Shortlisted teams for the Microsoft
Great Plains Award for Excellence in HR Through Technology
This
award is aimed at HR teams who have seized the opportunities offered by
software and Internet solutions to deliver tangible benefits to their
organisations. The judge will look for
evidence of technology’s full impact in meeting strategic objectives
Lloyds
TSB
Centre for Career Management
What
the team did
Lloyds
TSB launched its Centre for Career Management in February 2000 to provide all
employees with information and guidance on their careers with the company. It
includes a website on the corporate intranet and the University for Learning
TSB website, which has a range of careers information and self-assessment
tools. The centre also provides advice on careers and learning opportunities
through the HR call centre and gives access to coaches who offer careers advice
on a one-to-one basis.
Rob
Briggs, senior manager of the Centre for Career Management, says the intranet
plays a fundamental role in employees’ career development. It gives staff
information on vacancies in the various business units in the group and
incorporates learning maps that outline the knowledge, skills and competencies
required for each role.
Why
they did it
A
staff survey showed in 1999 that 65 per cent of employees were unhappy with the
information available to them to help them manage their careers in Lloyds TSB
and 75 per cent were dissatisfied with career opportunities within the group.
"Over the last 10 years the organisation had been telling its employees it
was their responsibility to manage their careers but there was no constructive
support to enable them to do that. There was a perception that there was a lack
of career opportunities but in reality there were more since the merger than
ever before," says Briggs.
Benefits
and achievements
The
Centre for Career Management is available to all Lloyds TSB’s 60,000 employees
and is one of the most visited sites on the corporate intranet with more than
200,000 hits since it was launched. The centre has been responsible for a
25-point increase in satisfaction among employees with career development
opportunities at Lloyds TSB, according to staff attitude surveys. The centre
has helped reduce turnover rates of employees with less than one year’s
service, increase the proportion of women in senior management from 11.7 per
cent to 14.4 per cent and boost the proportion of ethnic minorities in senior
management from 0.7 per cent to 1 per cent.
The
team
Number
in team 4
Staff responsible for 1,100 in HR department, 60,000
employees nationally
Senior manager, Centre for Career Management Rob Briggs
Career management consultant Sheila Booth
Career management consultant Angie Charles
Head of career management Jacey Graham
Career management consultant Geoff Palin
ICL
Delivering Through e-HR
What
the team did
IT
solutions company ICL has developed its intranet to enable employees to benefit
from e-learning, allow them to adjust their HR records and make choices on benefits.
One of the most important sites on the intranet is the Learning Gateway, a
database with more than 5,000 learning options incorporating online, CD Rom,
classroom courses, books and videos. In addition there is a community homepage
which links to a range of material including management development, personal
profiling and online libraries.
ICL
has also developed a Personal Choices site, which enables employees to choose
their benefits online. The site also allows ICL employees to organise travel services
and health club membership at preferential rates. ICL’s most recent e-HR
development is its Self-Service portal, which enables employees to view and
make adjustments to their HR records, including updating personal information
and ordering equipment such as IT software and mobile phones. Group employment
manager Deirdre Murphy expects 35 per cent of ICL’s employees to be mobile
workers by 2002 and she says the intranet would enable all staff to access
information and e-learning so they can work effectively either from home or
remotely.
Why
they did it
ICL
believes that in order to compete effectively it needs to allow its employees
to make full use of the opportunities technology affords. "It was part of
our e-ICL programme. We provided a portal for our suppliers and customers. We
used that same philosophy in terms of our employees," Murphy explains.
"We are in e-business and we want to make sure we reflect that in the way
we operate as company."
Benefits
and achievements
Intranet
developments have allowed ICL to improve the efficiency of administration and
allows the HR function to concentrate on supporting managers and employees to
meet the needs of the business and employees. "Our employees like the fact
they can access information directly as well as the ease of use. It has
provided costs savings as well as benefits in terms of speed. Streamlining the
business has proved a major benefit," Murphy adds.
The
team
Number
in team 180 in department
Staff responsible for 11,000 nationally
International communications manager Vanessa Brewer
People development coordinator Carole Houghton
Team administrator Daljeet Pall
International communications assistant Robert Stephenson
Group employment manager Deirdre Murphy
Britannic
Money
Maximising Workforce Engagement
What
the team did
Britannic
Money has worked with Ceridian HR to introduce an e-HR system that is cost and
time effective, requires minimum in-house IT support and reduces the
administrative burden on HR and payroll. The new system has helped the Britannic
Money HR team and managers slash the amount of time spent on recruitment and
flexible benefits administration as well as monitor staff training.
HR
director Anne Ridge explains, "We have streamlined our recruitment process
significantly. We can turn things around much more quickly for our applicants
and save time for our staff."
Ridge
says the system enables Britannic Money to improve the way it administers its
flexible benefits package, reducing both administration time and cost. It
allows HR administrators and payroll staff to change staff benefits on-line,
such as family private health insurance, travel insurance, retail vouchers and
pensions. Line managers and employees will soon be able to benefit from a
self-service facility on the intranet, which will allow them to input absence
and overtime data, amend personal details and book training courses.
Why
they did it
As
well as the obvious business benefits provided by the new e-HR approach, Ridge
says it also frees up the HR team to add value to the company. "It has
helped our HR people to add value to their own careers and the business rather
than spending time inputting information," she says.
Benefits
and achievements
Quicker
recruitment administration has helped Britannic Money’s recruitment drive to
employ more than 100 additional staff during 2001. It has also cut the
previously high cost of external administration of flexible benefits for new
members of staff to no cost and has given directors and managers access to
real-time management information. The system allows the HR team to record,
monitor and evaluate staff training to enable Britannic Money to help it
acquire a banking licence – one of its key corporate objectives for 2001.
The
team
Number
in team 7 in project team, 10 in HR team
Staff responsible for 440
Head of human resources Sharon Douglas
Compensation and benefits manager Julie Quick
HR adviser Sarah Kesner
HR director Anne Ridge
Judge’s
comment
John Cooper, European managing director,Concours Group
Lloyds
TSB
"The
before and after measures for career management and opportunities demonstrated
the value of the investment. It is very much an employee-centric solution that
delivers immediate benefits to the business."
Britannic
Money
"An
innovative approach and successful implementation through close team working
with the external supplier. It delivered measurable financial benefits in terms
of reduced costs in both HR management and IT delivery."
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ICL
"Caf‚
VIK and the supporting e-HR programmes go past HR productivity to employee
productivity by providing access to knowledge. It also recognised that
knowledge workers value being part of a community and provided a means of
achieving this in a virtual way for a distributed workforce."
