Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Ventura wins award for organisational change

by Personnel Today 8 Nov 2001
by Personnel Today 8 Nov 2001

Personnel
Today Awards 2001: The winner of The Industrial Society award for
organisational change was the change programme team from Ventura. HR Director
Kate Marsden.

What
they did

The
Ventura HR team overhauled its work practices and culture with the aim of
making the company more competitive. It introduced new terms and conditions for
its 1,500 staff, including streamlining employment contracts so that all
employees worked under the same terms.

The
work patterns of call centre staff were changed and shift work introduced so
staff could respond more effectively to business demands, explains HR director
Kate Marsden.

The
team also reviewed its performance management system by linking individual
contribution to company objectives. A staff bonus scheme was introduced to
provide an incentive for improved staff performance. Ventura also re-positioned
itself in the local recruitment market with 500 new staff joining over a year.

Marsden,
who sits on Ventura’s board, says, "All these changes sprang from what we
needed to do as a business to remain competitive." The programme was
achieved, from director level downwards, through clear objectives, good
communication and a flexible team approach both across HR and the business as a
whole.

Why
they did it

Ventura,
part of the Next Group, was subject to an internal review by its parent company
in the second half of 1999. A key finding was that the work environment needed
to change in response to increasing competition in the outsourcing market. As a
result, a new managing director and board of directors were brought in to
spearhead the change programme. They also came up with a new mission statement
with specific corporate objectives. It was the task of the HR team, led by
Marsden, to interpret the company objectives into a clear change plan over a
12-month period.

Benefits
and achievements

Ventura
recorded a profit increase of more than 20 per cent year-on-year, despite a
managed reduction of overall turnover. There were also operational productivity
improvements of more than 30 per cent in five months, without any adverse
effect on staff service levels. Ventura also secured new business contracts,
leading to the creation of 500 new jobs.

Why
they won

"A
good, robust approach to organisational transformation. Best use of tools, data
driven and well-produced materials all add up to an excellent piece of work"
Judge: David Miller, managing director, changefirst

Other
finalists

Barclays
Achieving world class

In
early 1999, the newly formed Barclays Corporate Banking business outlined the
objectives of a big cultural change to its 12,000 staff. The HR team involved
line managers in unionconsultation which allowed the introduction of performance-related
pay. A strategic review required the HR team to develop leadership potential,
and it then ran a leadership programme.

Prime
Focus
Performance, development & review scheme

The
Prime Focus HR team has rolled out a training and development strategy,
including a new performance, development and review scheme. A competency
framework was agreed with staff and a set of behavioural indicators for
recruitment, training and development. Performance-related pay has been linked
to these competencies.

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Getty images wins award for Global HR
next post
North Wales Police wins award for innovation in recruitment and retention

You may also like

Employees going into office just 1.5 days a...

15 Aug 2022

Barrister wins gender critical belief discrimination claim

27 Jul 2022

‘Patchy’ mental health services failing ethnic minority communities

11 Jul 2022

Global study highlights hypertension treatment failings

8 Jul 2022

NICE sets out new guideline on managing depression

8 Jul 2022

Half of employees struggle to switch off on...

8 Jul 2022

Five steps for organisations across the globe to...

8 Jun 2022

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+