ReThink Productivity Podcast
In this exciting podcast, Simon Hedaux from ReThink Productivity shares his insights and strategies for improving productivity and efficiency in the retail and hospitality industries. With the help of clients, partners, and the ReThink team, Simon covers everything from measuring and tracking productivity to developing and implementing effective strategies.
Whether you're a business owner, manager, or employee, this podcast is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn how to get more done and improve their bottom line.
Here's what you can expect to learn:
- How to measure and track productivity
- Proven strategies for improving efficiency and reducing waste
- How to create a culture of productivity and innovation
- Tips for motivating and engaging your team
- Real-world examples of how other businesses have used ReThink Productivity to achieve success
Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from the experts and get ahead of the curve with your own business.
ReThink Productivity Podcast
Insights from WH People: Transforming Workplace Culture and Engagement with Technology
Creating a vibrant workplace culture is essential for driving employee engagement and business success. Wendy Muirhead founding partner at WH People discusses the interplay between culture, visibility, and technology, emphasising the need for organisations to invest in their people while simplifying processes through effective Workforce Management (WFM).
• Exploration of workplace culture’s impact on engagement
• Wendy’s journey in establishing WH People
• The role of leadership in cultivating organizational culture
• Challenges of maintaining culture in larger businesses
• Importance of communication and clarity of vision
• Benefits of Workforce Management technology
• AI’s influence on Workforce Management and employee engagement
• Interrelation between culture, productivity, and retention
• Investment in people as a strategic business imperative
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Welcome to the Productivity Podcast. This is the first in a mini-series with our friends at WH People and I'm delighted today to be joined by Wendy Muirhead, who is one of the founding partners. Hi, wendy.
Speaker 2:Hi, how are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good, thank you, as we talked about off-air recovering from a cold, so if I sound all bunged up, it's nothing personal and it's not man flu. Just for those listening. It's not got that bad yet I hope you're feeling better yeah, no, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us. As I mentioned, this is the first of a mini-series, so there's yourself today, and then your other founding partners, helen and Paul, will be joining us for for different chats. So we're going to cover a spectrum of things today, focusing on culture, visibility and people experience. But before we dive in, wendy, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself, your kind of work history, how you got to setting up the business with Helen and Paul?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd love to, and thank you so much for inviting us on. We're really excited about supporting this. Well, I'm Wendy Muirhead. We set up WH People. Literally our names are on the tin. I'm the W, helen is the H, of WH People and, thank God, paul's called Paul because we set the business up with people and then Paul joined us as we were setting things up.
Speaker 2:So, yes, about a year ago it's just coming up for our first anniversary the three of us decided that we were going to do things a little bit different in the industry, and what we were particularly keen on is how can we help organizations really deliver value into their own companies by empowering their own people, using technology in a better, easier way and really driving that vision for growth.
Speaker 2:And so we set up the business. What was really important to us was that we had diversity in the roles that we were doing and you know, but it's like Simon, you're setting up a business. At the beginning you're not really sure what areas you're going to get business from. So it's been a really exciting journey over the last 12 months, and one of the things that we think makes us different is our collective and very varied experiences that we've had over our careers and I was really lucky actually, because I met Paul about 15 years ago. Helen I met around about eight years ago in my career journey and Simon, I think you always take people on life's journey all the good ones with you, don't you, as you move through life's journey, and I've been delighted that the three of us have been able to have that common goal and we get to have fun at work and do things that we love.
Speaker 1:Good and your personal background. You've worked in tech before and various other industries.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've actually been building businesses since the noughties, but for big corporate organisations, so I've kind of found myself being a bit of an entrepreneur within a big corporate and so you know I bring the sort of growth and strategy into our partnership. Paul has such a rich history and you'll hear more from Paul in his podcast but he's got such a rich wealth of knowledge in that workforce management, product and solution design space. And Helen is just I always think of her as the the guru of HR, shared service, change management, optimization, process re-engineering. She's got such a rich experience there as well. So, again, the three of us with our collective backgrounds really complement each other and in the work that we do as we support our clients.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Good. Sounds like an exciting journey year in. So you're past all the scary stuff now and you're kind of in the routine of how it all works, aren't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, actually, it's really exciting because just a few weeks ago, we actually signed off our five-year growth plan. So it's great as well because there's three of us. Three is my lucky number. I have three sons, um, but there's never an argument when there's three, because there's always a majority wins and and that was part of, you know, part of the mission as well, of of making it really really fair in the work that we do, and I genuinely love the fact that those two I vote me constantly, which is great good, good, yeah, keeps the brain working, keeps it, keeps it fun.
