For one client, a conservative approach proved to be the right solution to explore the benefits of workforce mobility. The company's senior leaders knew the enterprise could benefit from enabling a greater level of workforce mobility, but were hesitant to jump headfirst into a new workplace strategy they felt could disrupt business operations and distract employees from their work. Struggling with conflicting business objectives, the organization engaged Stegmeier Consulting Group to support the corporate goal to balance cost reduction and performance improvement.

The Challenge:

• New executive team brought in from external environment replaced ineffective managers who had risen through the ranks
• Moving to new headquarters location
• Separating distribution facilities from headquarters causing resistance to using technology and escalating the distrust between operations and other functional teams
• Improve return on shareholder investment and overall profitability to support mid-term goal of acquisition by larger organization
• Establishment of new corporate direction necessitated new behaviors
  • Create retail-mindset throughout entire organization
  • Adopt a stronger focus on serving both external as well as internal customers
  • Develop an entrepreneurial culture to discover and seize opportunities for both revenue enhancement and cost reduction
  • Expect greater accountability and quantifiable results of all levels of the company
• Fear of the unknown created paralysis within and between departments, negatively impacting productivity
• Overwhelming employee grief over perceived losses despite major improvements planned for the new headquarters facility and a new executive team committed to engaging and connecting with employees

The Challenge:

• Unexpected resignation of CEO
• Lack of clarity and common goals due to a major restructuring of the organization, low employee morale resulting from the closing of unprofitable business divisions and the elimination of numerous positions, and uncertainty of the industry and economy
• Employee behavior incongruent with corporate business drivers, values, and the organizational culture identified as necessary for business survival in the future
• Real estate strategy to reduce overall holdings by disposing of targeted properties in poor performing locations and building new facilities in high potential venues
• Develop highly flexible workplace standards for corporate headquarters and two regional headquarters building projects that would respond to numerous business process and cultural variations
• Establish a common platform to be tested in a pilot program involving 10,050 people working in three sites within two countries and eventually applied to multiple sites globally
• Create an infrastructure that will provide sufficient variation in work settings, team organization, and work tools to fit the identified range of job profiles within the company
• Create connectivity - align the people, the workplace, and new ways of working with the new organizational direction

The Challenge:

• Complex organizational changes occurring including physical workplace transformation at corporate headquarters, reorganization, downsizing of redundant positions, and business process reengineering
• Integrating two geographic locations, consisting of employee groups with distinctly different cultures, work styles, and frames of reference
• Goal to transform "silo" business units into cross-functional, high performance teams
• Reduce business unit and divisional turf battles among managers, and enhance the communication, trust, and overall relationship between managers and their direct reports
• Improve service to internal customers, as well as enhance overall employee satisfaction
• Create acceptance of new physical work environment, overcoming mid-level managers' resistance to moving from private office to open plan and employee resistance to reduction in workstation size
• Redefine functional job descriptions
• Redefine business processes, procedures, and workflow
• Reduce overall paper storage of 250,000 files, focusing on eliminating the storage of redundant data by individuals who would now be working in teams