AS A company in the forefront of consumer behaviour analysis, it is hardly surprising that dunnhumby puts a lot of effort into investigating how its own staff feel. A quiz called “employee thoughts” appears in the company's monthly newsletter, while last year 20 inhouse focus groups were convened in 10 countries to discover what really matters to staff at work. The results were collated and condensed into five “people promises”, covering fair recognition and reward, opportunities to progress, ensuring leaders are forward thinkers, having supportive managers and ensuring staff have the tools they need to succeed. There is a genuine commitment to listen to staff at dunnhumby, which means employees believe they can make a valuable contribution to the success of the organisation (an 82% positive score) and consider work to be an important part of their lives (80%). The company analyses data from more than 400m retail customers across the globe and is best known for establishing the Tesco Clubcard. The firm is now owned by the supermarket giant. Staff feel the London-based organisation is run on strong values and principles (81%). Chief executive Simon Hay is the longest-serving of the 848 employees with 22 years' service, and he and his global executive team try to be transparent with the workforce and communicate regularly. Hay introduced the “dunnhumby put simply” document which outlines the company's values. He carries a portable video camera with him at work, and edited clips of what he discovers are uploaded to his monthly video blog. He also hosts an internal Twitter-style microblog where the executive team debates various topics. Employees say the experience they are gaining will be valuable in the future (79%). The “my career” page on the company intranet advertises internal job opportunities and explains how someone's current role fits into the business. Staff are told to be curious and discover what they need to do to progress. They are urged to have the courage to commit to learning in order to gain the skills to develop their career and improve their professional and personal lives. Staff are happy with their work-life balance (67%) and an employee assistance programme supports people who are having problems in that area. Last year the company introduced a “working day policy” to complement its flexible working arrangements. People can vary when they start and finish in the office, going home at 4pm on Fridays and 2pm on the last Friday of the month. Every employee can also take their birthday as an extra day's holiday. Everyone has a £315 allowance each year to treat themselves to anything from theatre trips to pampering sessions. There is an on-site gym with massage therapists and personal trainers. Employees feel that dunnhumby has a strong social conscience (84%) and since March 2013 staff have raised more than £20,000 and volunteered more than 300 hours to support the Brain Tumour Charity. The company is using its professional expertise to help the charity apply for continued national lottery funding, having devised a survey to capture the opinions of sufferers, their families and carers. The results are included in the latest funding application. www.dunnhumby.com/uk