Speaker 1:But, um, yeah, keep, keeps the wheels spinning as well, doesn't it? So that's good so theme for today was culture, visibility and people experience, and you kind of touched on it in your introduction around culture being important when leading teams. What's kind of brought you to that conclusion from what you've seen, I suppose, in the last year with Paul and Helen, but also in previous experiences?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I've worked with a lot of companies over my time. I've been part of big global corporations as well, and if you've got a great culture and you can have a great team culture, that can actually set the rest of the business on fire. You know, if you set something up where you've got a vision and you get the whole team involved in driving that vision with the same belief system, attitudes, behaviors, you really get that momentum and I personally think it's the fun stuff Right attitudes, behaviors you really get that momentum and I personally think it's the fun stuff right. I mean, not everyone can roll out a vision and a cultural energy across an organization, but I really enjoy that as a personal thing and I've seen it been really successful.
Speaker 2:Um, I've seen it be successful in how teams operate and work collectively as one team, which can be really, really challenging when you're in a complex business. Um, and I've seen other teams actually be quite jealous of that dynamic and that, that collective energy that comes from a great culture and they try to adopt it. And I think you know, I think competition is a great thing, but when you are the smallest organizational part of the big machine, to have like an identity can actually be born purely from that team culture and what that belief system is. So I think if it's done right, it can be absolutely phenomenal. And I think organizations sometimes miss the opportunity to get the maximum value and engagement with their people. And let's's face it, unless you're in manufacturing, people cost is the the biggest cost to the the most businesses.
Speaker 1:So you know, actually putting the care and attention into what that culture looks like and how it's rolled down and adopted across the business, it can be a massive, massive difference in keeping people and losing people yeah, and we know, certainly in customer facing environments, that cost of cost of retention, cost of recruitment, cost of training and exit is is huge and I think there's stats have been around, isn't there that is it in retail, for every two people that you, you recruit and I know it's a decimal number more than 1.5 leave within uh, 12 months and that that's just a cost, isn't it um?
Speaker 2:yeah, an expensive one at that, because you've got to get the hiring process, train, the backup, you know, and, and and then you're losing all that investment that you put into that individual as well. But that's that's. I mean. Retail's a great example. I mean I remember many, many years ago I I was going on stage I went into a retail store, needed to update my makeup past the age that I wanted to be these days. And I went into a makeup store and I was saying I'm going to be in a big screen, help me hide the fact that I'm at retirement age rather than starting my career age. And the lady was fabulous. But she said to me I don't normally do this, I've had someone not turn up today and normally I spend all day in the back office.
Speaker 2:I spent hundreds of pounds with that lady because she did such a fantastic job.
Speaker 2:And she told me she spent most of that particular day doing the workforce management scheduling for the rest of the team for the week and it took her that long.
Speaker 2:And so actually, you know, having that conversation with her, I was like, look, if you'd been in the back of the store doing the the actual shift rotor manually, you would never have got this sale and, more importantly, if I can help you to do that with the organization that I was with at the time, where, where we can make that go away and get technology to do that for you, you'd get so many more sales that you're leading your team from the front of the store. So it's really for me, I think it's really, really important that you know you know technology, culture, that personal experience and that engagement I, if I hadn't had that opportunity and she just I might just went and got a lipstick. Instead I bought the whole kit and caboodle, um right. So so it is one of those things where that you know that one experience could really put you off actually going back into that store again yeah, yeah, absolutely, and we'll.
