Inside the best place to work in BritainOn 8 Jul 2003 in Personnel Today MicrosoftUK was this year named the best company to work for in the UK. But its people,profits and culture director believes there is still room for improvement, Simon Kent reportsWhatis it that has earned Microsoft the number one place in The Sunday Times’ listof 100 Best Companies to Work for 2003? Walking around the purpose-built campusat Thames Valley Park in Reading, it is easy to jump to conclusions. There areextensive on-site facilities ranging from a well-being centre to personalbanking. The working environment has been carefully styled – from the mainatrium, scattered with easy chairs, sofas and tables, to the Anarchy Room, tothe numerous and infinitely flexible presentation areas. There are a choice ofcaf‚s and employees can even adjourn to the lakeside gazebo in the companygrounds if they wish.Workanywhere policyThroughoutthe campus, flat-screen televisions constantly play news and music, keepingworkers in touch with the world outside work. X-Box games consoles are free forstaff to use, giving them the chance to unwind while experiencing a key companyproduct. Regularly updated message boards supporting Microsoft’s workphilosophy or echoing current external marketing campaigns adorn the walls.Microsoftemployees have generous desk space, and their computers and phones link to awireless network enabling them to work anywhere in the grounds – even at thegazebo. And if they’d prefer to work from home, occasionally or on a regularbasis, that’s fine too, because each home boasts a wireless network too,enabling staff to log on without needing to construct a complete home office.Perhapsit comes down to the fact that Microsoft treats its workers as adults. It letsits staff decide when and where they work best. They have free, constant accessto the resources they need during the working day – be it paper, photocopyingor refreshments – without needing to fill out any forms or seek permission. Givenfreedom and autonomy at this level, employees in Microsoft UK do not sit backand count their blessings, but understand they are here to work hard. And theyare paying back their employer handsomely for good working conditions –delivering higher revenue per head than operations in any other country. Putsimply, Microsoft UK works hard to attract highly-skilled people who will loveworking for Microsoft. In turn, those employees attract other highly-skilledpeople who also love working for Microsoft. It is a virtuous circle – but likeeverything else, it had to start somewhere.Thatstarting point is Steve Harvey, director of people, profits and culture. Hismaster plan was hatched seven years ago, as a result of his perception ofMicrosoft’s position within the sector at that time, and the pressures that itwould face in the future. “Myphilosophy is based on the view that there are not enough smart people to goaround, and that situation is only going to get worse,” he says.”Eventually we will reach the stage where the industry will be populatedwith corporate freelancers who will work when and wherever they feel like it.Therefore, you need to create a place where people want to work.”Tosome extent, Harvey seems more proud of the company’s achievement in the 2002list when the company came first in the IT sector: “We wanted to becomethe IT employer of choice and five years ago – particularly with the dotcomboom – we were probably one of the unexciting places to work.”Staffturnover stands at 5 per centAllthat has changed. Harvey is particularly pleased that 89 per cent of employeeslove working at Microsoft while 93 per cent feel pride in the company and agreethat Microsoft ‘makes a positive difference to the world we live in’. That’salmost 10 per cent above the second highest scorer in this category,pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly & Co at 84.3 per cent. “Whatwe are trying to do is get our current employees to say that they wouldn’t wantto work anywhere else,” explains Harvey, “If they say that, they willwork as evangelists for the company and attract people with the same mentality.”Althoughtwo-thirds of Microsoft’s 1,600 employees earn more than £40K, the company isnot the highest paying in its sector – indeed, some people take pay cuts tojoin. An employee share ownership scheme covering 95 per cent of the workforceprovides an effective incentive, as well as added financial reward. Staffturnover currently stands at 5 per cent and annual sales have grownsignificantly, rising by more than £1bn this year to £17.62bn.Harveygains satisfaction from the external adjudication afforded by The Sunday Timesand the opportunity to benchmark his employees’ attitudes against othercompanies, but the overall picture is one he was already aware of throughMicrosoft’s own measures and analysis – not least the annual employee survey,which was voluntarily completed by 93 per cent of the workforce last year. “Thereare benchmarks used across the company,” says Harvey. “Financialbenchmarks, revenue levels – the whole model is based around realising annualgrowth.”Thereappears to be no distinction between the measures used and studied by the HRfunction and those used across the rest of the company. Oneof Harvey’s key measurements is revenue per head, a figure that directly linksthe performance of each employee to the performance of the whole company. Thecompany constantly reviews the data it generates to assess areas for revenuegrowth, market penetration and overall structure of the company and theindustry in which it operates. This data is as much the concern of HR as anyother manager in the company. Harveyconsciously avoids the compartmentalisation of people management from the restof the business – a fact borne out by his own job title. “Thewhole philosophy is around creating a long-term people strategy,” he says.”It’s not just an HR strategy, it’s not purely about people, it’s aboutthe overall strategy of the company.” Harvey doesn’t drive this strategy,it is created by the board of directors and realised through the work of everymanager. Itis difficult to discuss specific HR initiatives or