Using rewards and benefits to motivate and engage

Citation

Kinsey, C. (2009), "Using rewards and benefits to motivate and engage", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2009.37208bab.005

Using rewards and benefits to motivate and engage

Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 8, Issue 2

Short case studies that demonstrate best practice in HR

Caroline KinseyCompany director at Cirkle. She founded the PR agency in 1998, prior to which she spent 12 years working in in-house marketing and PR for Colgate Palmolive and McVitie’s. Kinsey holds the health and wellbeing of her staff as a key corner-stone to the success of her business and has developed numerous employee retention strategies focused on supporting her team in their fitness goals. Cirkle has won 22 awards in the last three years for its creative work and its commitment to employee engagement. (caroline.kinsey@cirkle.com)

Cirkle is a multi award-winning PR consultancy based in Buckinghamshire, UK. It has been in operation for over a decade, has a turnover of £2 million and employs over 20 staff and its current year-on-year double-digit growth is largely down to its people management policies.

The PR industry sells its people and their expertise and with a shortage of talent the organization needs to constantly formulate leading-edge people strategies to attract, engage, train and retain the best staff. With a blue-chip client list including names such as PepsiCo, GSK and Premier Foods, it is essential to employ the highest caliber PR consultants to deliver clients’ needs. An innovative approach to HR has been in place at Cirkle since 2004 and includes a strategy that takes into account work/life balance and healthy living as a means of engaging and motivating its people.

In recognition of the need to tie in business strategy to people management strategy, the organization has a dual approach to HR. In place of a full time HR function, Cirkle’s HR strategy is driven by the leadership team, which shares responsibilities for implementation and administration, while HR service provider, Argyll HR, provides a 24-hour hotline for staff, training and legislation updates on an advisory basis.

The Cirkle Touch

Central to Cirkle’s strategic approach to HR and employee engagement is “The Cirkle Touch,” which balances the needs of the consultancy with the lifestyle demands of its employees. It was introduced in 2007 in recognition of the need to stay ahead of competitors and address the needs of employees. A two pronged approach is taken that marries trust and flexibility with the company’s “healthy body, healthy mind” philosophy to deliver a program of added value benefits underpinned by best practice HR. Health and wellbeing are of paramount importance within the agency and the management team leads by example, with the winner of the 2007/2008 “Britain’s Fittest Director” accolade from The Daily Telegraph newspaper at its’ helm.

This approach to HR has resulted in a credible point of difference, earning Cirkle 97 percent best practice industry accreditation for people development in the Consultancy Management Standard (CMS) audit in 2007 for the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA). Only 5 percent of PR agencies undertake this accreditation and only 10 percent achieve this figure – putting Cirkle in the top 0.5 percent of agencies for its commitment to its staff.

Cirkle’s culture and working environment is diametrically opposed to the PR agency norm. It is one of a few PR agencies that hold open days for recruitment companies to experience the culture for themselves. Feedback from leading recruitment experts at this year’s annual briefing included “flexibility, positive approach, dynamic staff” and “benefits and culture are excellent” and “Cirkle will continue to attract the cream of industry talent.”

Flexibility leads to work/life balance

Cirkle’s innovative approach to agency growth and changing cultural climate means ensuring staff are able to have a life outside of work. It prides itself on offering maximum flexibility to ensure staff stay positive and that the best results are achieved for clients. This has led to a team of satellite/part-time staff that offer complementary support to full-time staff on a cost effective basis. Now representing 30 percent of the organization’s headcount, part-time positions include editorial director, head of body+soul, new business development manager and advertising director.

Cirkle provides all staff with personal laptops so that 90 percent of staff can work from home on Fridays with paid-for home broadband and remote server access. The office itself is designed to be transparent and open, with an open plan layout and open door policy.

Healthy body, healthy mind

A recent report written by Dame Carol Black, the national director for health and work, for the UK government (Black, 2008), reported that ill-health was costing the economy 175 million working days a year, the equivalent to £100 billion a year, and recommended that employers promote a healthy lifestyle to staff.

Cirkle sees promoting a healthy body and mind as the cornerstone of its work ethic, both in terms of employees and clients. This philosophy is the inspiration behind the launch of its new division – Cirkle body+soul – that offers PR to brands that are beneficial to well-being, and has also resulted in the launch of innovative staff benefits. While many PR agencies offer staff “Duvet Days,” Cirkle recently launched the “Ditch the Duvet Day,” which far better reflects its philosophy of encouraging employees to consider their well-being rather than lazing around in bed. This new employee benefit gives employees additional holiday to spend on well-being activities and contributes 25 percent towards the cost. Examples of activities include running a half-marathon, doing a massage course, committing to a parachute jump, visiting art galleries or painting an old people’s home.

All employees are offered free online personal “coaches” and subsidized circuit and aerobics classes, while 100 percent of staff have embraced Cirkle’s charity challenge called “Cirkle walks a semi-circle.” This involves walking the equivalent of half way around the world in seven months, equating to an average 6,000 steps per day compared to the average office worker’s 1,500 steps a day.

Training investment

Cirkle is also committed to investing in its staff development. Senior managers receive tailored one-to-one mentoring and £1,000 plus per annum is budgeted per capita for all other staff. One of the key areas of training investment is for all staff to undergo external “Insights Color” training that provides a framework to analyze personality types. The agency considers this to have been one of its most illuminating training courses as it has helped to garner strong self-awareness and optimize team dynamics, which has been further leveraged to better communicate with clients and the media.

A sound investment

Cirkle’s business has benefited from this investment in its people. A key business objective for the company is to achieve above average client and employee retention by investing and retaining a motivated and energized workforce. Over half of its client base has been with the agency for over three years and Cirkle has 70 percent employee retention.

The company commits to a bi-annual independent employee audit to share and act on the results and in the quarter one 2008 survey it achieved an average 8/10 rating. Overall, The Cirkle Touch program has delivered impressive results including higher staff retention plus greater opportunity to recruit the best staff. Headcount has increased by 50 percent since the program was introduced while sickness has decreased by 15 percent, reflecting increased motivation and ultimately a highly successful business model that has seen it employ and retain top flight London-centric staff who work on a strong client portfolio of over 90 well-known brands with a combined turnover of UK £5 billion.

The organization has also gained recognition from its peers, winning 22 awards over the last three years including CIPR “Outstanding PR agency of the Year” three years running in its region. Only one other agency nationally has achieved this. Moving forward its aim is to continue to stay ahead of the curve by being leaders not followers when it comes to creating effective HR policy and advanced people development strategies.