Best of everything
Bringing together any two companies is a mammoth administrative task, but BaxterStorey director Linda Halliday saw it as an opportunity to cherry pick.
"The most important job was to nurture the BaxterStorey culture - bringing together the best of both companies for the benefit of our clients." She explains. "We've completed a restructure that realigns policy and procedures. That will make administration much easier for clients - but we've also looked closely at recruitment and training."
"We want to attract the best people," she adds, "because that's what our clients expect. BaxterStorey has a policy of paying employees above market rate and offering benefit packages comparable with those offered by larger competitors. We've just introduced a 'Choices' lifestyle discount scheme that's had a really positive reaction from everyone."
ENCOURAGING SELF-MOTIVATION
Recruiting the right staff is fundamental. So BaxterStorey has developed 'values-based recruitment' - an interview procedure that helps to choose people who are absolutely right for a particular job - whether it's front of house, a chef, or an area manager.
The company's management training programme has been created to deliver the BaxterStorey message throughout the organisation. It enables managers to help their teams by encouraging self-motivation, accountability and the need to take ownership of career development.