January 2017 / Issue 1

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Find out how sheexplored the wholeof America

YOLO, YONO OROHNO!Getting to knowGeneration Z...

HIRE THE RIGHTTEAMS AND THENSTAY OUT OF THEIRWAYDoing corporate culturethe Netflix way

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KEEPING YOURTEAMS 'UP' WITHSURPRISE ANDDELIGHTKeeping the newyear positivity alive!

Find out howInnocent Drinks andUber do it.

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Once a month insights, features and interviews forHR professionals in hospitality

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Contents

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07

09

Keeping yourteams UP with'surprise anddelight

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YOLO, YONO orOHNO!

HIRE THE RIGHTTEAMS ANDTHEN STAY OUTOF THEIR WAY

50 Broadway, St James, London,SW1H

020 7152 4107

www.damgoodpensions.com

Getting to knowGeneration Z

How can you keep theKeep the new yearpositivity alive? Findout how InnocentDrinks and Uber do it.

Doing corporateculture the Netflix way

ISSUE 1

16 Sandyford Place, Glasgow,G3 7NB

0141 222 2045

info@damgoodpensions.com

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09 09

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The 'Pension Surgeon'sview!

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January

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03

08

09

02

ROBO vs HUMAN

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KEEPING YOUR TEAMS 'UP' WITHSURPRISE AND DELIGHT

It’s that time again...

The end of the first month of a new year which might feel like joyousprogress but for many, oooh let’s be specific and say 66%, you have, or areabout to crash off the wagon of good intention and watch your dreams of abetter you, a better life, being the shiniest happy person in the workplaceand ever getting into these jeans again, evaporate.

According to the latest research, only 44% of us make it into February withour sparklingly positive New Year resolutions intact.

For the rest of us, it was just too hard. During an interview with a PersonalTrainer/Nutritionist on the subject of health and wellbeing in theworkplace recently, the following nugget dropped into the conversation:

“If you can stick with anything for three weeks, it becomes life changing. It’s no longer new or something ‘other people do’ - it becomes you."

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

HR & HOSPITALITY

“If you can stickwith anything forthree weeks, it becomes life

changing. It’s nolonger new or

something ‘otherpeople do’ - itbecomes you"

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

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Find out how Innocent Drinks keep their teams 'UP' (page 6)

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of ‘surprise and delight’ is in itsimpulsiveness.

Each person in your hotel is (orshould be) trying to deliver anexperience that goes aboveand beyond the expectations ofany guest so that a) that guestgenuinely has a great time b)

tells everyone about the greattime they had and c) comesback again to have anothergreat time.

Great experience.Ambassadors. Loyalty.

Exactly what you want to becreating within your teams –

everything that recruitment andretention is built around.

We know (and we’re pretty sureyou do too) that employeebenefits programmes, rewardand recognition are thebedrock of employeeengagement and in creating apositive, healthy and happycompany culture butsometimes it’s the little things -

the 'make someone's daythings, the quirky things, thefree things, the 'make someonesmile' things that you can do toengage your teams indelivering the bestperformance.

The ‘surprise and delight’things.

We’ve gathered a few bits andbobs over the page which wefound really interesting andquite inspirational to surpriseand delight you, so you cansurprise and delight yourteams.

And there it is. The secret forthe successful adoption ofgood habits.

It’s about pushing through thatthree-week period (that we’veall come through), not givingup, exerting the mostphenomenal amounts ofwillpower and determinationand once you’re into week four,hey – you’ve practically done it.

You might not have achievedyour goal yet, but you’ve madea good intention become apositive habit.

So how does all of this relateto the workplace?

Well, because lots of these newyear good intentions might justbe about to get kicked to thekerb in your teams. And that’swhen the negativity creeps in,and starts to breed, and youknow what happens next.

You can stop that dead in itstracks.

How?

We’re the employee benefitsspecialists, so we could talkuntil we’re blue in the faceabout that but we won’t. Whatwe will give you is this.

Surprise and delight!

It’s the very essence of whatevery hospitality business istrying to do for each guest andit shouldn’t be any different inthe workplace. Yes there canbe a longer term strategy forthis but sometimes the beauty

Yes there can be a

longer term

strategy for this

but sometimes the

beauty of ‘surprise

and delight’ is in

its impulsiveness

PAGE 10 HR & HOSPITALITY EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

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PAGE 13 HR & HOSPITALITY EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

The formula for successful'surprise and delight' - how tomake employees feel specialand important and evoke thesense of ‘going the extra mile’

'How to surprise and delightyour employees'

CEO Magazine

Read: http://bit.ly/2ksDyy9

Find out how the 'Sexy PowerSuit' and the 'Lift ofLoooooove' surprised anddelighted staff at InnocentDrinks.

