Outplacement Case study: William Hill plc

The background

In mid 2005, William Hill, the best known name in the UK betting industry acquired the retail bookmaking business of Stanley Leisure Plc. At the same time William Hill was also rolling out its electronic point of sale (Epos) systems in all its shops to speed up transactions and in addition it had embarked on a three year project to upgrade its IT infrastructure.

The task

William Hill engaged The Connect Team to work closely with a number of its employees at varying levels of seniority whose jobs were likely to be adversely affected by the reorganisation, changes to working practices and the inevitable consolidation that would result from merging the Stanley Leisure business into the William Hill organisation. A number of jobs would be lost and William Hill was concerned that employees should receive professional help where it was necessary for them to move on and embark on a career change.

The actions

During that time Connect spent several days each week over a period from September 2005 to April 2006 in the North West of England at Stanley House in Dale Street, Liverpool delivering group outplacement workshops, running open surgeries and a job club for employees who were impacted by the change. Connect consultants became familiar faces in the building and worked closely on a group and personal basis with over 100 people in disciplines ranging from Accounts, Commercial, General Management, HR/Payroll, IT, and Marketing to Security and Trading roles. Everyone who participated was offered the opportunity to attend general workshops and/or have private discussions with a Connect consultant about their individual concerns, circumstances and aspirations. All participants also received individual passwords to access the Connect comprehensive on-line suite of tools, exercises and advice to help them move forward positively.

At the same time Connect was also working with a number of William Hill employees at their regional offices throughout the UK, in particular in London, Leeds, Walsall and Glasgow to offer the same levels of help and support.

Where more senior employees or executives were affected Connect provided a personal one-to-one outplacement programme that was specifically tailored to the particular needs of each individual. Meetings were always held at venues and times to suit the candidates.

The results

The most obvious result is shown in the comments below - people were very pleased with the Connect service and enjoyed The success of the various programmes is probably best summed up by the high marks recorded by candidates in terms of their satisfaction and their positive comments, a selection of which are detailed below.

Feedback from employees of William Hill

"The Career Change workshop was very worthwhile and I cannot see how it could be improved."

"Very enjoyable and informative."

"Excellent communication, informative and fun."

"Perfect - well done!"

"Hard to improve on almost perfection!"

"Annie was very professional and very helpful, with lots of useful information."

"Thanks for all the feedback, and the speedy response it is much appreciated"

"I did the web site analysis and have spent considerable time reflecting on its conclusions"

"I have started as a regional manager. The parent company has earmarked $1billion for expansion of the company owned sites last year to the end of next. It feels great to be in at the beginning of this exciting adventure. Thank you for all your help."

 

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