Fittings 08

8 HARDTALK 18 A REFRESHING SWISS BREEZE IN ÖAG 20 WHAT KEEPS YOU WARM? Ta

ke me

home

How Motivated are Your Colleagues?

10

12

No. 8Winter 2013/14

a publication

Sanitary for

When the going gets

tough

ISB:4

30 minutes update

Fein-Schmeckers

Tobler Acquires Keramikland

Win an

iPhone

5 S

Inside

ACCORDING to the latest Employee Engagement Sur-vey (EES), we HAVE a great workplace. But just like any other kind of relationship, it needs nurturing and dia-logue. If you have issues, you should speak out. The an-nual EES is the ideal forum where you can express what you think. If everyone par-ticipates in the survey, it pro-vides an accurate picture of what needs to be prioritised to make our workplace even better. It is sad to see that the amount of colleagues participating has fallen with a few percent compared to last year. The quality of the workplace, like the quality of a relationship, is a shared re-sponsibility. It’s a part of your job to participate. The survey is not the only possibility you have to speak up. If some-thing is bothering you, if you have issues - or ideas for im-provement, I would like to encourage you to talk to your manager or to a HR part-ner. You can read more about this years results on pages 10 and 15. Which brings me to the next important point. We also want to get your

opinion about Fittings mag-azine. In general, we get good feedback but we want to learn where we can im-prove. Therefore we launch a reader survey. If you have a smart phone or iPhone with an app that can scan bar codes - you can enter the survey by scanning the QR code below. An app that will do this trick, is Scanlife (both for Android and Apple). You can download it for free. The next thing you need to do is to open the app and move your phone (scan) over the barcode (QR code) below. Once done, this will get you access to a mobile version of our survey. If you don’t have a smart phone, you can take the survey on line on this address: http://goo.gl/n7jlkb. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Tobias Roser

Fittings issue 8 · Distributed December 2013 · Fittings is the employee magazine for Wolseley CE staff in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France. Publication by Wolseley CE. Circulation: 3,300. Available languages: English, German, Dutch, Italian and French. Editorial responsibility: Wolseley CE/Tobias Roser. Journalistic production and project management: Radical Communications/Patrick May. Design and layout: Appetizer.dk/Simon Johnsen. Photography: Martijn vd Griendt & Caroline Ablain. Print: CoolGray. Editorial committee: Wolseley CE/Tobias Roser, [email protected]; OAG/ Christine Scharrer, [email protected]; ISB/ [email protected]; Wasco/Sacha Buchele, [email protected]; Tobler/ [email protected]

Speak outEverybody wants a great workplace. We love them. We prosper in them. We perform better too.

Tobias RoserChief Editor [email protected]

Tobler +41 44 735 50 00Wasco +31 88 099 5000

OÄG +43 50406 0ISB +33 0299856167Wolseley +44 118 929 8700

USEFUL NUMBERS

When the going gets toughyou know where to find the tough

HardTalkwith Patrick Headon

How did your colleagues rate your workplaceThe results of the employee engagement survey 2013

A refreshing Swiss breeze in ÖAGWorking two jobs

What keeps you warm this winter?

Fittings Quiz

4

8

10

18

2022

You can write to Tobias at [email protected] Feel free to share your ideas and comments – both positive and critical.

12 Sanitary for the ‘Feinschmecker’Tobler feat. Keramikland

10JANUARY2014

Service

YOU might remember (Fittings winter issue last year)

Christoph Zelezo and the other fire fighters from ÖAG’s voluntary fire brigade?

In summer this year, when Austria was suffering from massive rainfall, the team assisted to clean up the damage the showers left. The situation was especially critical around the Donau. The riverbeds could not hold all the water and ended up making a tremendous mess. Two thousand soldiers, 1750 fire fighters as well as a small army of volunteers, among them the ÖAG’s company fire brigade cleaned up the ravage.

Call?Who you

gonna

3Fittings 8 · 2013

you know where to find the toughWith a dramatic decline in the French construction market – the percentage of new buildings fell 20-30% - there’s no time for ISB to slow down. Our French colleagues are changing their business, on multiple key levels, simultaneously. The changes include a new, corporate team, increased efficiency in sales forecasting and warehousing and decreasing com-plexity in the product portfolio. All of this, while keeping a strong focus on both customer loyalty and margin.