Watch: YouTubehttps://youtu.be/OfY48B3uU94

Get your ‘Surprise and Delight’framework here, find out why alow cost approach works andlook at how Uber did it.

'Surprise and Delight (Thenreap the social reward)' Fistfulof Talent

Read: http://bit.ly/16hH9bF 05

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

I A MC O N V I N C E D

T H A TC O M P A N I E S

S H O U L D P U TS T A F F F I R S T ,

C U S T O M E R SS E C O N D A N D

S H A R E H O L D E R ST H I R D -

U L T I M A T E L YT H A T ' S I N T H E

B E S T I N T E R E S TO F C U S T O M E R S

A N DS H A R E H O L D E R S

R I C H A R D B R A N S O N

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YOLO, YONO OR OHNO!

G E T T I N G T OK N O W

G E N E R A T I O NZ

A common assumption made by employers is that employee benefits are of interest only to olderemployees and younger people don’t really care too much. You're expecting us to follow that with “no ofcourse EVERYONE is fascinated by pensions”. They're not. Life, business and your employees are morecomplicated than that but there is more than a grain of truth in the idea that our view of benefits changesas we get older.

CHANGING WORKFORCE

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They’re part of a new breed – it goes way beyondGeneration Y, which they're most likely to be partof. Their breed is Generation YOLN (You OnlyLive Now)!

The bright young things. The really bright ones,breaking the mould and turning the world on itshead a bit.

It’s real, it’s a movement, it’s been shaped byglobal recession, war, terrorism, technology andthe knowledge that you can lose everything veryquickly, so why bother having anything at all?

When we did our 2015 research at DAM, we found that 71% of our respondents would like theiremployer to give them a pot of money for their employee benefits which they can use to ‘buy’ the perksthey would most value.

CHANGING WORKFORCE

And here’s the latest thing, about these brightyoung things…

They are the antithesis of many parts ofGeneration X who defined success as a good job,a pension, a partner, a family, a nice house in anice area, nice holidays and a future where youcan grow old, retire comfortably and generallyhave a nice successful life where everything’sdinky doo and pretty safe and stable.

Generation YOLN don’t give a monkeys aboutany of that stuff because in their world, things arehere today and gone tomorrow so why ‘keepSunday best for a Sunday’ – let’s blow the lotnow, have some fun, make some memories,travel, experience life, laugh, be happy, breakfree, live. Today. For the moment.

Because you could be dead and buried in aweek.

Tomorrow might not come.

They want whatever it is they want, right now.This minute. They don’t want to have to wait, andponder, and save up and build mild excitementover a long period of time.

They want the rush, now.

CHANGING WORKFORCE

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They won’t plan a holiday. They’ll just go.

They won’t plan a meal. They’ll just see how they feel,where they are, and what they feel like having.

When you ask them “What are you up to thisweekend?”, they won’t know, because they won’tcommit (unless they have to) – they’ll keep thingsopen until they’re sure that they have enough of theright options on the table to pick the best one.

Because life is short. And they know they’re prettygreat – they have confidence, so they want the best forthemselves in terms of what life can offer, or rather,what they can get out of life.

CHANGING WORKFORCE

T H E YW A N T T H E B E S T

F O RT H E M S E L V E S I N

T E R M S O FW H A T L I F E C A N

O F F E R

They are energetic, exciting, creative, positive, cleverpeople who treat life as it should be treated – as aprecious thing. They just make the most out of it in ashort term way, because that’s what they’re all about.Mostly. They’re not limited to Generation Y, there areX-ers in there and there will be a scattering of 21 yearold Z-eds too.

So how does that all stack up for you as an employer,trying to keep these people engaged, motivated andloyal so that you can reap the rewards for yourbusiness by having people like that working for you inthe first place?

It’s not an easy one, because you can bet that they willrent rather than buy, spend rather than save and livenow rather than wait.

For anything.

When we talk about Generation YOLN, you can be surethat there are a good few in that 71% we mentionedearlier.

Because choice is important to them.

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W E L I V E I N AW O R L D

C H A R A C T E R I S E DB Y

V O L A T I L I T YA N D

U N C E R T A I N T Y

CHANGING WORKFORCE

There is nothing wrong with either but if you’re goingto launch an employee benefits programme, you needto know your camps, so you need to listen, have yourfinger on the pulse of change and look at future trendsand insights.

Employees are no longer a homogenous group. It’s agiant mix of Generation X, Y, Z (and YOLN and mostdefinitely sometimes, OH NO!), they all want differentthings (and some of them want it right now!). Weknow, we spoke to them and we asked the questions.They gave us the answers.

The landscape is changing. Every day.

Be the future.

Understand their world, understand them and bringthem closer to you.

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You can educate them on the benefits of pensions and mortgages and that helps (a lot…and youneed to be doing that to get the return on your employee benefits programme and because youhave a duty of care as an employer) but ultimately, they will want to have control over their ownchoices of benefits because they build their lives differently from previous generations.

