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Client:
Wolseley UK is part of Wolseley plc, a FTSE100 company with a turnover of £13bn-plus. It’s the world’s largest trade distributor of heating and plumbing products and a leading supplier of building materials in North America, Europe and the UK. With a £2bn-plus turnover, Wolseley UK is a FTSE250-sized company which provides construction products and materials through a nationwide branch network.
Challenge:
To transform the communications capability of the company and drive employee engagement from bottom to top quartile.
“The communications capability of the company has been transformed – highly effective programmes have been produced that played a key role in delivering business and stakeholder objectives” – Steve Ashmore, Managing Director, Wolseley UK
Response:
Developed a clear communications strategy aligned to the business objectives and aimed at helping the organisation deliver on its goals. The resulting communications plan included establishing basic communication building blocks:
- Processes – a clear management structure responsible for cascading information; a communications plan template and approach for all change programmes, ranging from restructuring to M&A and disposals
- Programmes – focus on two-way communication, ranging from live, monthly on-line Q&A chat sessions between the employees and members of the Board, through to the launch of The WoW Factor (Winners of Wolseley) – a company-wide employee recognition scheme
- Evaluation tools to measure effectiveness.
Screenshot of the WOW microsite
The strategy ensured that the communications and HR plans and approach were completely aligned in the effort to create genuine dialogue and trust with employees and produce a committed workforce willing to add discretionary effort to help the company succeed.
Results:
- Transformed employee engagement from bottom to top quartile
- The employee engagement index scores from the independent, annual all-employee survey improved by nearly 50% over a five-year period
- Employees not only understood their role in helping the business achieve its goals, but cared about making it happen and felt proud when it did
- Results achieved against a backdrop for a substantive period of that time of tough trading conditions and cost-efficiency measures, including redundancies, to remain competitive during one of the worst recessions in history
- External recognition – communication strategy, plans, programmes and channels won more than 20 national and European awards.