Collaboratively Enabling Future Ways of Working

The Workforce Management programme was company-wide in its scope and would establish that good practice is not a one-off exercise, nor technology a substitute, but an enabler of new ways of working.

Multiple work streams were redesigned through collaboration with the entire team and underpinned by a blended learning approach to maximise benefit.

The shared services sector combines multiple different roles for a variety of clients across the globe. The industry has seen expansion following recent economic uncertainty which saw both public and private-based consumers reduce their reliance on these providers.

The time is ripe for those within shared services to take advantage of a leap towards new technologies, which will enhance how they work and drive benefits in an ever more digital-centric environment.

Such was the scope of the change ahead, that work started by developing an end-to-end Target Operating Model (TOM). It was completed to represent the strategy for management of the entire UK workforce and delved into the systems and information flow which existed between all parts of the business.

This holistic view was essential and informed a series of workshops. The workshops were developed with the aim of embedding new ways of working through understanding their current processes and looking to their future processes. We asked, “What should the change look like?”

Faced with the challenge of embedding this change, policy and procedure standards were documented across the organisation. To enable working in a simpler, smarter way, these are now part of the organisation’s Performance Management Framework for all contracts.

A blended learning approach was taken, using scenario-based training and utilising a series of “Day in the life of” examples to train and upskill all stakeholders from the pilot groups onwards.

The programme has delivered significant value across the business. In the last 12 months, the new ways of working have achieved approximately 3.5% of annual payroll savings, which stands to increase to 15%. Across the organisation, teams are benefiting from better visibility of their workloads through forecasts, and better utilisation through improved management of staff working time.