Why did Marks & Spencer choose to move its headquarters to Paddington?
When we hit hard times a few years ago, we realised that we needed to radically update our ways of working. We also realised that we wouldn’t be able to do that by continuing to operate from a high-cost prime location. So we opted to move the bulk of our London offices to what is set to be one of the most important inner city redevelopment of the decade – the Paddington Basin Development.
In selecting Paddington, we chose an office that would be the physical manifestation of the new Marks & Spencer: stylish; high quality; contemporary; open and welcoming. A place that would inspire, encouraging creativity and innovation in everything we do – in tune with the sensibilities and aspirations of our customers and the people who serve them.
How have you and your CSR team been preparing for the move into this new neighbourhood?
We’ve approached the opportunity of working in Paddington, which is a complex and diverse community, with care and sensitivity. We’ve also had to consider the issue of leaving our central London community, which we’ve considered home for the last half century.
From a CSR perspective, our strategy is two-fold:
to leave offices and areas in the most responsible way possible, and
to integrate the company to its new locations as a socially responsible player, strengthening relations with our new neighbours and being an active participant in the local community
How have you gone about strengthening relations with your new neighbours, as you put it?
First off, we became corporate members of the Paddington Waterside Partnership in June last year – a year before we were due to move. Members comprise largely the major developers, commercial occupiers and transport operators in the Paddington area. Our Head of Facilities and I sit on the ‘Occupiers’ Forum’, which met for the first time last October.
The Forum exists to identify issues of common interest and work towards improving the environment and creating a sense of space. Recent activity has included community volunteering initiatives, improving transport links (for example the Paddington Bridge Project and the CrossRail proposals), education initiatives, themed walks around Paddington and the Paddington Waterside Festival.
And will the move generate jobs in the local community?
Through the Paddington Waterside Partnership, we have developed a relationship with Paddington First, a recruitment organisation helping us to put local people into local jobs. So far we have achieved 50% of our target recruitment via Paddington First, and agreed that any other relevant jobs will be advertised through the agency. We have also cascaded this to our subcontractors and our local store in Edgware Road, making more local jobs available to local people.
How else are you supporting the local community of Paddington?
We’re recycling assets (wherever possible to charities) that are unsuitable for the new building at a cost of between £190,000 and £240,000.
Once we move in, we will donate a large amount of clothing samples generated through product development to homeless charity Shelter; this is an extension of our existing relationship with them. Already, each week Shelter collects donations from our existing Head Office for distribution around the country. We anticipate we will donate over £300,000 worth of clothing to Shelter each year.
We are also about to sign an agreement with homeless charity Crisis to donate over £100,000 worth of food to Crisis each year. This is food left over from our quality control assessments, in addition to store-generated date expired food.
How are you engaging Marks & Spencer employees in the CSR elements of the move?
As part of the move towards developing a more efficient approach to document management, employees are being incentivised to throw out unwanted papers and files before moving offices. Through a “Cash for Trash” initiative, the company is offering to donate £30 to charity for each filled skip.
This has already doubled its target, succeeding in raising £50,000 for two homeless charities based in Westminster, including £25,000 for Wytham Hall, which acts as a ‘first stop shop’ for people wanting to get their lives back on track. This is a good example of how a mundane task to encourage better housekeeping has been given a fresh purpose through a CSR initiative.
And this ‘Changing Places, Changing Faces’ scheme I’ve heard you talk about previously – can you tell us a bit more about this?
Sure. The name refers to a series of employee engagement tours that we ran in the Paddington area before we moved in. The aim was simply to introduce our employees to the local community.
The tours themselves were based on feedback from two stakeholder dialogue meetings. These involved around 20-25 stakeholders from the community. Head teachers from local schools, representatives from St Mary’s Hospital, local voluntary groups and local Council representatives all took part.
Marks & Spencer directors leading the tours were responsible for ensuring they became a springboard for the company to develop mutually beneficial relationships with key local people. Each director is responsible for producing and implementing their action plans, capturing the tangible deliverables resulting from each tour.
Amongst the directors taking part in the tours was Roger Holmes, our Chief Executive. Seeing Roger describe his job to students and listening to what they had to say about British business was fascinating. Sure, the students were very interested and appreciative, but it was Roger’s fascination in their views that was particularly gratifying to see. For Roger, the session was an important opportunity to understand what makes the young people of today really tick. And a company like Marks & Spencer can only succeed if we stay close to the lives and aspirations of real people.
Have the tours achieved what you hoped?
I cannot overstate their impact internally. They have engaged people in a way that’s created a real ‘buzz’ about the move. The tours have made people feel they are giving something back and are helping our people establish links with their new place of work. The ideas and activity coming out of them are really impressive, from helping lone parents to improve their job seeking skills to providing work placements for homeless people and running a workshop for local unemployed people to improve their CV and writing skills.
Outside of the company, the tours have also been received extremely well. Paul Bellamy, chief Executive of City of Westminster College, where 75% of students come from areas of high social deprivation, wrote to me saying: “I wonder how many other commercial organisations can boast that their chief executive and members of the management board have given up time to sit with groups of 16-18 fulltime students to explain what its like to run a major commercial organisation? Especially when that organisation is of the likes of M&S.”
Business in the Community, who helped shape the tours, tell us no other company has committed so much time in getting out and into the community, let alone insisted on live action plans.
Shirin Welham, director for London at Business in the Community, said to me: “Most companies would only be focussing on the internal complexity of the move. You have taken a highly innovative approach to relocation, thinking of the communities that you are leaving and the ones you are moving to. As a result you have already developed strong relationships with your local communities and you can look forward to reaping the rewards in the future.”
And do you hope to sustain this ‘buzz’ with a longer-term volunteering programme?
Definitely. We’re talking with North Westminster Community School, for example. It’s one of London’s most challenging schools and it’s right on our new doorstep in Paddington. We’ve met with the school to discuss how we might work together, and have agreed a 10-point action plan to deliver key initiatives and encourage engagement.
This plan includes initiatives such as:
A work experience programme for students in our new office and local stores
A retail careers fair
Marks & Spencer’s involvement in the design and technology curriculum
Participation by our IT people in the development of IT skills for students
the appointment of a senior Marks & Spencer person on the school’s Governing Board
What have you learned from the experience so far that you can take back into the business?
Top of the list has to be the importance of stakeholder dialogue. And I don’t just mean sending out surveys. As I’ve already mentioned, about a year ago, we invited a large number of community leaders from a range of local organisations to come and tell us what their hopes and fears, needs and expectations were concerning our move into their community. Listening and responding to the issues that were raised was a critical part of the initial engagement process.
Securing top management buy-in and involvement is another important lesson. It’s easy to pay lip-service – much harder to put into practice. Establish strong leadership and making the time to lead by example and walk the talk has been critical to the success of establishing a commitment to our, soon to be, new community.
How did you secure such leadership?
By integrating our CSR into the running of the business. And that’s my third ‘learning’. For example: asking M&S people to devote time to developing job opportunities for local people who are finding it difficult to get into employment is hard. But asking those same people to support an initiative designed to recruit people in line with our business objectives suddenly moves it from a ‘nice to do’, peripheral activity to a ‘must do’ core activity.
It’s still hard, however, if these messages only come from people like me, wearing a CSR hat. That’s why I ensured that our Head Office relocation team took ownership of the CSR programme around the move. CSR is now as important to this move as making sure the IT works from day one.
COMMENTS