Ceri Gott, Chief People Officer at Hawksmoor, the award-winning restaurant chain and Top 100 place to work employer, blogs about the company’s commitment to high quality jobs and how working with ESRC PrOPEL Hub researchers transformed their people management practices
It was January 2021 when Professor Colin Lindsay from the ESRC PrOPEL Hub research team at Strathclyde Business School came knocking. Over the past year we had closed, opened, closed again, opened again, welcomed thousands of customers back in, hired 800 people, flex-ed to changes, and stepped up – it was after Christmas and the managers were really tired. They were working hard and the last thing on my mind was to ask them to do anything they didn’t have to do.
So why did I ask over 100 Hawksmoor colleagues to engage with Colin’s online survey, and a number to be interviewed about our people and culture?
Before leading people, planning and more recently purpose, at Hawksmoor I had spent over a decade as a Government Economist, including as a National Expert on labour productivity. I remain passionate about finding ways to help organisations to grow positively for people, profit and planet – the opportunity to be part of the primary research was too good to miss. We had managed to grow from a small operation in London to an award-winning international brand and BCorp with 1,250 people working across 7 cities, whilst being named both a Top 100 Best Company to work for, and a 3 star Sustainable Restaurant by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, in each of the 13 years I had been there. We had demonstrated it is possible to be profitable and make a positive difference. But in challenging times, it’s even more important to be creative and collaborative to benefit from new ideas and solutions.
What did we find out?
Despite the challenges Covid had thrown hospitality, we had some exceptional results. Nine in ten Hawksmoor employees were positive about job security, and similar proportions felt supported by their team and trusted by their line manager. Eight in ten of our colleagues were positive about their learning and development opportunities. I was delighted to hear from the Strathclyde team that levels of engagement among our people were the highest of any private sector organisation that they had worked with, and they had sampled 3,500 employees across 30 organisations. We also had the highest score for the transparency and effectiveness of our communication with the team during Covid – the hard work had paid off and we were living up to our commitment to putting people at the heart of everything we do.
We have five people promises – everyone at Hawksmoor should expect to work somewhere they feel proud to work; have professional development through our training menu which offers training for all positions, and opportunities for learning beyond their job role; support if they need it, including through our Employee Assistance Programmes, income insurance, mental health first aiders and maternity and paternity pay. Last but not least, fair treatment and a good manager. Hawksmoor has consistently invested in management development – putting emotional intelligence at the heart of a five stage programme – including cultivating self-awareness, listening and inclusive behaviours – and this showed up in the fact the colleagues felt so supported by their line manager.
How has it helped us to get better?
We also learnt practices to help us continue to evolve. The Strathclyde Business School team identified the opportunity for enhancing ‘job crafting’ to improve both employee engagement and productivity. The term job crafting was new to me, but has become my number one technique for driving efficiencies – it’s as simple as asking people what changes they want to make to enhance their efficiency and enjoyment. By helping people take control and improve the quality of their jobs, it empowers people and encourages innovation from the bottom up. Win win. The Strathclyde team equipped us to embed this in the business with two interactive workshops they ran for managers at one of our London restaurants. Since then, it has lived on in our management programme, review questions and annual workshops.
Colin made it easier for us by bringing the research out of the university and sharing it in a way that made sense to our restaurant managers, chefs, and leaders with actionable exercises. We already had plenty of practices in place but a fresh perspective and evidence-based approach from the Strathclyde team, helped us evolve. It reaffirmed my belief in the value of collaborating with the university sector.
“The Strathclyde Business School team identified the opportunity for enhancing ‘job crafting’ to improve both employee engagement and productivity… The Strathclyde team equipped us to embed this in the business with two interactive workshops they ran for managers at one of our London restaurants. Since then, it has lived on in our management programme, review questions and annual workshops… We already had plenty of practices in place but a fresh perspective and evidence-based approach from the Strathclyde team, helped us evolve.”
And why do I believe the findings are more important than ever?
Productivity is more important than ever as businesses grapple with increased labour costs. But my experience as a National Expert in productivity, coupled with direct experience of building and growing a successful business, has taught me that labour productivity is so much more than labour efficiency or labour cost.
It is people who get things done and create the value in our companies – through their time, skills and their energy. If businesses just focus on managing time, they are missing half the picture. Colin shared with us more evidence that good people practices, including job crafting, can drive both motivation (improving engagement) and efficiency (saving time). I also learnt that people who work in companies with good people practices have better health outcomes and live longer. Running a truly sustainable business, one that retains and replenishes people, and a sustainable economy – one that improves workers’ long term health and quality of life – starts here.