policies because theorganisation is constantly responding to the demands of its own customers andsector, rather than addressing general employment practice. Thefocus is on creating an environment “where great people can do their bestwork”, and that means being pro-active, ensuring terms and conditions,benefits and rewards that attract and retain the people they need. Thesefeatures are usually far ahead of any legislative minimum.DedicatedHR managers exist in Microsoft at a ratio of roughly 1 to every 100 workers.However, with all admin and support functions outsourced to specialistsuppliers, these people rarely discuss pure HR issues. According to Harvey,listening to an HR manager speak is indistinguishable from listening to anyother manager. “Ican get quite emotional sometimes when I hear the HR people discussing businessproblems. They are out there supporting workers at the front end, where theyare needed,” he says. “They’re constantly asking what the businessstrategy is, where the business is going and what we need to do to help peopleget there.” SatisfiedcustomersItfalls to Harvey and his team to ensure that strategy is implemented – the ideabeing that if great people are put in great jobs, led by great managers andleaders, then satisfied customers, growth, results and rewards will naturallyfollow.Crucialto achieving this base has been the company’s use of the Strength ProfilingSystem, created in consultation with Gallop. This approach was inspired byBuckingham and Coffman’s book, First, Break All the Rules. The system is basedon the idea that people do not change. You can apply as many developmentresources as you wish to create well-rounded individuals, but ultimately, theywill never excel in areas where they are not naturally gifted.”No-oneenjoys doing something they’re not good at,” says Harvey. “Wheneveryou receive 360-degree feedback it doesn’t focus on what you’re good at, itsuggests areas you might try and improve.”Playingto their strengthsStrength-profilingstates that everyone has a few areas in which they excel and these strengths,already manifested in a child of 10, do not alter in adulthood. Therefore,ensuring workers play to their strengths results in happier staff andsignificant productivity gains for the company.”Itis recognised that on average, only 20 per cent of employees say that when theyare at work they do what they are best at,” says Harvey, “If youcould move that percentage to 30 or 40 per cent within your company, imaginehow much overall performance would improve.”Whilethe approach appears to make perfect sense, getting staff to buy into themindset has not been all plain sailing”Morethan one manager asked me to stop this initiative because they had gotindividuals who wanted to change their job,” he says. “These peoplewere no longer happy because their jobs didn’t match their strengths. Butthat’s the whole point – if they aren’t happy with what they are doing, theywill leave the company.”Insome cases, individuals simply haven’t liked their identified strengths.Aspirational salespeople, for example, have sometimes found their actualstrength lies in backroom disciplines. While initially dispiriting, Harveymaintains that in the long run these employees found more satisfaction inplaying to their strengths rather than attempting to follow a perceivedstructure of progress.Moreover,the process of identifying these strengths – a discussion around 12 criticalquestions – has given the company a new vocabulary with which to tackleprojects and assemble effective teams. “You need to have that discussion,because you need to get the base of the organisational pyramid right,”says Harvey. “People need to understand what’s expected of them, and havethe tools and equipment to achieve that aim. Strength-profiling helps us to dothat.”Naturally,Microsoft is still subject to the same pressures and challenges which allemployers face, and it seeks to tackle these issues in the usual ways. There isa great awareness of the difficulty of finding effective people managers. Whenthey are identified, there are both internal and external training anddevelopment resources available – structured courses, coaching, mentoring – toget them skilled up and to monitor their performance within the company.Diversityis a priority”Wespend a huge amount of effort managing our stars – the top five per cent of thecompany,” says Harvey. “If we didn’t do that, then poor performerswould survive at the top, and our employees are bright enough to see that anddecide to go somewhere else. “We do some work at the bottom, to make surewe have the right managers, but the focus on star performers is a big part ofthe business.” Thatsaid, Harvey believes the company can do a better job at developing andsupporting the company’s managers in the future. “We don’t have a way ofmeasuring who is an effective manager and why,” he says, “I’d like todo more on that.”Diversityin recruitment is also a big priority for the firm. With 40 per cent of hirescoming through referrals, Harvey likes the fact that current employees bring inlike-minded staff, but he is aware it means those individuals replicate themajority of Microsoft employees – white men in their mid-thirties. Tacklingthis is not just a matter of ensuring good practice exists in recruitment, andthat flexible working is available to fit in with any lifestyle, but thecompany also recognises the need to promote diversity at the level of highereducation.Accordingto Harvey, Microsoft’s people philosophy has meant creating the optimum workingenvironment for high- performing individuals on an intellectual, emotional andphysical level. While this sounds daunting, he believes any organisation canachieve similar results.”Peoplehave said we can only do this because we’re Microsoft, but I believe in thisapproach passionately. There have been risks along the way,” he adds, notleast the creation of a new HR team dedicated to realising Harvey’s vision.”You can’t spend your whole career waiting for corporate approval to acton something you believe in.” Related posts:No related photos. Comments are closed. Previous Article Next Article read more