Specialists in the filed of equality, diversity and human resources
Case Studies
Stew Leonard's
American companies have been at the forefront of great service for many years. One such organisation is Stew Leonard’s, a dairy store in Norwalk Connecticut. Tom Peters brought it to fame in his book ‘A Passion for Excellence’, with Nancy Austin, as long ago as 1985 when its turnover was a mere $85 million. He then featured it in one of his presentations on video. In 1989 Ron Zemke and Dick Schaaf selected Stew Leonard’s as one of the ‘101 Companies that Profit from Customer Care’ in their book 'The Service Edge'. That’s why we started taking people to see them in 1991. The reason why we still take people to see them is that they have still got it right and provide a WOW experience. In this rapidly changing world of ours it is amazing to find that we can still learn from so many ideas that have stood the test of time at Stew Leonard’s.
Nordstrom
Tom Peters says “Nobody does it better than Nordstrom”. How can a chain of fashion department stores employing 35,000 people and having a turnover of $6 billion achieve such a reputation?
Although Nordstrom has 60 stores in eleven States it has achieved a reputation across the whole of the USA for superb customer service. Sales staff treat it as their own business. The recognition structure encourages this and they are treated as true entrepreneurs. Buying is decentralised to the stores and the buyers keep close to the customers. The staff handbook has one rule: 'Use your best judgement in all situations’.
As with so many of the outstanding service companies, it all started with the vision of the founder. John Nordstrom, with Carl Wallin, opened a shoe store in Seattle in 1901. His three sons continued and expanded the business to become the largest independent shoe store in America. However, it was not until 1963 that they decided to sell fashion clothing as well as shoes.
Áegis Living
When he opened ÁegisLiving in 1997, CEO/President Dwayne Clark pioneered unique ideas like regular massage therapy to improve circulation of residents, 1940s-era cars parked at the communities that residents can “drive,” and video game consoles to entertain the grandkids. Like so many others, they came from his “Box of Frustrated Ideas,” an accordion file where ideas were kept until Dwayne had his own company and could create what he wanted. These and other approaches continue to make his residents very happy. Today, Aegis Living is a national leader in retirement and assisted living with a premier Alzheimer’s and dementia care program, operating over 30 communities in Washington, California and Nevada, and one of the most admired and emulated companies in the industry and has regularly won plaudits for creating a great place to work.
REI
Recreational Equipment Inc. love to get outside and play, they know first-hand the importance of quality outdoor gear because they send their passionate outdoor loving employees to test the products they sell. Workers describe REI as a way of life and receive 30-35 hours of training each year.
Each year, REI donates millions of dollars to support conservation efforts nationwide, and sends scores of volunteers to build trails, clean up beaches, and teach outdoor ethics to kids. Through responsible business practices, REI continually strive to reduce their environmental footprint.
What began as a group of 23 mountain climbing buddies is now the nation's largest consumer cooperative with more than 2.8 million members. REI have earned a place on FORTUNE magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" every year since the rankings began in 1998. Their commitment remains the same as when they started out in 1938: to inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure.Swedish Medical
Premature babies, senior citizens, homeless teenagers, professional athletes, Blue-collar workers and CEOs – What do they have in common? They are all customers of Swedish Medical Centre. They come from neighborhoods across the Pacific Northwest and even as far away as London and Tokyo. Their needs are as diverse as they are, but they share one common desire: to have access to the best possible health care.
From the first day it opened in 1910 the Swedish name has been the region’s hallmark for excellence in health care. Today, in an independent research study conducted by the National Research Corp., Swedish is consistently named the area's best hospital, with the best doctors, the best nurses and the best care in a variety of specialty areas. Swedish has striven to provide quality care and excellent service through a ‘TQM’ approach and extensive use of the Baldridge National Quality Award criteria. Today, that commitment continues to play out in every aspect of the business as Swedish carries on the mission to improve the health and well-being of each person it serves.TNT
TNT Express Services UK and Ireland became joint winners of the first UK Quality Award in 1994. It went on to win the European Foundation for Quality Management Award in 1998. A turnover of £ 750m is achieved by the 10,000 staff operating from 70 principle locations.
Each employee has a card showing the TNT vision, TNT values and TNT people. The vision to be the fastest and most reliable provider of express delivery services, the values are: to value their people, value their customers, value their performance. They employ capable enthusiastic people who are provided with the necessary resources, training, rewards and recognition to maximise their own potential and individual contributions to the success of the business.
