Market research company AC Nielsen
has reduced staff turnover by 34 per cent by introducing an annual business
effectiveness survey five years ago.
Richard Savage, HR
director for AC Nielsen Belgium, said a drive to improve staff loyalty was
behind the initiative, following the company’s separation from Dun &
Bradstreet in 1996.
He said, "The
company was suffering from low employee morale and millions of dollars in
losses.
"We also had lots
of dissatisfied clients. There was a need to improve productivity and increase
the satisfaction of employees."
AC Nielsen adopted a
service profit chain model in 1996, which included a business effectiveness
survey and changes to the compensation pay of its managers.
The business
effectiveness survey is made up of 50 questions on 12 core competencies, such
as leadership, performance management and career development. It is sent to AC
Nielsen’s 20,000 employees worldwide, in 100 different countries.
Savage said,
"This year we got an 87 per cent response rate from our survey."
The HR team changed
the bonus pay for managers linking it to the performance of their business
units as an incentive to commit to the business model.
Savage said,
"This helped to bring hearts and minds of managers with us."
Focus groups were also
set up in individual business units to work on action plans to improve
deficiencies in key competencies.
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Since the model’s
introduction, the company has quadrupled its operating income and increased
employee satisfaction by 33 per cent.
AC Nielsen had sales
of $1.4bn (£973m) last year.
