hr case studies

DWHR were engaged by GallifordTry Partnerships to design a range of performance management training programmes for their managers, in order to help the Company improve its performance by helping individual employees to improve theirs.  This was done by equipping the manager-cohort with a range of appropriate skills. The topics chosen were:

• Performance appraisal.
• Dealing with Absence, Capability and Conduct Issues.
• Coaching and Mentoring Skills.

Where appropriate, the training design had to take into account the Company’s policy and procedure, e.g. the Company’s appraisal process and the procedure for managing absence.  All programmes contained significant personal and inter-personal skill development components too.  All those being asked to carry out performance appraisals with employees were trained in appraising skills, which resulted in a much more thorough and consistent approach in carrying out appraisals.   

The programme which included training on how to handle Absence, Capability and Conduct Issues was designed to decrease the amount of absence the Company was experiencing, together with the number of formal disciplinary cases.  As these things are eminently quantifiable, initial work was done on measuring the current situation. Procedures were reviewed and updated as appropriate. Then, by training all relevant managers and communicating the updated procedures to all employees, emphasis was then placed on the importance of managing all aspects of performance. It was further possible to gauge the impact of this work by monitoring key statistics, such as absence rates and the number of formal disciplinary procedures.  All such indicators subsequently improved.

DWHR have been asked by Amarinth Ltd to assist with the management of their HR needs.  In the first instance, this required significant input into a recruitment, assessment and selection programme, to support the company’s growth.  To begin with, the Company’s Recruitment Process was reviewed, updated and improved.  Then, a number of new staff were recruited to most areas of the business, using this new process – international and domestic sales, contracts, design-engineering, assembly and testing.  Along the way, appointing managers were coached and otherwise developed.  Over an 18-month period, 12 roles were identified as needing to be filled.  The outcomes were that all the roles were filled, all the appointees are all still with the Company and performing to a high standard.

More recently, DWHR have provided additional support to Amarinth in the following ways:

Constructing a competency framework to describe the Company’s values and key behaviours, for use in situations such as recruitment and appraisal.

• Reviewing and updating various policies and procedures, as part of a wider review and re-issue of the company’s Staff Handbook.
• Providing best-practice HR and related employment-law advice on a range of day-to-day issues.
• Managing HR processes such as retirement and maternity.
• Updating the company’s appraisal process and training groups of appraises, as well as appraisers, in the revised process.
• Carrying out exit processes with people leaving the company, including those retiring.

DWHRC were asked by a large Trading Standards Service to design a time management training programme, suitable for all the department's staff. The programme was to feature a one-day training course, augmented by a suitable video/DVD and a custom-designed workbook. Ultimately, a series of four training days were carried out, in a one month period, covering all the department's staff. This resulted in an across-the-board improvement in the way that the Service managed its overall time-resource.

DWHRC were commissioned to recruit and select a new Head of Environmental Services at a rural district council. This project started with the determination of the key selection criteria for this role, and then compiling an advert to be placed in local and national media. DWHRC worked with the client's appointing manager and personnel department to determine the shortlisting criteria and then assisted with the shortlisting process.

A comprehensive, two-day assessment process was also designed. This featured a number of different components, including on-line personality profiling in advance of the selection days, managerial critical reasoning, an analysis exercise and a structured interview with a panel of elected members and senior officers. DWHRC worked with the authority's representatives in advance of the assessment and selection process to determine interview questions for each panel member to ask. DWHRC also facilitated the “wash-up” decision-making process at the end of day two, which culminated in a swift appointment decision being made.