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Home > All site sections > HR blogs and comment > HR blogs > Editors' blog

The FTSE files: British Gas

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James Brockett

23 Nov 2010 | 09:23

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Articles more than one month old can be viewed only by CIPD members or PM Subscribers.

At the CIPD’s annual conference this month I attended a session by Angela Williams, HR director of British Gas (she was also kind enough to repeat some of the highlights from it for us on this video interview).

One of the most interesting things she had to say was about how the “employee proposition” at British Gas has had to change in recent years in response to the “customer proposition”. Put simply, this means that as the customers expect more from the service (more flexible hours for call-outs, a quicker response, better communication, etc) there are also implications for the terms on which employees do their jobs – their shift patterns, working hours and flexibility. At British Gas the heightened customer expectation was enshrined in a ‘customer promise’ to mend your boiler on the same day if you call in the morning.

Williams said that one of the biggest recent achievements of the company (and of HR in particular) was bringing about these changes – which included renegotiating terms and conditions that had stayed the same for 30 years – in a harmonious way. She said it had required “major partnership activity” with unions.

It’s quite an achievement. When you review the history of other former nationalised companies, like Network Rail or British Airways, or even the soon-to-be-privatised Royal Mail, you can see that the slightest change to working conditions has often been enough to lead to conflict. In some of these industries the “customer proposition” has changed a lot (people are demanding more from the service) but the employee proposition – whether in respect of working hours, pay and pensions or job security – has been amazingly slow to shift.

So why has there been more of a success story at British Gas? It’s not that the unions have given the organisation an easy ride; indeed, GMB briefly threatened to strike in March before rejoining talks. It’s probably not solely due to its HR department doing a brilliant job (although I’m sure that they are). Instead, I’m inclined to think that it’s because your average gas fitter has more empathy with the customers than a train driver or postman. The gas man comes to your house, sees the predicament that you are in and helps you put it right. He speaks to the customers individually; he might even get a cup of tea. If he puts in extra effort, he can see that it is helping someone – and he certainly doesn’t want to go on strike and leave those old ladies with broken boilers shivering in the cold.

It’s hard for anyone to change the routines and terms on which they do their job, especially if the change means they have to work longer or harder. But if you are close to customers – close enough to see the whites of their eyes – perhaps it gets a little bit easier to understand why those changes must be made.

Comments

1. At 14:14 on 23 Nov 2010, Matthew William Lee wrote:

Why does James think there has been a success story? Is it because the HR Director, a member of People Management's editorial board, says so? I have had three unrelated contacts with British Gas in the current year. In all three cases service has been appalling, systems not fit for purpose and organisational structures clearly not working. The implications for HR are really quite sad if the HR department is doing a brilliant job - it clearly doesn't have much visible effect on 'the customer proposition'.
I believe utilitiies come out low in most customer service surveys, and BG towards the bottom. Improvement from a low base is something I suppose, but not visible to me. An ability to change a customer address after a death is surely more important than implimenting advanced management techniques. I've had at least a dozen attempts to get BG to change an address - they've still not got it quite right.
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2. At 13:53 on 10 Dec 2010, Angela Williams wrote:

Thank you for your comment posted on 23rd November. I was sorry to read of your experience and the issues you have had whilst dealing with us. It is always disappointing to read when things go wrong but our customers are telling us that we are getting better and the changes outlined in this article are helping us to achieve this. We always aim to get things right first time but with over 14 million customers occasionally things can go wrong as in your experience. When this happens we work hard to put things right as quickly as we can and liaise with our customers to reach a satisfactory resolution.

I am really keen to ensure that your issue is looked into and resolved for you and would be grateful if you could contact Helen Emms, our Head of Customer Relations, via Helen.Emms@centrica.co.uk so she can take details and background from you and ensure we address this matter for you swiftly.

Kind regards

Angela
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3. At 11:28 on 15 Dec 2010, Matthew William Lee wrote:

I have wasted so much time in contact with Customer Services and other functions that I really don't want to spend more time on this. I have cancelled two current contracts (customer services already having made generous payments to compensate for appalling service received). Even that may not work - debt collectors were put onto my church relating to another account cancelled years ago despite numerous calls and letters from me trying to explain the situation. After more than 20 attempts to get British Gas to communicate with me following the death of a previous contact the Company STILL cannot send all information to the correct address. This after "official" complaint and apologies. When I cancelled a BG central heating contract I was directly criticised by a supervisor for contacting the wrong department when trying to get a better deal, although I phoned the number given. I could go on and on and on (I just did!!)
All my contacts with E.ON suggest good service and systems in this sector can be delivered. I've no idea what its HR Department is doing but I could list half a dozen improvements which BG could make which could be instigated or developed by HR which could make a direct improvement to what Angela calls the customer proposition.
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