Last year was a tough one for Corby Spirit and Wine Ltd., a leading distributor of wine and spirits with 1,900 employees across Canada. The company, an affiliate of Pernod Ricard, has a 150+ year history and has had a lot of success.
But, faced with a more challenging business environment, Pernod Ricard decided it had to undertake a € 155 million cost-saving exercise—which, of course, affected Corby as well.
One area Corby determined it could save money was its DB pension plan. The company looked at freezing contributions and moving to a DC plan, but employees valued having a DB benefit.
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So instead, it increased employee contributions, modified the early retirement rules and involved the executive team in contributing.
Employees were willing to increase their contributions to save the DB plan. And there was a positive side effect. “For the first time, they truly understood the value of their pension plan,” explained Paul Holub, VP, HR with Corby, at this year’s Best Workplaces Conference in Toronto.
Corby also had to cut back in other areas—including, ultimately, its headcount. But it didn’t want employee engagement to suffer, so it implemented two major initiatives.
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1. Corby’s Den – Corby’s annual national conference for employees was often held in exotic locations such as Ireland or Sweden—at considerable expense. Instead, the company decided to hold smaller regional meetings so employees could meet face to face with the executive team.
A key component of these meetings was the “Corby’s Den” challenge. Modelled on the TV show “Dragon’s Den,” this initiative encourage employees to work in teams and come up with ideas to help the company sustain long-term growth, with the executive team serving as the “dragons.”
It was so successful, nine of the 20 ideas presented went straight to execution, Holub said, adding, “in almost every idea, there was a nugget that we really liked.”
2. I Thank – Corby also implemented an employee recognition program called I Thank. Based on gamification principles and done online, employees give each other badges for different achievements (there are 14 different badges in total), along with a personal congratulatory note. Strong achievements get moved up the recognition ladder to bronze, silver or gold levels of recognition.
Gold award recipients get an extra week of vacation and a $1,000 donation to a charity of the employee’s choice. But it’s the public acknowledgement of their success that really matters, explained Holub. “Badges facilitate it; it’s all about the recognition that goes with it.”
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Corby communicated the changes every step of the way. And its efforts paid off: the 2015 employee engagement results are higher than ever, said Holub.
Empowering employees was key to the company’s success, he added. “If you do so, the quality of the solution—and the acceptance of the solution—improves dramatically.”