Quentin

RAC

RAC
plc employs 11,500 people throughout the UK. 
Following the acquisition of RAC by Lex Service plc (now RAC plc) we
operated throughout the group a number of different HR and payroll databases.  We recognized the need very early to
understand, evaluate and recommend the changes necessary to achieve an
integrated approach to our HR practices, as we identified that this could help
us reduce costs and improve efficiency. 
This included one common set of quantifiable HR measures.

In
total we identified 10 core HR measures with the aim to report on a quarterly
basis.  The 10 core measures were:

–
colleague satisfaction
– absence
– turnover
– stability
– new colleague retention
– reasons for leaving
– gender – full-time / part-time split
– ethnic profile
– length of service
– age profile

The
number of legacy HR and payroll systems led to inefficient and ineffectiveness
– measures were out of date by the time they were consolidated and therefore
did not engage line management or inspire confidence about their accuracy.

In
2000 we embarked on our journey to harmonise our HR databases and procured a
common HR and payroll database for the group, in an effort to benchmark across
the Company and identify  and implement
best practice.  At the end of 2002 all
RAC plc colleagues were on one database, therefore ‘enabling’ one set of HR
measures to be produced.  We named this
the ‘People P&L’, recognizing it was important and valuable as the
financial P&L.

We
piloted and refined the measures for circa 6 months, addressing concerns about
the format and accuracy.  We created
common definitions and processes for administration, so that we could make
relevant comparisons.

During
the pilot period we benchmarked and quantified the cost of turnover, new
colleague retention and absence.  We
used the CIPD HR Trends and Prospects Survey as a nationwide comparator as well
as ASDA, who were at the time perceived to be the No 1 Company to Work For
(2001 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For).

The
‘People P&L’ was quickly integrated into the business units as it was
easily linked to the business strategy and the line management could see first
hand the ‘bottom line’ impact.

The
vision of the RAC plc is to make a ‘good’ company into a ‘great’ company
through delivering inspirational service. 
Progress and success is measured through colleague satisfaction, growth
in revenue and growth in shareholder profit. 
The board sets the performance targets for each of these annually using
a traffic light system.  Out targets for
colleague satisfaction is to achieve 75% satisfaction.

Although
we started off with 10 core HR measures as indicated earlier, we prioritised
the first 4 of these and added another, internal appointments, for our
monthly  ‘People P&L’.  The targets and results relative to target
are monitored on a monthly basis by business unit.