Annual turnover: 1.1 billion
HR director: Sue Malti
The company now known as First Quench has had an eventful few years. In 1998, drinks giants Whitbread and Allied Domecq merged their off-licence businesses, Victoria Wine and Thresher, to form First Quench. In September 1999, Allied Domecq sold its half of the company to Punch Taverns. Then in October 2000 Whitbread and Punch sold First Quench and its 2,600 off-licences to Nomura Internationals Principal Finance Group, run by swashbuckling financier Guy Hands. In April 2002, First Quench was transferred to Terra Firma Capital Partners, Hands new financing vehicle.
Confused? Think what it was like for the staff. When we started to look at the business we found a much bigger mess and more confusion than we thought we would, admits HR director Sue Malti who joined the firm last year. That is an understatement: there were no central systems in place to manage stocks and off-licence managers ran their own quirky little outlets, often with completely the wrong offering for the area.
After a leadership audit the whole board left
There have been changes at all levels at First Quench, not just in the shops. When Terra Firma Capital Partners acquired First Quench, it ran a leadership audit to assess the existing management. According to chief executive David Williams, the audit by headhunters Whitehead Mann found the former managers to be off the chart the wrong way. It confirmed the views that I had, Williams told the Financial Times. The whole board left after the audit.
Further down the organisation people were crying out for a better idea of what their jobs were really all about, says Malti. They wanted clarity about the job, about performance measures, about how they would be rewarded, she says. They wanted to know how they could share in what we were trying to do.
A testing ground for putting some basic HR principles in place
The firm thus became an interesting testing ground for getting some basic HR principles in place. For example, Malti has completely revitalised consultation at the business. The business is divided up into 65 regional areas which all elect representatives, and eight of these representatives sit on the national liaison body, she explains. The managing director and I meet the national representatives roughly every quarter.
Performance management has changed radically too, with bonus schemes available on the principle of when we create value, we share value. The firm has tried to establish greater clarity in job descriptions, runs regular appraisals, and has made performance-related pay available to all staff.
The key thing is that when people turn up for work they know what they are supposed to do, and what not, Malti says. You enhance performance immediately when people understand what adds value. Our staff understand the concepts of profit and loss as well. We have done a lot of training on financial awareness. People need to know that they are a critical asset without that you havent got a business, she adds.
I think you have got to keep HR simple, Malti says. It really is all about getting employees engaged in the business youre trying to create: have proper performance measurement, pay people properly and reward delivery.
