Our greatest resource is our people, who are key to our success. We aim to attract, develop and retain talented, ambitious people so that we have the resources we need to help our clients and grow our business.
Our employees are crucial to the success of the business and we therefore need to help them reach their full potential. We ensure our managers have the right training and knowledge to embed Group policies at local level, and we empower them to make decisions and respond quickly to clients’ needs and business issues.We encourage an open culture where ideas are aired regardless of position and shared across similar operations where they may add value.
20 years ago we employed just over 100 people. Today we have over 29,000. Numbers have almost doubled in the last five years with a fast growing work force in India.
Attracting the right people
Being able to attract the right people is essential. As the Group has evolved, the opportunities available to employees have grown, making us increasingly attractive to people looking for a challenging and varied career. Our success and financial strength mean we can also offer a stable and inspiring work place. In addition to direct recruitment, transfers under new outsourcing contracts bring us a constant flow of talented and experienced people.
We have created an environment which rewards performance. Remuneration packages across the Group are set at levels that keep us competitive in each part of the business. For our senior people, responsible for the overall direction and performance of the Group or its component parts, a significant element of their financial reward is linked to the financial success of the business.
Our success is closely linked to our diverse, inclusive culture.
In 2006 we created a combined equality and diversity policy, the key aim of which is to achieve employee profiles that reflect the local communities in which we operate. To ensure its effective delivery, in 2007 we launched the first stage of our Diversity Action Plan, appointing diversity champions throughout the business and incorporating online diversity training. Already 22% of employees have undertaken this training.
Our policies are designed to support and comply with all relevant UK, European and International human rights and employment legislation, and meet International Labour Organisation standards. These policies are embedded in our training and operational procedures.
Retaining and developing people
To maintain our growth we need to demonstrate our ability to deliver consistent, reliable service. To do this we must retain key people and provide appropriate training.
We ensure our employees have the right skills to deliver quality service through three main types of training:
- Specific job-related skills
- Personal development
- Professional qualifications
We provide training through the most appropriate channel, with the majority delivered by our own training business. In an effort to make training more accessible, we’ve recently made all training courses available online. Take-up and satisfaction with online training has been high – our e-induction course received a 98% satisfaction rate.
As part of our commitment to equal opportunities, and in recognition of the needs of our diverse workforce, Capita has adopted a family-friendly approach. We offer flexible working arrangements which benefit both the organisation and employees, including part-time hours, home working, job sharing, term-time working and flexi-time. We also offer time off for professional development and volunteering. We believe this approach benefits not just individuals but the Group as a whole.
We have a comprehensive suite of flexible benefits and put great emphasis on encouraging employee ownership through our share savings and ownership schemes. In 2007, 20% of the Group’s eligible employees had share options or owned Capita shares.
Succession planning is a key element of our MOB process to ensure that we have the appropriate resources in place to maintain stable leadership and to guarantee service continuity for clients. It is continually reviewed by the Group Board.
Managing and inspiring people
We have a structured approach to people development that encourages and creates motivated, effective teams capable of high performance.
We empower business level managers to manage their teams successfully, and equip them with the necessary tools and training in leadership processes and procedures. Our leadership development programme, IMPACT, is supported by our employee intranet, CAPITAconnect, and our ideas-sharing culture is reinforced by transfers and secondments across the Group.
Our ability to manage employee integration is one of our greatest assets. Over two-thirds of our employees have transferred to Capita through outsourcing contracts or acquisitions, and their smooth integration is essential. We have evolved highly refined and supportive transfer procedures and our managers are trained in implementing strategies to develop and inspire people. The results are evident in improved sickness and attrition levels and transformed service standards.
1,300 employees are currently based in India. A further 1,250 will transfer in 2008 as part of the Prudential contract, doubling our offshore operations.We apply the same principles to all newly-transferred employees regardless of their location, and our Staffcare programme ensures they have the information they need to understand what transferring will mean for them. In India, for example, potential employees want to be reassured that we can offer sustainable career development opportunities, alongside more practical concerns such as support for travelling to work.
To recognise success, we run original and entertaining incentive schemes aligned with performance targets.We also run an annual awards programme to recognise exceptional individual and team performance. The awards reflect the key attributes that we see as core to Capita’s ethos – effective teamwork, innovation, service and community.
We attach great importance to healthy two-way communication with an ‘open door’ policy across the Group, supplemented by more formal communication channels. Our people also have the opportunity to communicate their views in an annual employee survey.