TM Logistics is making sweeping changes to the way it pays and rewards its staff as part of an initiative that it hopes will enable it to emerge from the recession in a stronger position. The Worcestershire-based haulier launched the programme, called Connecting Together, in autumn 2008.
It is designed to support the company's five-year growth plan and so far has seen its directors return to the shop floor – accompanying drivers and working with warehouse staff – and the introduction of a number of other communication drives.
However, this year the firm's 350 employees will see the most significant changes as the company swaps traditional weekly pay for a four-weekly cycle and scraps flat-rate annual pay rises in favour of performance-related pay.
Graeme Barrett, organisation and people development director, says that although the changes have not met with universal approval, the vast majority of staff are on-board. He says: "It's about making a cultural change away from simply recognising attendance to [rewarding staff] for taking the extra step or going the extra mile."
A low performance rating, he insists, should be flagged earlier enough in the year that individual staff either able to change their behaviour or are not surprised by a small or non-existent pay rise.
Equally he insists that the firm is not worried if employees upset by the changes wish to leave: "I would go so far as to ask: do [low performers] really want to be here?
"We employ 350 people and we want those 350 people to be the best. What we want are highly motivated, productive people who add value in whatever they do."
The move to the four-weekly pay cycle, although saving the company around £10,000 per month in lower administration charges, is primarily about taking a new approach, says Barrett. "What it signifies is that TM Logistics is changing – and changing for the better," he says.
Four-weekly pay will be introduced this month and performance-related pay in the summer.