CASE STUDY
Involvement, progression and fun drive reward at Lands' End
A new case study published today by e-reward.co.uk offers a unique insight into how Lands' End, a Rutland-based catalogue clothing company, has crafted a total reward strategy to achieve organisational results.
Company profile
| Name: | Lands’ End |
| Employees: | 500 to 650 UK employees, depending on time of year. |
| Location: | Oakham, Rutland. |
| Business activities: | Lands’ End Inc is a US-owned company founded in 1963, with a worldwide turnover of $1.6 billion and 8,000 employees. In July 2002 it became part of the Sears Group (itself founded 1887). Lands’ End Inc is the largest catalogue clothing company in the US. Two sites -- in the UK and Germany -- were established in Europe in 1993. The UK site markets, sells and distributes casual clothing throughout Europe. There is a distribution centre and a contact centre as well as the usual corporate functions. |
| Interviewee: | e-reward.co.uk interviewed Mark Harris, employee services director. |
Background -- the rise of total reward
There was a time when an organisation's reward package was a pretty straightforward thing. But the era in which reward was just about cash and benefits is gone for ever increasingly the emphasis in leading organisations is on a total reward approach, including more intangible rewards like the work environment and quality of life considerations, the opportunity for advancement and recognition, and flexible working -- everything from telecommuting to variable hours. Some of the most renowned reward experts on both sides of the Atlantic urge us to view reward more holistically, and they reckon the evolution towards a total reward approach has truly begun.
The essential idea is that we need to rethink what is and what is not reward. Put simply, your reward strategy needs to encompass all aspects of reward if it is to add real value, enhance employee commitment and minimise the loss of your best people. While there is little doubt that the financial aspects of reward remain a key element of the new working relationship, they are not on their own sufficient to reinforce desired behaviour or support the kind of performance breakthroughs so many companies seek today.
Total reward strategy at Lands' End
Lands’ End's reward policy is based on the idea that staff who are enjoying themselves, who are being supported and developed and who feel fulfilled and respected at work, will provide the best service to customers. When the company set up a UK operation ten years ago it applied the same philosophy to its 500-650 UK employees, most of whom work in the distribution centre and the contact centre.
The company does not believe that pay is the main driver of performance. Instead its reward agenda focuses on physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and occupational rewards that recognise different aspects of the whole person. It seeks to inspire staff through its values of service and quality, to empower them to deliver the best possible customer service, and to show appreciation when they try to do so.
There is a strong emphasis on internal promotion, based on training and development for all. Lands' End seeks to make the organisation a great place to work, and tries to make sure that people have fun, so that they will want to come to work each day, and to do their jobs as well as possible, despite the fact that many tasks maybe viewed by others as repetitive and unchallenging.
Low labour turnover coupled with high scores in employee attitude and customer satisfaction surveys suggest that it has attained these objectives.
How Lands’ End supports total reward
The total reward strategy consists of seven key strands:
1. Financial rewards
Pay rates are pitched at or slightly above the median for the location and benefits are more generous than its rivals.
2. Career development
There is a strong emphasis on developing all employees at Lands’ End. Many people now high in the ranks of the organisation have worked their way up from some of the lowest-level jobs. Its whole ethos is to encourage everyone to develop as far as they are able using on-the-job training and cross training.
3. Pride
This is one of the key elements of how Lands’ End motivates its staff. The company seeks to engender a strong sense of pride in employees as to what the business stands for and the extent to which it delivers. Whether it succeeds or not is measured by the company's score in the Great Place to Work survey.
4. Appreciation
Lands’ End attempts to look for any and every opportunity to demonstrate its real appreciation of what staff do. The company tries to show its appreciation by promoting six dimensions of employee well-being:
5. Make work challenging and fun
Where jobs are repetitive or less challenging, it is particularly important to provide some challenge and fun, Lands’ End believes. And if it isn’ t possible to give people a choice as to the type of work they do, they can be given a choice as to how they do it.
6. Leader relations
For Lands’ End the quality of the relationship between manager and employee is the biggest motivational factor at work, and has more influence on job satisfaction than anything else.
7. Involvement
"Involvement shows respect for others, it adds emphasis to our view that everyone is important and there are few motivational things better than being able to influence and shape the way in which you do your own job or how the company operates", Mark Harris, employee services director at Lands’ End, told e-reward.co.uk.
| What you will find in this report |
| In this 17-page (7,000 words) case study, written and researched by e-reward.co.uk, we learn first hand from the practical experience of a pioneering organisation in the total reward field, Lands’ End. Our case history offers a unique insight into how this Rutland-based catalogue clothing company has crafted a total reward strategy to achieve organisational results. Topics covered include: |
| Executive summary |
| The Lands’ End approach to reward Focus on total reward -- employees' need for appreciation |
| Tangible rewards Annual bonus -- pay structure |
| Progression Setting employee objectives -- appraisals -- quantitative measures -- determining performance ratings |
| Growth and opportunity Career development for hourly-paid staff |
| Engendering a sense of pride Great Place to Work survey -- going that extra mile |
| Recognition through appreciation Six dimensions of employee well-being |
| Making work challenging and fun Key part of manager's job |
| Relationship between manager and employee Recruiting front-line staff -- management development programme |
| Involvement through an enabling environment Meetings -- focus groups |
| Work-life balance Working-time arrangements -- a flexible approach |
| Problems and lessons learnt Five guiding principles -- the verdict -- final word |
| List of boxes
|
Want to know more?
Title: Involvement, progression and fun drive reward agenda at Lands' End.
Issue no.: e-research no. 13.
Date: July 2003.
Pages: 17 (7,000 words).
Availability: Published by e-reward.co.uk. Click on "Research Reports" on the left-hand navigation panel of the e-reward.co.uk web site and complete the simple online subscription form at www.e-reward-data.co.uk/content/ResearchReports.asp
For more details email: paul@e-reward.co.uk
Posted 19 July 2003