Speaker 1:We'll come to workforce management, wfo in a second. But just kind of circling back on the culture piece, there's clearly lots of and maybe more difficult in larger organizations because you've got more fragmentation and and potentially siloed working but lots of those vision statements and mission statements that you see when you enter big buildings that sometimes can be lip service but sometimes can embellish that business as well in a positive and negative way. From your experience, do you think it's easier or harder in bigger businesses to get that culture to be universal or actually is there just an acceptance that there's always going to be pockets that really get it based on personality, individuals and others that just kind of don't.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really interesting point. I think a lot of big corporates will try and have the vision and they find it more difficult to actually get everyone to adopt into it, especially if you're global. You've got different cultures, you've got different, you know ways that people operate, different languages, and you've got all of those things to take on board as well. I always kind of think that if you've got the energy levels, you keep it simple and you keep it front of mind for people, then you get better adoption of it, irrespective of where they are in the world. So not really answered your question, simon, I just I just think that different organizations will do it in different ways, but if you do keep it simple, then you get the better results no, I think it's interesting insight and I suppose my my view for what it's worth is led from the top.
Speaker 1:So if you've got vision statements and mission statements and then senior leaders, you know the people at the top of pyramid. If that's how that business works delivering those behaviours or living those values it quickly trickles down as nothing more than words on a wall at reception. So it has to be led from the top and everything trickles down the business, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:I totally agree and actually, when we were setting up, it was one of the first things helen and I spoke about.
Speaker 2:You know, with helen's background in hr, we actually said what for us, whilst we're working out what is it we want to do, you know, we were working out what's our values.
Speaker 2:That was the very first thing that we talked about and we we settled on three really quickly actually simplicity, curiosity and spirit, because we want to bring our uniqueness of the three, of our individual expertise, together and we want to be curious about the organizations that we're partnering with. We want to bring spirit to the organization's people so that they feel empowered in the work that they're doing, and we want to keep it really simple so that it works and it drives the value that that organizations are looking for. Um, but, yeah, you're, you're absolutely right led from the top, keeping the, the values, alive and and keeping people engaged and up to date with them as, as you grow your business, because when you're bringing new people on, you know part of that onboarding experience is getting them into what is our business all about and what's the role that you're going to play as part of that business and its growth. So, yeah, no, really good.
Speaker 1:Good. So let's have a bit of a chat about the tech then. So you mentioned in that experience in beauty that the lady that was great and sold you some product and made you feel better and comfortable for you kind of being on screen spent a lot of her time making schedules, rosters, whichever terminology you want to use. You know, looking at the we've talked about this on previous podcasts looking at the demand, turning that into hours, taking those hours, plotting people shift, shift against it, all those bits that go into making that schedule, which you from the outside you think could be relatively easy, can become a absolute cottage industry in lots of organizations.
Speaker 1:Now the WFM we use that terminology, workforce management tech is supposed to enhance the experience the whole. Let's make it vendor agnostic. Anybody out there selling WFM tech will tell you it's quicker than you do now, will tell you that um. It opens up a load of opportunity to help colleagues, people, self-serve, book holidays, um swap shifts, bid on shifts is kind of one of the latest um pieces coming through. Sometimes that doesn't play through. So in the ideal world, how should WFM enhance the people experience?
Speaker 2:in the ideal world, it's super easy to use in some organizations, um, that the workforce management tech is the only engagement that they'll have with the business, because not everyone's got a laptop, not everyone's got email, intranet access to the you know the system of records, um. So so if, if that's the only way that they engage, probably in their phone, um, people today want it to be easy to use, something that they could pick up, can start tapping into as if they were picking up something like LinkedIn or Facebook, and be able to get information quickly. The easier it is for people to pick it up and to understand how to operate it, the better the data that you tend to find that people actually put back into the system and the more that they'll engage it put back into the system and the more that they'll engage it. I've even seen where you know some organizations, you know they've sort of highlight who's going to be on the shift, so that if people are actually bidding for the shift that they can say, actually I quite like that team, I'm going to go for that and you know, just having that experience again, you know if it's easy to use and people can access it and and they know who's going to be on shift. Yeah, I'll maybe do that extra shift and get a little bit extra money this week, um, that that's the ideal experience, um.
