In today's competitive business environment, the need for continuous business improvements to remain competitive is widely recognised. Companies need to change frequently and have an agile organisation to make this possible. One commonly held view, however, is that older workers employed by the same organisation for many years are resistant to change, thus jeopardising the company’s agility and ability to stay competitive.
During the last 15 years, the issue of increased average age has become a major problem in the process industry and especially in operations. With the improvements in process and plant performance and with developments in plant automation, process control and management systems, operational shift manning requirements have reduced dramatically. And through the ‘last in, first out’ principle the average workforce age in these downsized operational organisations has increased continuously.
Traditional thinking in business transformation and performance improvement is that continuous change will result in uncertainties and perceived performance degradation, especially of older operators. But is that true? Our experience at PA Consulting Group shows it is not. The success of change projects depends on how successful the management team is in involving the workforce and using older age profiles as agents for change. The goal of the culture change part of the programmes must be to have all employees working smarter, not harder. After one of our culture change programmes at a paper mill business in Renkum, the Netherlands, its CEO commented: ‘Though there is still a lot of work to be done, the new culture is clearly settling and spreading. We are operating at a healthy profit, and most promised benefits have indeed been delivered.’
Managing change
Employees, especially in the 45+ age bracket, should be considered potential facilitators for effective change, not hurdles in front of it. Their interests must be taken seriously and they must be informed that their participation is key to the programme’s success. Active involvement of a range of employees from top management to the shop floor is essential to the success of a culture change programme. Senior shift workers have extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of both work processes and organisational dynamics whereas younger generations have been exposed to a world of progressive automation, process analysis and optimisation and activity-based control.
Empowering seniors by assigning ‘leader of change’ and mentor roles in the change programme creates a sense of pride. Consequently, involving seniors assists in knowledge-sharing and contributes to improving the learning capability of the organisation. Experience shows that this often leads to quantum leaps forward rather than achieving just incremental change.
To alleviate pressures on the more experienced age bracket, the employer must find creative ways to address their needs and requirements. Reducing night work, reorganising project work and addressing personal preferences are all key steps to ensure that employees are satisfied and more open to change.
For example, some companies have already adjusted their work-shift patterns by transferring most work from 24/7 shifts to 2/3 shifts or flex systems. The rationale behind this is that plant-restarting capability does not have to reside in one shift. Complications in a restart take more than a day to solve and require this competence over several shifts.
Approach to culture change
PA’s change programme starts with top management and cascades down to the shop floor where two-day workshops are held with shift staff, resulting in action plans per shift or department. We have cascaded sessions and workshops involving management, department heads, foremen and operators. PA facilitates top management meetings where objectives, behaviours and core elements of the required culture are outlined. In order to embed and sustain the new culture, internal facilitators (often the very experienced employees) are trained along the way.
This performance-based culture-shaping programme includes initiatives positioned to create new behaviours and embed them in a sustainable culture of continuous business improvement. The initiative includes: behavioural awareness, coaching, internal client-supplier relationships, service level expectations and agreements, managerial styles and development, 360° feedback for managers and supervisors, problem-solving and team-building. A close link is also established with the communication workstream to ensure effective dissemination of the new culture throughout the organisation. And – as happened at the paper mill – by underpinning a major project to get a step change in business improvement with the aforementioned culture change programme, you get the results.
