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Chapter 1: Employee engagement – what, why and how
Case Study
ROK (previously EBC)
In 2000, Garvis Snook joined a building company in trouble following the 90’s
recession which had hit the construction industry particularly hard. EBC
employed 600 people, had a turnover of £85million, was running at a loss of
£2milllion a year and was on the point of going bust.
The company had always been run on a command and control basis with a
‘them’ and ‘us’ attitude not just between the board and the staff but between
the managerial staff and the trades people on the front line.
Garvis Snook changed all that with a complete transformation of the company
ethos which centred on creating a shared vision of EBC, now renamed Rok, as
your ‘local builder’ offering exceptional customer service. Garvis introduced the
same terms and conditions for both blue and white collar staff, incentivised
good performance and asked those delivering on the front line to input their
views into how things could be done better.
This was not an easy journey and success was hard won. But the results have
been outstanding. Rok has seen growth in turnover from £85 million in 2000
to £1 billion in 2008. The workforce has grown from 600 to over 5,000. In an
industry which expects to make returns of about one per cent from subcontractors,
Rok is making around six per cent from deploying its direct
workforce. They have a committed, highly skilled and loyal workforce and a
long waiting list of people wanting to join the company. Garvis Snook says:
“When I started this journey people thought I was mad and the Board were not
universally enthused. But I knew that without getting the workforce fully
engaged and committed the company would die. Instead of which it was reborn.”
Case Study
Department for Work and Pension’s State Pension
Forecasting and Pension Tracing Service Unit
The State Pension Forecasting & Pension Tracing Service Unit at the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for providing
forecasts of individuals’ State Retirement Pension when they are approaching
pensionable age. They also offer a private pension tracing service for individuals
who have been in a private pension scheme but have not retained links with
the scheme. The unit deals with clerical applications and telephone queries
through its Call Centre in Newcastle.
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