What’s the weather like at PPR?
How can you find out what employees think about their working conditions, when you are a group the size of PPR? By asking them directly! For the third time, in 2005, the Group and its companies questioned over 60,000 employees in the Retail businesses in France and abroad. Its name: “What’s the weather like where you are?”
Organisation of work, management, professional satisfaction or even employee commitment… Since 2001, the PPR group has laid importance on gathering its staff’s opinion on their work. The survey, christened “What’s the weather like where you are?”, is carried out every two years among the employees of the Group’s Retail companies, Head Office and Shared Services, in twenty-two countries where PPR is active (Algeria, Belgium, France, Great Britain, China, India, etc.) All of the major themes linked to work, corporate life and the company’s image compared with the competition come under the microscope. For the latest version in October 2005, employees were invited to answer 65 questions common to all of the companies and countries.
Processing the results: PPR’s commitment
PPR guarantees its staff that the answers will remain confidential, the results will be published and action plans will be implemented to improve satisfaction. This study is meeting with real success, since the latest version, carried out in October 2005, saw a much improved participation rate (74% in 2005, compared with 65% in 2003 and 51% in 2001). Another cause for satisfaction for the company: 72% of the questions asked in 2005 show an improvement compared with 2003.
A rigorous organisation to ensure reliable results
To obtain tangible results, a scheme of this kind requires flawless organisation. The survey has been piloted from the outset by the Group’s Social Development Division, in liaison with the companies’ Human Resources networks. The managers are responsible for its roll-out on the ground. In 2005, over 60,000 questionnaires were distributed to all employees on short-term and permanent contracts, irrespective of seniority. And over 44,000 examples were returned directly to an independent firm in charge of their processing and the statistical analysis of the results per entity and per country. Moreover, certain companies are going even further by refining the level of analysis according to shop, business activity, etc.
What conclusions can be drawn by the companies?
After each wave of the survey, a qualitative examination of the answers allows the companies to draw their own lessons: does the level of satisfaction vary greatly from one shop to another? How have the changes implemented since the last survey been perceived? Has the company’s positioning or activity given rise to new fears or reasons for satisfaction? And a sensitive question, among others: is the line management judged to be effective?
The high participation rate would seem to suggest that the communication has fulfilled its purpose. And the opinion survey allows everyone to express themselves freely in complete confidence for the benefit of their company.
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