Speaker 2:But you're right, you know a lot of companies have struggled to to set it up, spent actually a lot of my career actually in global payroll space and workforce management is a critical part of that process. And you know, when you hear that there's stores that they've had people that are physically putting the, the shifts together and that's been a full-time role, there's still organizations out there that operate that way, um, and so you know it can. It can be quite scary for people to think about well, I'm going to change how I'm doing it, but when they see the results and the benefits and you know, younger generations as well are coming through and they are expecting this kind of level of technology as well. So you know, it's definitely something. I've seen a huge shift in markets, but there's still a lot of businesses that are you that are looking at what their investment models are going to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think we see people that kind of fight the system. So back to your point on data. If you're always changing Simon's shift from Monday to Tuesday, then there's an underlying data issue. So people get caught up in the administration of it, which then brings a general consensus that systems difficult to use, takes a lot of time, when actually the system's a facilitator of data and information, regardless of whichever one you use, and it's typically to do with data or understanding the benefits that you can drive from using such a system. And I suppose I'll caveat that with in the coming months years in the UK certainly, as we're seeing cost increases we've talked about it again on other podcasts and it's all over the news the NI stuff that's coming through, the national living wage rises it's probably going to be more critical than ever to have a good plan with people that can cover shifts and be a bit flexible in their working patterns to cover peaks and troughs and holidays and vacancies etc.
Speaker 2:Because ultimately, retailers if we focus on retail and hospitality, they're probably going to end up with less people on the floor because they can't afford it yeah, I know you're absolutely right and I think if, if you've got an understanding of the level of skills and the diversity of skills that people have and the system's got that information in there, it's going to be much easier to manage and and so skills and availability and and making that accessible to employees.
Speaker 2:I think that's really the things that organisations need to think about and how you can get the tech to do that hard work for them. So, you know, typically you would see technology providers offer self-service functionality. If they can make that accessible and easy for people to use. If they can make that accessible and easy for people to use, then if I've just went and learned how to, you know, bake in the bakery, then I could put in the skill set, then you know what I've just done that bakery course. I actually could take extra shifts in that area. You know one cost of living is impacting everyone. So you know, people are potentially going to want more shifts and more variety in the work that they're doing and and they also become a more valuable asset that you know an organization can put in multiple different areas yeah, absolutely, and it it's an exciting space.
Speaker 1:Wfm, I think you know there's probably been more choice than ever in terms of which solution you can buy and who you can buy it from and how you can use it. Where do you kind of see the industry going? I'm sure ai will be one of the words you use, but, um, what's the trend? What are what are people looking at or wanting from their suppliers?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean, you're right, everyone's talking about ai. It's not new. It's been around a long, long time. Tech providers have been using machine learning and generative AI, all of this stuff. It is definitely the buzzword at the moment.
Speaker 2:But I think, interestingly enough, I think that there's in the global payroll space there's a lot of organizations that are starting to, you know, either require workforce management businesses or build their own levels of technology, and you've got the workforce management providers out there that have been, you know, really focused in that space and they're starting to look at, oh, some of these other providers that are moving into our space are actually starting to take a bit more of the market share up. So I think it's definitely interesting where the industry is going. I think that technology is moving so fast that some of these other providers and other adjacent markets are really starting to make a bit more of a dent. And I have seen, just even in recent weeks, I've seen, you know, m&a activity that's happened in the industry. So I think there's a lot of that from an industry point of view that's going through.
Speaker 2:I think the area, particularly when integrating, integrating businesses together it's how are they getting the technology and what's the underlying foundational technology and how is that going to impact on their customers. So it'll be interesting to see where that goes and how quickly they can start like uniforming the technology if they go down that path. Um, but that AI making things simpler, talent marketplace, offering those shifts and advertising those shifts to employees and making it exciting for people to pick it up and easy for them to pick it up I think that's really where the industry is going to start going, and I think that there's organizations out there where you may have an employee but you know what they might be working for your competitor three days a week as well. So I think that level of diversity and how you can get that level of visibility about availability, skills, where people are going and how the tech can do the hard work I think that's kind of the path that we're going to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that kind of call it cradle to grave of an employee. So from when they join to when they leave, it all works through the same HR platform, which then includes your WFM and all your onboarding, offboarding, all the other bits, comms, bits that come through it. That seems, like you say, to be the key of people joining things together. Yeah, keeping it simple, um, harnessing data and ai that can surface opportunities, can surface issues with data quickly and also offer a remedy, can only be beneficial. So, yeah, be be interesting, as you say, the interesting marketplace. If you're supplying the software, it's probably quite a challenging time to differentiate, diversify, because there's so much going on and, as you say, some consolidation will be a probably an output from that I think so.
Speaker 2:I think so, but do you know? I say that, but on the other hand, I'm seeing lots of new technology platforms that there'll be the sort of front end like communication platform to the employee and then you can sort of have all of your best to breed if it's cheaper to do it that way. That'll be the conversation around the board table, I think, around you know, what's the best option, what's the cost model? Has it got that? Do I need to have that level of investment to have one platform that's going to do it all for me, or actually can I get the benefits of doing all of that with this engagement tool that's going to be the communication channel to the employees? So it's it's interesting times and I think that the business cases are all going to be reviewed and stacked up and and and ultimately it'll be what's the best thing for that business at that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So business leaders, kind of in your mind. What should they be thinking about as we look towards, I suppose, the next 12, 18 months? We're faced by these, certainly in the UK and Europe and who knows what happens in America cost, challenges and pressures that are coming. So what should they be thinking about?
Speaker 2:Well, business leaders I'm talking to today. Everyone's watching cash. Everyone's watching you know the profit lines and I think that when we look, especially in the near future, I think that where can organizations really maximize their opportunities on career development and skills so that you're retaining your top talent? I think that if you're investing in your people and you're supporting, you'll get greater retention For sure. We've seen loads of studies that you know people, if they've got a clear career path, they'll stay longer and I think that level of uncertainty will encourage people to stay in the role that they're in. So I think those are the sort of key areas that organizations are really going to be looking at Keeping really top talent.
Speaker 2:But you need to invest and you don't have to have money to do that. Most people will work for money, right, that's the majority of all these surveys that you get. People want to get paid at the end of the day. But if you have a great culture, if you invest and you reward them, just even from a simple well done, you've done a great job today. Or you've done something brilliant with that customer, and look what you've done in that sale today. Or you've done something brilliant with that customer, and look what you've done in that sale, like just that level of recognition can make an absolute difference in in how people feel in the work that they do, and so the cultural aspect, I think, really can help drive that growth momentum and help people stay in the business, which then means that you get better experiences and that your customers do, and hopefully they spend more with you and you continue to grow. You know it's the basics, but it's if some organizations forget how to do that really well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, agreed, and I think there's a real dichotomy for people at the moment of do you try and save your way out of the current economic climate or do you try and invest your way out of it, and probably the answer somewhere somewhere in the middle and either end of the spectrum is tricky. So um, exciting times, tricky times, but um always leads to innovation and growth, which is, uh, when we look back, I'm sure in a couple of years, something we'll see from from this period yeah perfect.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll pause there w Wendy, so Helen and Paul to come in episodes two and three. Really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share your views and telling us a bit more about WH People. If people want to reach out to you, find you what's the best channel mechanism to do that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love LinkedIn. Anyone that knows me knows I love a linkedin selfie with a client, so, uh, yeah, if you want to reach I please feel free to brilliant, so linkedin is the best place.
Speaker 1:We'll put a link to your profile in the show notes so people can find it easily. And just leaves me say thanks once again, wendy enjoyed the chat and thanks for coming on thank you so much.
Speaker 2:I hope you're feeling better, simon thanks.