We live in a world characterised by volatility and uncertainty and you can probably divide peopleinto two camps – the ones who are ‘careful’ in their approach to life and financial planning becausethe future is uncertain and you never know what could happen next and the ones who want to livenow and make the most of their lives while they can.

T H E Y T R E A T L I F E A S I T

S H O U L D B ET R E A T E D

- A S AP R E C I O U S

T H I N G

CHANGING WORKFORCE

ROBO vs HUMAN- THE 'PENSION SURGEON'S' VIEW

Technology will never replace the experience of 1:1 pension meetings.

Before you say "Of course he would say that...he's not a Millennial orGeneration X-er (and he advises on pensions)"... hear me out.

Financial advice in all forms is important – whether it be in a decisionregarding paying back debt, saving for your future, protecting your lovedones and buying your first house. Technology is here to stay, there is nodoubt and it certainly plays a role in assisting with the financial adviceexperience.

In health terms I read about how you can now check your sugar levels andother physical attributes with online technology (even mobile apps). This isdefinitely an important development in monitoring and recording data.However, you still need to have the diabetes nurse explain what theindicators mean for you on recording high levels of sugar and the dieticianto explain and recommend a suitable personal diet/exercise programme. Inmy opinion the need for social (face to face) interaction in many sectors ofindustry will remain.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

HR & HOSPITALITY

“The need forsocial (face toface) interactionin many sectorsof industry willremain."

FINANCIAL EDUCATION

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Responses don’t allowimmediate further investigationor follow up in that moment intime not to mention the “gut”reaction to a specific questionwhich can tell a lot about howcomfortable an individual iswith, for example, a certain typeof investment.

My experiences of pension 1:1meetings has also allowed anindividual to identify furtherareas in which they requireassistance. Whether it be theirmortgage, life cover for spouse,Will writing or help with taxissues (even reclaiming higherrate tax relief).

I accept an individual can makea request for such support butthe trust built up in the 1:1 andthe discussion lead chat opensup these issues allowingresolution to take place.

A financially assured and stressfree individual will certainly bea more productive one. I havebeen called many things, but Idid think the comment fromone of my clients whointroduced me to anothercolleague as the 'PensionsSurgeon quite apt. We do offerand provide financial surgery toresolving the most suitableoutcome within the financialhealth check market.

Happy as always to performsome DAM pain free surgeryand to discuss your companypension requirements if that'son your to do list.

Whilst not being a completeluddite towards technologicaladvancements (I have livedthrough the introduction of thecomputer over last 30+ years)... - technology will enhance theexperience allowing interactiveprojections and modellingscenarios during your meeting.However, I genuinely believenothing replaces a face-to-facemeeting.

You immediately build up awarmth and credibility fromthat first meeting – that smile orhandshake. Something I don’tbelieve the technology canfully replicate just yet.

A 1:1 meeting is more than justthat. It allows an individual toopen up and chat about allaspects of their life andcircumstances.

Financial advice is not astraightforward exact sciencewith predictable scenarios.Thankfully we are all differentor the world would be a lesscolourful place.

Many unique aspects combineto complicate financialsituations – stage of life andpersonal aspirations to namejust two. Obtaining aspects ofan individual’s lifestyle,financial background andcircumstances are crucial toenable an understanding to beestablished which ultimatelywill lead to a suitablerecommendation.

Whilst technology can allowquestions to be posed from afarthey don’t get under the skin ofa specific case.

You immediately

build up a warmth

and credibility

from that first

meeting – that

smile or

handshake.

Something I don’t

believe the

technology can

fully replicate just

yet.

PAGE 10 HR & HOSPITALITY

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FINANCIAL EDUCATION

Alex KeddieCorporate Benefits Consultantalex@damgoodpensions.com

HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLEAND THEN STAY OUT OFTHEIR WAY

C O R P O R A T EC U L T U R E

T H EN E T F L I X

W A Y

The whole point of creating a great place to work is to keep hold of the best teams and attract fresh,new and exciting talent to growing even better teams.

Not news really. CHANGING WORKFORCE

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CORPORATE CULTURE

For any employee benefits programme, that has to beyour end goal and result. If you haven’t managed tocreate a great place to work, then something’s not rightsomewhere else.

Here’s the thing. You can portion off a sizeable chunk ofyour budget to develop an employee benefitsprogramme, because it’s what all your competitors aredoing and it’s all very ‘now’ and it’s the thing to doBUT…if you have a company culture which is just a bit‘off’, then anything you layer on top of that is going tofeel like an ‘epic fail’.

There are companies that operate within the samesector, offering the same types of employee benefits

and spend similar amounts of money investing intheir people who fall into two camps – the goodguys and the bad guys. They offer the sameservices but they have very, very differentreputations when it comes to company cultureand what it’s actually like to work there.

