IRI pilots new working practices
Data, analytics and technology to FMCG Retail company, IRI is undertaking a forensic review of its workplace in response to the pandemic – implementing innovative new work practices to provide staff with a progressive post-COVID flexible work experience.
Paul Hinds, Managing Director, APAC, IRI has announced IRI is piloting a workplace innovation project with the view to transforming working practices across the business to provide its people with a more flexible working experience.
“As a business that works at the very front line of the country’s economy, providing insights, support and advice to Australia’s retail sector, we had to respond to the pandemic in a way that would enable our business to retain our people, support them to thrive and continue to attract the industry’s best,” Hinds said.
“We consulted with our people and their feedback was clear. We must innovate and reimagine how we deliver the workplace so that it fits with the new and emerging needs of our workforce.
Hinds said as a result, IRI have acted on this feedback and shaped a new working model that enables the business to succeed while also offering our people with a workplace that provides flexibility and work-life balance.
“We are piloting the new approach with the view to rolling it out permanently. The majority of our people now combine working from home and online collaboration, with purpose-driven meetings and events in the office. This is a significant shift for our business given that prior to COVID all of our people worked in our offices during standard office workday hours. This workplace model has been completely superseded by our new approach with the physical office now being a focal point for our colleagues to connect and collaborate in person and our people are loving it.”
Hinds has outlined the key changes.
Technology enablement
“We undertook rapid technology transformation at the start of COVID to change our workforce into a mobile workforce that could work from anywhere safely and securely,” Hinds said.
“This involved significant planning, investment and deployment of enhanced capabilities across the business to ensure our people were able to enjoy the same level of system engagement supported by the highest levels of security.”
Head office translated into a collaboration hub
“We also redeveloped our physical office footprint, changing from a work-from-office organisation to a work-from-anywhere business,” Hinds explained.
“Under our new work-from-anywhere model, we re-configured our head office around collaboration, meeting and hot desk spaces. Our people now come into the office as needed for purpose-driven work activities such as workshops, client meetings, team catch-ups and one-to-ones. If a colleague prefers the office environment they can book a desk when and for as long as they need.”
Flexible hours
“Flexible working hours have been expanded to better enable our people to work and maintain life commitments,” Hinds added.
“Our people are now able to exercise when they want, take the kids to school and pick them up, attend sports carnivals, do the weekly grocery shop during the day, along with many other things that life requires of us, as long as client and business commitments are met.
“Essentially our policy on flexible hours puts our people in charge of their own time and this is something that is proving highly desirable.”
Making the office a destination space
“While we have reconfigured our head office space and converted it from working desk environments to collaboration spaces, it is important for our people to come into the office at least twice per week to connect and engage with team members and others across the organisation,” Hinds said.
“There is no greater experience than in-person human engagement. In-person exchanges are far more powerful, particularly when it comes to generating solutions, ideas and creativity. We are also incredibly mindful of the need to create opportunities for our people to check in with each other from a mental health and wellbeing perspective.
He said like all businesses, IRI are learning a new way of working and living as a team.
“We are piloting different ideas to make the office environment more exciting and interesting for our people and have introduced activities such as pizza day, where all staff working in the office receive free pizza, coffee vouchers to encourage ‘walk and talk’ meetings, and at-desk massages. We also empower and encourage our colleagues to organise team-building events and activities to retain the culture and spirit of our business.”
IRI Me days and other benefits that promote wellbeing
“IRI recognises the extraordinary impact COVID has had on the lives of our people and their families,” Hinds explained.
“Mental health is an important issue and as an employer of choice, we want our people to know that we have their back and understand their need to focus on themselves.
“To walk our talk, we have introduced IRI Me days where our entire workforce takes a free day off to do whatever they want, the only rule being please have a break from work. We are also grateful that our clients, many of whom have similar initiatives, support and respect this activity. This is a significant investment for our business in our people and the response to this has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Recognition of key life moments
“We also support our people by providing summer half day Fridays, birthday leave, paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers, and an additional week of annual leave. All of which is designed to recognise the passion, dedication and commitment our people deliver day in day out, so we can give the value of time at key life moments back to them,” Hinds added.
According to Hinds, the pilot is proving highly successful and an important means of gaining feedback from employees so the transformational workplace practices can be retained permanently.
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