensure that we have a 'competent high energy' organisation which will deliver our goal of becoming the best telecoms provider in each of the countries that we operate.
What is a 'competent high energy' organisation?
It's one where we have a high capability in the skills that we need, which includes the transition from voice to IP skills.
We need clear processes that are customer driven, measurable, and an organisational structure with very clear accountability.
This leads to a high performance structure where there is openness, decision taking, accountability and trust.
We aim to reward people appropriately, whether it is a highly leveraged sales compensation plan or an employee bonus plan. We are very serious about differentiation and must ensure that excellence is rewarded, with no rewards for non-performance.
How do you intend to achieve this?
This year we are putting in place a new performance management system which will be launched by our CEO, which highlights the fact that it is essential to the company, and is not just a bolt-on.
It starts with educating our managers on how to set objectives. It's imperative that people know what is expected of them.
Many companies have been moving so fast that they didn't nail down what the employee was required to deliver. We are going to nail it down.
We will have regular contact with employees to monitor their performance and will not restrict this to just two formal performance appraisals each year.
How will the performance system differentiate between employees?
Many companies have appraisal systems with an odd number of ratings eg 1-5. This, of course, enables managers to sit on the fence. I think the more progressive companies are now considering an even number of ratings eg 1-4 or 1-6 whereby the decision has to be made whether the employee is above or below the mid point - there is no sitting on the fence. This causes managers and employees to get serious about performance and have a higher quality of discussion leading to a more informed conclusion.
There is flexibility in our appraisal system to take into account whether the performance delivered has been in fair wind or foul.
At the senior manager level the process is even more rigorous, and looks at what we call their 'Personal Contribution Factor' when considering bonuses ie. When the person achieved, were the behaviours in line with the required leadership behaviours?
The Personal Contribution Factor also avoids rewarding people when they have delivered their financial targets in a less than ethical manner.
Our aim is for the performance system to deliver a normal distribution curve of performance ratings which is valid and reconciles with the performance of the business.
What other tools does HR use to ensure that it has a real impact on the business?
We're putting in place an HR Scorecard which requires every business unit to submit data which covers a range of people-related scores and metrics.
It includes the results of our independently managed and wholly confidential, web-based employee attitude survey which we call "Voice of the Employee".
This is then presented each month by the Business Head at the operational review, thereby ensuring a focus on what HR issues are essential to growing a better business.
Have these initiatives had an impact on the culture of the organisation?
They have helped individuals to become more self-sufficient with greater levels of self-service. People are now more web savvy and look up HR policies and processes, and management and decision support tools on our sophisticated Intranet system.
On-line learning has now largely substituted instructor-led learning.
We are now seeing the coming together of the e-pieces of the e-jigsaw which includes e-expenses, e-procurement, e-HR and our Intranet to create a new picture.
Our aim is to have a common set of HR processes across the world.
The role of HR and, indeed, everyone at the company is to multiply productivity by their impact on other people.
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