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Shortlisted team for Innovation in Recruitment and Retention: Personnel Today Awards 2000
The world of television is a precarious one. Companies like Granada Media, which makes Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Blind Date, to name but a few of its programmes, depend on winning commissions from the television channels that broadcast them. No commission, no programme and no work for the staff. Not only can jobs be created or destroyed on the strength of an idea, but even when there is work, it only lasts as long as it takes to make the programme.
Because of this, the industry depends on a huge amount of temporary talent. Granada Media, which includes Granada Television, Yorkshire Television, Tyne Tees and LWT, employs around 4,000 people, but seven out of 10 of these are on freelance or short-term contracts.
The transience of the work creates problems for the employer: how do you get good people to keep coming back to you when you can't offer them a secure job? This is particularly a problem for the divisions based in the north. If people can't find work locally they will move south to find it.
To deal with these problems Granada Media's HR team has come up with a strategy to change people's focus from their employer to their own careers. The career management scheme encourages people to see their own development as the best way of marketing themselves and continually gaining work in the business. At the same time it sells the Granada companies as a resource they can use to better their skills and build contacts while working on some of the most high profile programmes in television. The message is: "We can't offer you a permanent job but we can help you develop your skills which will make you more marketable to all employers in the industry - including us."
The project was conceived by HR director Philippa Hird, with head of training and development Felicity Bridgewater taking over as project leader. Outside consultant Shiona Llewellyn, an expert on career development and the television industry, worked with Granada to draft the career management guide that would be at the centre of the project. Managers, staff groups and the unions were sent advanced copies to comment on.
The guide was published in August 1999. The team knew staff would not be receptive if it was foisted on them by the company. Instead it informed staff about its availability by letter. Within two weeks 1,500 requests had been received.