So what’s your company culture? Do you haveone? Is it great? Is it horrendous?

Taking employee benefits right out of theequation for the moment (we rarely saythat…we’re employee benefits advisers), look atyour organisation for what it is, in the cold light ofday. Is it really a great place to work? Is it even agood place to work? How can you develop abetter culture and lock your employees intoinvesting their entire (work) being into yourmission, rather than headlock them into turningup at the office day in, day out to dance to yourtune whilst gritting their teeth?

You develop the best ‘them’, that’s what you do.If you can bring out someone’s best version ofthemselves at the workplace, your business willvibrate with success. Good culture.

If you bring out someone’s worst version ofthemselves at the workplace, they will grudgeevery minute they spend with you and takeeveryone around them down with them in theirspiral of toxic negativity. Bad culture.

CORPORATE CULTURE

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Every employee in your organisation should come towork every day feeling excited, proud, with belief inyour organisation, your mission and the way you dothings. That’s what makes the difference between oneof your team doing a job, and doing an amazing job.

But how do you transform a terrible culture into a greatone and actually, can you even do that? Does thatmean you have to change the way people are? Yesprobably.

Right at the top. If you’re considering introducing anemployee benefits programme, you need to be reallyup front and honest about what’s going down in yourcompany culture, because that’s going to be a keyfactor in determining how successful your employeebenefits programme will be.

CHANGING WORKFORCE

If you can bring out

someone’s best

version of themselves at

the workplace,

your business will

vibrate with success.

Good culture.

If you bring out someone’s

worst version of

themselves at the

workplace, they will

grudge every minute they

spend with you and take

everyone around them

down with them in their

spiral of toxic negativity.

Bad culture.

You wouldn’t move a lovely, brand new piece offurniture into a pigsty of a room and sit back and think“Yeah, that works really well – much better”. You do thetidying up and the groundwork before bringing in newstuff. Create the right environment to introduce newthings.

Gone are the days when we manufacture the desiredcorporate culture. It doesn’t work like that. It just fallsapart. What’s happening now is that there’s a shift to‘being real’, or ‘getting real’.

Be honest about who you are and what your values asa company actually are and if they don’t stand up asbeing honest values, you need to change them. Valuesneed to be believed to be lived and breathed. Toomany companies have values that sound great, butaren’t real because people in the organisation justdon’t behave that way, and they aren't lived at the 'top'.

So if people don’t behave that way, they’re notbelieving what the company stands for and they’re notbought in to helping that organisation to fulfil itsmission statement. Communication needn’t be awful.

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B E H O N E S T A B O U T W H O Y O U A R EA N D

W H A T Y O U RC O M P A N Y

V A L U E S A C T U A L L Y A R E

You wouldn’t movea lovely, brand newpiece of furnitureinto a pigsty of aroom and

sit back and think“Yeah, that worksreally well – much

better”.

CORPORATE CULTURE

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Communication works when the structure bit is structured really, really well, accessible to all andwhen there are enough opportunities for informal communication. Fairness and respect can beachieved by treating employees like grown ups.

Look at how Netflix revolutionised company culture, stating that it hires only “fully formed adults”,allowing the people they employ to work with freedom and responsibility, right down to unlimitedholiday time, expenses that do not require any approval and getting the job done in a timeframe thatproduces the best results, rather than sitting in the office putting in exhausting facetime (waste-

time!). The culture of “freedom and responsibility” is detailed in the legendary ‘Netflix Culture Deck’

(definitely worth a read).

T OT R U S T

A N Y T H I N GA N D

A N Y O N ER E Q U I R E S

T H A T H U G ES H I F T I NM I N D S E T

And we know that Google is the best company to workfor in the UK because of its “cool culture” and “amazingpeople” but did you know that it was also down to thelevel of trust given to employees? See the themeemerging? We’ve started to hear the phrase ‘hire theright people and then stay out their way’ more often inrecent years.

So yes, there is a movement here and maybe the key todeveloping a healthy, progressive, enviable companyculture is more about trust than we might have thought.It’s certainly seems to be the way things are going. Totrust anything and anyone sometimes requires that hugeshift in mindset, and perhaps this is what organisationsshould be looking at first before considering adding orsubtracting any element that makes it a great, or not sogreat place to work.

They do say that trust is the foundation that everything isbuilt on. Even corporate culture and the success ofemployee benefits programmes (well, we said that bit…)

Food for thought!

CORPORATE CULTURE

L E A DF R O MT H E B A C K -A N DL E T O T H E R SB E L I E V ET H E YA R E I NF R O N T

N E L S O N M A N D E L A

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Produced by Davidson Asset ManagementEditor: Mhairi Clarke

We hope you enjoyed reading!

Please do feedback your views on the magazine toinfo@damgoodpensions.com

The DAM Team!