'It's critically important to have support of staff'

The merger between Britannia and The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) was made offical seven months ago.  So what has been happening since, and how have the 2,000 employees based in Leek reacted?  Business editor David Johnson spoke to CFS's chief operating officer Tim Franklin.

YOUR perception of change in the workplace sometimes depends on your position within the business.

Often hailed as a driver for career development opportunities by senior executives, it is just as often seen as ushering in a period of uncertainty and anxiety by large sections of the workforce.

So the results of The Co-operative Financial Services' (CFS) latest employee satisfaction survey will be welcomed by directors at the organisation.

At the end of last year – five months into a three-year programme to integrate Leek-based Britannia Building Society and Manchester-based CFS – 94 per cent of staff said they were proud to work for the new business and 87 per cent felt they were "fully engaged" with the brand.

Tim Franklin, chief operating officer at CFS, accepts uncertainty over which functions will be carried out at which location has been tough for employees.

But he praised staff at Leek for their commitment – and promised commitment from directors in return.

"It is critically important we have their support," he said.

"The results of the survey are fantastic and that goodwill always demonstrates that commitment to us and the customers.

"If they are engaged with the business they will be engaged with the customers.

"This sort of backing is certainly industry-leading and I would think they are among the best of any sort of company in the UK.

"Colleagues in Leek have been on quite a journey, as all of us have, because change can be quite scary.

"But Leek continues to be a key location, and that was a pre-condition to the merger. That wasn't up for grabs. We have honoured that and we will keep honouring that."

The new structure of four out of seven tiers of management has already been put in place, but decisions about which functions will be carried out in Leek have yet to be taken. That will be done on a step-by-step basis, while it will take up to three years to fully integrate IT systems.

Mr Franklin says communication with the Leek workforce is a top priority as cultures, systems and departments are merged.

He says: "We have defined the strategy for the new business and our mission, which is to be the UK's most admired financial services business.

"We have rolled that out to all 13,000 colleagues through a series of events.

"Every member of staff has heard from directors about the direction of the business.

"When we have got something to say we will stand up in front of colleagues and say it – that is always the way we have done things."

There are now 2,090 people employed at the Leek base – a fall of 70 since the same time last year.

The majority of this has come from not replacing people who leave, although there have been some transfers to CFS offices in Manchester and London. There have been no compulsory redundancies.

Mr Franklin says: "This is a significant place for us and we have been here for 150 years.

"We have got about 2,000 people working here and we have got no plans to change that. People may be doing different things, but that would have been happening anyway.

"There is more diversity across the business in different locations around the UK, so someone joining the business today has more opportunities to progress. For most people that is more exciting than scary."

The internal communications drive includes a new intranet system and a CFS-wide newsletter, and there are monthly "cascade briefings" where chief executive Neville Richardson shares key messages which are then passed down to all employees.

A start has also been made on harmonising products. As a result, 35,000 Britannia members have seen their standard variable rate mortgage rates fall by 0.25 per cent to 4.25 per cent to match the CFS offer.

And before the end of March a handful of Britannia branches will be offering Co-operative Bank current accounts before they are made available at every outlet by the end of the year.

Mr Franklin believes the business is now benefiting from the crisis of trust in high street banks.

He says: "We saw current accounts grow by 140,000 in 2009 compared to 2008, and a four-fold increase in customers coming to us from state-owned banks.

"We don't seek to make hay out of these banks, but there's no doubt they came to us because we represent something different."