TNT encourages a 'home grown timber' policy of promoting from within wherever possible. The MD’s of the three largest TNT businesses all started on the 'shop floor' - in fact TNT Express Services UK and Ireland Managing Director Tom Bell started working in operations with TNT in Maidstone depot in 1977. He now heads up the multi-million pound UK & Ireland business.
As Tom says: "You can invest and invest and invest again in leading-edge technology, but our biggest achievement of all is the way we have continuously found innovative ways to bring the best out of our people. At TNT we have created a climate of enthusiasm and success where we constantly strive to beat our previous best and where employees are incredibly loyal to the company."
TNT’s ‘Expressing Excellence’ training programme urges staff to go to exceptional lengths for customers, to eliminate errors and create systems that deliver the goal of the perfect transaction. Everyone attends customer service training funded out of the marketing budget. TNT treats the employees as customers. They have to buy the brand every day.
Rackspace
Rackspace is a ‘managed hosting’ company that maintains company internet sites on its servers. It was founded in 1998 on the principle that it would be a different kind of company to do business with – focussing on the customers, not just technology. This principle manifested itself in the leadership team who coined the phrase ‘ Fanatical Support’ to describe their unique philosophy that guides them to go above and beyond their customers’ expectations. With a head office in the US, the UK operation embodies all the same principles.
One of the key ingredients to their success in maintaining this fanatical support is that they recruit on attitude using sophisticated psychometric techniques. They recruit only when they find the right people, people who love working hard. If people have the right attitude they say you can teach them anything. Support for the staff includes a games area in the office and TV screens round the place showing the latest news. The result is that they achieve a high place in the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Places to Work in the UK’ and were recent Unisys/MT Service Excellence Award overall winners. Their goal is to create customer experiences that generate recommendations.
Yell
Yell is a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market in the UK, US Continental Europe and Latin America.
Yell UK
Yell began life in 1966 as Yellow Pages, a part of what was later to become BT. From being the publishers of a single directory in Brighton, Yellow Pages grew to become the UK's leading provider of classified directory advertising and associated services. In April 2000 the Yellow Pages division of BT became Yell and in June 2001 Yell was purchased from BT by a consortium of private equity investors. In July 2003 Yell Group plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Although Yell are best known for their printed Yellow Pages directories, they offer an integrated portfolio of printed, online and phone-based products and services. The printed Yellow Pages and Business Pages directories, Yell.com and Yellow Pages 118 24 7 ensure people have access to the information they need whenever and wherever they want it, and provide advertisers with access to high quality sales leads.
Whilst the company has been built on the strength of their brands, people are the heart of the business and employ over 3,750 in the UK. From their headquarters in Reading, Sales HQ in Slough and seven main offices in key locations, highly trained, professional teams work to provide world class service to advertisers and users throughout the country. They have twice won the European Quality Award (1999 & 2004), have been recognised as an Investor in People (IIP) since 1997, became an IIP Champion organisation in 2005 and have appeared in The Sunday Times '100 Best Companies To Work For' in both 2004 and 2005.
John Lewis
Having employees as partners in the business is only one step on the path to create the best place to work and the best shopping experience in the country. In a recent survey to find these best places, John Lewis came first and Waitrose came second. With a £5 bn turnover, the 60,000 staff have to be people orientated. Recruiting the right people with the right attitude is seen as key. But John Lewis knows that you then have to build on the individual’s strengths They say that it is so much more difficult to improve on people’s weaknesses.
Staff benefits are well ahead of any competitor. John Lewis is unique in retail in continuing to have a non-contributory, final salary pension scheme open to new members. No wonder that 24% of employees have over ten years service and 5% are over the age of 60.
Brahm
Brahm is not just an advertising agency but aims to be a complete communications agency. Launched in 1983 by founders Baxandall, Rand, Allen, Handley and McPhail, Brahm now covers: Advertising, Branding and Design, Direct Marketing, Event Management, Public Relations, Promotional Marketing and Recruitment Advertising. Recruiting the best people with these skills is seen as key and Brahm has created a series of awards to recognise the best design students in the region. Many of the finalists choose to work for Brahm as their first employer. Retaining them is equally important and the ‘University of Brahm’ comprises series of seminars, workshops and lectures that make Brahm a better place to work. These may be language courses or even playing with chocolate, but they provide opportunities to develop individuals and make work fun. A lot of time is devoted to charity work which adds to the pride that staff have in the organisation as well as impressing clients. The stated aim of Brahm is to be ‘the agency that the best people work for and the best clients work with’.