26.03.09 BENEFITS HELP CAMPBELL DALLAS REDUCE ABSENCE

 Focusing on employee priorities in its benefits package helped accountancy firm Campbell Dallas reduce its staff turnover and absence.

The Paisley-based firm, which has 160 staff, did not even have an HR department until two years ago, when Yvonne Anderson was recruited as HR manager. After she carried out a company-wide survey of staff, it was revealed that the top three priorities employees wanted to see were increased holiday allowance, a new contributory pension scheme and more flexible hours. Having now implemented all three benefits the company has seen its staff turnover reduce from 17 per cent to 10 per cent, while absence rates are now negligible.

Anderson, who has now been joined by a colleague to form a two-strong HR department, said that HR had proved its worth, despite the resistance that could exist as a result of the traditional partnership structure among accountants.

"In professional services firms of our size, HR is often seen as an expense. When you have 16 partners, not all of them will have good prior impressions or experiences of HR," said Anderson. "Reducing turnover and absence have been important because they go straight to the bottom line, which is what accountants value, and seeing costs go down is something we can all appreciate. When I joined, there were few HR figures kept, but there was a general feeling that we were losing too many people."

Increasing holiday allowances could also result in a net advantage to the firm as staff come back to work in a better frame of mind and are less likely to take time off sick, she added. Also, being flexible about hours does not cost anything to implement, she said.

Campbell Dallas was awarded "One to Watch" status in the recent Best Companies accreditation scheme. This shows the worth of "doing the basics of HR" and "having the right number of staff doing the right amount of work", said Anderson.

Publication: People Management Magazine
Date: 26 March 2009