The Centre for Tomorrow's Company is a think tank and
catalyst, researching and stimulating the development of
a new agenda for business. The Centre represents a
practical vision of sustainable business which makes
sense to shareholders and society.
I remain impressed by the openness and breadth of the
Partnership Report. Its underlying logic remains very
clear - it sets out purpose and values, defines the key
stakeholder relationships and uses clear indicators
relevant to that purpose and those values. The bank
regularly asks stakeholders what matters most to them
and measures progress consistently against these
yardsticks. It welcomes criticism and uses that criticism
for continuous improvement of the reporting and thereby
of the impact and performance of the business.
My main concern over recent years has been consistency,
and most of my suggestions and comments this year
relate to this theme.
The Co-operative Bank and Co-operative Financial
Services This is clearly the report of the bank, not CFS.
However, the Chief Executive's statement opens with the
announcement of the formation of CFS and his own
appointment as its Chief Executive. It will be interesting
to observe the extent to which the well-regarded
sustainability reports of The Co-operative Bank and CIS
converge in the future and how comparability will be
protected through the process.
Consistency over time The key indicators shown in
"performance over time at a glance" represents a very
important part of the report. I did suggest that in future
this key page shows a five year summary so that readers
can track the ups and downs for themselves. The current
style of summary shows only the earliest and most recent
performance figure, but not the movement in between.
The bank is reluctant to complicate the summary, but
reassured me that, in the main body of the document, as
more years' data becomes available, a five year summary
will be used.
Consistency: Staff Indicators and Targets Last year,
I commented upon the staff indicators and drew attention
to one or two areas where, against an otherwise healthy
picture, some deterioration was evident. In particular, I
singled out the indicator that showed that in 2001 47% of
staff 'felt under inappropriate pressure in my current role',
along with lower levels of satisfaction for career
progression and a quarter of the staff disagreeing with the
statement that 'the bank behaves ethically in the way it
treats the staff'. There is a slight improvement on career
progression. But the basis of the other two indicators has
been changed. I understand that feedback from staff
indicated that the questions were difficult to answer.
Nonetheless this appears inconsistent with a commitment
made by the bank in the 2000 Partnership Report where
it was agreed that where the basis of an indicator was
changed and comparability with past years compromised,
the previous indicator would be retained at least for the
year in which the change was made.
One of the most important and distinctive features of the
bank's reporting has been its use of targets. When I first
saw this report, I said that I was concerned that the
targets offered for this year were not as stretching as in
the past. I appreciate that the combination of CIS and The
Co-operative Bank during 2003, and the movement of
staff between the two entities and the holding company
Co-operative Financial Services, may make year-on-year
quantitative comparisons less directly meaningful.
Nonetheless I still suggested more demanding targets
should be set.
I recommended that the bank look for improvement in
performance in key areas such as the percentage of staff
who believe managers have very good people skills
(currently 49%) or the percentage who agree that they are
very fairly treated (currently 60%). I also suggested that it
may well be in the interests of the organisation and its
stakeholders to commit to an indicator that reflects how
well staff feel the merger is being handled and what, if any,
affect it has on their overall loyalty to the organisation.
I am pleased to report that the bank has now accepted
the target relating to the staff assessment of managers'
people skills and will continue to undertake and publish
the results of consultations with staff as the organisational
changes unfold.
Mark Goyder
11th March 2003
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Mark Goyder, Director of the Centre for Tomorrow's Company |
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