but when we compared the words Clydesdale and
Yorkshire employees were using with what
Virgin Money staff were saying there was
surprising symmetry.”
The Group now aligns behind its purpose of
‘making you happier about money’, supported by
six new values (heartfelt service, red-hot relevance,
insatiable curiosity, straight up, smart disruption,
and delightfully surprising), and she’s not leaving
it to chance for these to embed themselves quickly.
“They’ve all been added to our performance
management frameworks, which will now be
structured around how we deliver on and
communicate these values,” she says.
Not being afraid of showing she means business
is something Guthrie prides herself on. And some
of what’s been introduced at Virgin Money are
policies that originated at CYBG: “We’d already
abolished bonuses based on individual
performance – moving towards team-based
bonuses – a first for this sector. At Virgin Money
this has been deepened. The bonus levels people
receive can no longer be exceeded by exceptional
individual performance. If the business does well,
based on our new values, everyone does well. For a
lot of Virgin Money employees it’s been great, as
previously they didn’t get bonuses.”
She adds: “A lot of people were worried that we’d
lose high potentials – as top earners would now
likely earn less – but I’ve been able to prove the
opposite. At CYBG organic turnover of this group
was 10% previously. After the changes it was 5.5%.”
To further ensure values are embedded Guthrie
has introduced the ability for staff to give feedback
on anything (but attributed to at least one of the
six values). In the first year more than 150,000
pieces of staff feedback were given. The executive
team frequently run ‘Let’s Talk’ town hall-style
events where staff can ask the bosses anything.
Guthrie attributes both for maintaining colleague
engagement at near similar levels. Pre-acquisition
it was 77%, and post-acquisition it is 76%. This is
despite inevitable uncertainty.
Which brings her to the obvious impact of
crashing two firms together – reducing duplication
and branch rationalisation.
“The one thing I’ve learned about organisational
transformation – especially dealing with job
losses at Lloyds at the height of the banking
crisis – is that it’s all about ‘how’ you do the
inevitable,” she says. “We obviously want
voluntary redundancy first, but there will be
mandatory losses. But we are unionised. We take
what unions say extremely seriously, and there is
a programme of outplacement support and good
severance packages.”
Also being done (where possible) is swapping
people due to be made redundant into positions
where there are people that already want to leave.
HR are not at all seen as service
providers... our task is to look at
where there might be holes
“It’s called ‘bumping’ – I don’t like the word but it
does the job,” she says.
The level of organisation needed for an
acquisition, organisational redesign and rebrand
has seen Guthrie boost her own HR team, but she
already knows the size it will eventually go back
down to.
“Some of these people may know their role will
finish when all the integration work is complete,”
she says, “but for many this is just the type of
project they want: to gain an amazing amount
of experience from, which they can take to
new pastures.”
As soon as the integration was announced
Guthrie says one of her first tasks was setting out
the executive leadership team (which she sits on),
including creating a director of integration.
“Joining the two businesses entails a long
process of change,” she says. “But essentially this is
a project about the ‘costs of doability’ – where HR
needs to work out exactly what it needs to do to
contribute to the wider strategic aim.”
She adds: “I’ve been very lucky in the fact the
board knows how it needs to get to its desired end
state. HR are not at all seen as service providers,
even though we of course provide a service. Our
task is to look at the business strategy, look at our
people, and look at where there might be holes we
need to fill.”
One example of this is a parallel project
designed to build organisational capabilities. Five
have now been identified (working with data, the
Strategic HR Profile
CV Education
Abertay University
MSc in human
resource
management
Oct 2019 –
Present
Group human
resources director
Virgin Money
2016 – 2019
Group human
resources director
CYBG
2012 – 2015
HR director, culture,
capability and
engagement,
Lloyds Banking
Group
2004 – 2012
HR director,
insurance division,
Lloyds Banking
Group
2000 – 2004
HR director
Novartis
Pharmaceuticals
1998 – 2000
HR director
Scottish & Newcastle
1989 – 1998
Employee
development
director
Diageo
1987 – 1988
Regional personnel
and training officer
Argyll Group
1982 – 1987
HR manager
M&S
30 HR February 2020 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk