PSD 62 Queen StreetLondon EC4R 1EB

Telephone+44 (0)207 970 9700Emaillondon@psdgroup.com

www.psdgroup.com

Craig McCoy talks to PSD HR about the importance of employee engagement?

Engagement has become a key HR agenda point facing forward-thinking organisations, often driven by a burning platform for change within the organisation.PSD had the pleasure of meeting Craig McCoy, HR Director at The Crown Estate to discuss his experiences around this topic. Craig is an experienced HR Director with a preference for delivering measurable change within a number of key industries; he has worked within property, media, telecommunications and healthcare and recently has been appointed Chair of London HR Connection, a key HR Networking group.

Craig started our discussion by highlighting that engagement is built around the pillars of

an organisation’s vision, business strategy and the need to deliver change. A snapshot

of an organisation from the HR Director’s perspective is essential to understand what the

business is going through at that point in time. In 2011 Craig McCoy was HR Director at

Bupa, a global mutual healthcare services business, where he championed engagement

as a major tool to re-energise the organisation. The question for the staff at this point

was, “where do you and your role fit into the new proposition for healthcare?”

When Craig joined Bupa it was facing a number of industry issues including the high

price of private healthcare (only 10% of the British population have private healthcare

as a result); saturated markets and the downturn from 2008 still had a major financial

impact on the organisation. The business needed to move forward by reinventing itself

as a healthcare partner – this meant a seismic change in the approach of the business

and its employees. This lead to a new cost model, a consultancy approach, the nature of

products and services sold and the need to quickly expand Bupa’s footprint. However

most importantly a more proactive approach to the management of new healthcare

services across the business.

With the economy improving the issue of employee engagement and retention of people is high on the agenda for organisations in 2015. Craig discusses the importance of building engagement from

all corners, and at all levels, of your organisation. He reflects on his time influencing and directing the engagement of an international business with 22 million customers, and his most recent challenge of

transforming and improving HR structures in a mature business.

Craig McCoy

Acorn Care & EducationInterim Group HR Director

The Crown EstateHead of HR

BUPAHR Director

AEG IS MediaHR Director

As HR Director, Craig speaks about the idea of being able to re-invent the HR process at

Bupa and to significantly change an operation in a B2B business requiring a multi-year engagement approach. It

is also important to take stock and calibrate success. The idea of employee heath as a driver within engagement

is overlooked by many organisations, however engagement metrics show its importance and he finishes off his

discussion around his BUPA experience by pointing to the fact that engagement can go wrong without

follow up and lack of congruency.

Engagement will continue to push its way to the top of the HR agenda for many forward thinking businesses who

want to achieve success. Employers can do a lot to impact on levels of engagement and the virtuous circle around

it. Craig’s experiences have shown that the impact HR can make in an organisation is fundamental to its success.

As a Recruitment Partner to many leading organisations, PSD’s HR Practice can testify to this as we have noticed

an increase in demand for candidates who have lead engagement programmes in previous roles, either as an HR

Generalist or as engagement specialists within a particular project role.

Craig is about to complete his role at The Crown Estate where he holds an Interim HR Director role, his focus is on

transforming HR to make it more strategic and to create a stronger team. With a relatively new CEO in place and

a ten year business plan, Craig’s role is focussed on working closely with the experienced senior team to review his

new HR Agenda and how the newly hired HR team could support senior management on a more strategic level. Re-

building the HR team was very much about understanding the drivers of change and goals of the new business plans; this required a paradigm shift in how they manage and hire employees.

Craig emphasised that he quickly moved to get the buy-in from management across the engagement agenda as

a strategy to lead change. He implemented a high touch approach, where all 3500 staff could voice their opinions

on key topics and any ‘off-track’ behaviours that were affecting groups of employees were dealt with. People were

encouraged to pledge the change that they could individually make based on group feedback. This data also

provided a strong behavioural model that Craig shared with the business and leadership teams to deliver loyalty

to the brand. He was able to create a virtuous circle where he showed how the people agenda and profit are

closely linked. New Learning & Development initiatives were created including skills workshops for all employees

and specialist training for managers, new performance scorecards and a blueprint which linked reward structures

and bonuses. He then ensured that programmes for re-enforcement were put in place with new indices and data,

including new measures for employee engagement; management effectiveness and index of commitment. The end

result was a richer picture of what was really working for Bupa.

PSD HR Practice

Patrick DahillProperty, Financial Services & Banking+ 44 207 970 9630

PSD HR Practice

Anthony AlexandrouTechnology, Oil and Gas, Reward+ 44 207 970 9614

PSD HR Practice

Richard PlaistoweFinancial and Professional Services+44 207 970 9613