When two become one
Wilson Storey Halliday and BaxterSmith merged in November 2004, although the resulting company, BaxterStorey, didn't start trading until January 2005. Among the many issues to resolve was HR.
BaxterStorey was ostensibly the product of two like-minded independent contract caterers, each run by well-known entrepreneurs in the industry.
Yet there was one key discrepancy: size.
At the time of the merger, Wilson Storey Halliday (WSH) had 1,600 staff and a turnover of £68m, while BaxterSmith had 600 staff and a turnover of £25m. In addition, WSH had an internal HR department, while BaxterSmith employed one part-time HR manager.
It was a clear opportunity for WSH to dominate, but according to one of its directors, HR and training director Linda Halliday, that wasn't ever going to happen. Both companies were particularly keen to ensure that BaxterSmith staff didn't perceive WSH as dominant and understood that it was a merger.
To do this they communicated a strong message to employees, gave them opportunities to mix and pulled people together from both companies to work on projects. Equally, very few day-to-day operational changes were made, so out in the contracts it was business as usual.
Halliday explains: "The easiest thing would have been to follow the structure of WSH, but we didn't want to achieve that. What we did was take the best from both." So, for instance, because WSH was stronger on benefits, the BaxterSmith staff have now got improved perks in areas such as pensions and life assurance.
The merger was also used as an opportunity to improve what already existed, so Halliday has introduced a new lifestyle discount scheme for holidays, insurance and retail products.
"Behind the scenes there was a lot of activity, but out in the business it has gone smoothly," says Halliday. "Nothing was dropped. More benefits were added."
The new company is obviously significantly bigger and steadily growing - although Halliday won't comment on the number of contracts it now has. "Contract numbers increase year-on-year but our culture is that we can still manage the business and our people on a personal level," she explains.
Pre-merger, in anticipation of the growth, Halliday invested in building up her team so that it could offer the same level of HR and training support to a greater workforce. She employed a full-time head of HR and a part-time training manager.
One unexpected effect of the merger has been an improvement in staff retention. Each management team was at pains to demonstrate to staff that working for a larger company would open up more opportunities for career progression. But they didn't anticipate the decrease in labour turnover: down by 10-12% on last year.
"Those things indicate that we are delivering," says Halliday. She concedes, however, that there is still work to do in bringing salary levels in the two companies in line with each other.
Article: www.caterersearch.com - 29 September 2005