Alba – Bahrain
In 2009, Willerby Hill along with its partner in the Kingdom of Bahrain (EMIC) successfully won the contract to design and deliver an bespoke employee relations programme to Alba in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In 2011 the programme is near completion and has had a significant impact on the management culture of the business.
Alba is the Kingdoms largest private employer, with over 3000 employees working within one of the worlds largest aluminium smelters and growing rapidly.
The business had recognised that because of this growth and the pressures of working with a commodity that had seen its price fluctuate there was a clear need to improve the relationship between the shop floor operatives and the various tiers of management – to recapture the levels of engagement that had perviously built the business.
Throughout 2009 and early 2010 Willerby Hill spent time in the business working with the HR, Management, Trade Union and Operative teams to understand what the issues were and to design a 4 day programme that would give the Supervisors (over 300) the confidence and skills to build more productive working relationships.
The programme was designed around a central theme of understanding an employee’s behaviour and attitude at work, and how events at work affect it. The programme was highly interactive, and focused on developing each managers and supervisors understanding of what motivated and demotivated employees. Then giving them tools to address the issues they may face.
The programme covered topics including:
- What is employee relations
- Motivation at work
- Communicating effectively
- Being a coach and giving feedback
- Managing Under Performance
- Involving employees at work
- Recognising others
- Understanding change and behaviour
The outcome has been a programme that has today trained over 250 Supervisors and Managers, with the net effect of substantially reducing grievances in the business, improved communication at the lower levels and given the Supervisors greater confidence to lead and tackle performance problems professionally.