Our results are improving”, says Pierre Gautron, the

rapid speaking MD of ISB. “Mainly thanks to the efforts we do to sim-plify the business com-bined with a strong focus

on efficiency. A new key tool to improve efficien-cy is our forecasting sys-tem. The system helps us balancing our inventory, which in turn will help us saving costs”. Francois Maudry, ISB Wood Prod-uct’s supply chain man-

GetsTough

Francois Maudry

“

Whenthe going

ISB

4 Fittings 8 · 2013

Business

ager, is responsible for the system. “Thanks to the system, we will grow a better understanding of our real time demand for inventory”, he explains. Reducing inventory“It’s a major improvement compared to how it used to be”, says Francois. “The raw material has to be ordered three months in advance. Traditionally, we simply ordered an av-erage estimation of what we thought we would need. The new forecast-ing system changes the process. Now our sales people have to provide an estimate of how much they expect they are going to sell in the next three months. All of the sud-den, we have real time numbers available and our purchaser can order the raw material with great-er precision. The facto-ries delivering the finished material use the sys-

tem to plan produc-tion capacity and other resourc-es more pre-cisely. It helps us managing our inventory in a more ef-ficient fashion and this saves money. So do the S&OP meetings (Sales and Opera-tions Planning)

where we bal-ance sales, pro-

duction and sourc-ing. Last year only,

we reduced inventory by 15%.”

can increase the accuracy even further and that we will be able to decrease our inventory with anoth-er 2 million Euro’s.”

Customers expect us to have their products on stock“Customers prefer to have no inventory at all”, says Francois. “Instead, they expect us to have everything they need on stock. And if they run out, than they rely up-on us for ultra fast deliv-ery. That requires that we have everything on stock they need. Last year, we had 65% only. Now we’re up to 80%. We have been able to improve

Supporting ambitious sales people“But we only just begun. We update the system consistently with the ac-tual, realized sales fig-ures. As a result the sys-tem can compare the estimates from our sales people with historical sales numbers. If there are large deviations, the system will propose a new estimate to the sales manager. It is necessary”, Francois says laughing. “We have ambitious sales people who have a ten-dency to over estimate what they can sell. For an efficient planning, it is important that our esti-mates are realistic.”

“Our forecasting on our so called high level products, the product cat-egories we prioritize, ac-curacy is 85-90%. We have divided our products in three categories and the forecasting for the first category, planned products, is in place now. We recently added new product categories, tim-ber and sawed products, to the forecasting sys-tem. We expect that we

thanks to centralizing our warehouse function. We centralized our inventory of planned products on a platform between our factories and the region-al distribution centers. We have a large distribu-tion center dedicated to for the DIY market. We’re in the process of merging both facilities.”

“The new central DC will have around 25 col-leagues working here and we expect between 12-15 trucks inbound and about the same outbound. The platform will pro-vide products to the re-gional DC’s in accordance to what and how much each individual DC should store. The local distribu-tion centers in turn, will pull products, mainly slow movers, from the central warehouse according to customer orders. The ob-jective is to have 90% of

More on next page

5Fittings 8 · 2013

our products on stock. If we manage this, we have increased our service to our customers signifi-cantly.”

One size does not fit allAnne Zeller is business manager in Charpentes Francaises, a company in the ISB family. The main focus here is margin. Anne has a clear strate-gy for how the organiza-tion will increase perfor-mance. “It’s a two headed strategy”, says Anne. “Looking at our customer mix, we have on the one hand side the large na-tional accounts. These are typically big construc-tion companies who have building projects all over

cial teams to become ac-customed with the needs and demands of smaller customers. Since their business is mainly local, it’s important that our ex-pertise is available local-ly in order to develop our turnover.”

Not win business at any priceAnne has yet another ace in her sleeve to increase margin. “We will differ-entiate our approach and price from customer to customer. We treat them individually. To be able to do that, we need to be close to them, espe-cially when it comes to

the country. On the other hand side, we have the small and medium sized customers that operate locally.”

“Our focus has been on the national accounts”, Anne explains. “They’re responsible for a large chunk of our turnover. We cannot afford to loose them. So we’ll maintain a strong and solid focus on this segment and con-tinue to develop them. At the same time, we will increase focus on the small and medium cus-tomer segment. These customers have different needs. They need support from our design office, more frequent visits from sales people and training. They require a differenti-ated approach. But in re-turn, they give us a bet-ter margin too. We plan to train both our technical units and our commer-

the local customers. As close as we possibly can. This means hard work for the commercial teams. They will revisit all for-mer quotes and call cus-tomers to try to get their business. Not at any price though, we have to con-trol our margin. That is important. We’re about quality and this is also how we should approach our customers. We have developed clear and fea-sible targets, differenti-ated by regions. We will take marketshare back from our competitors. We have the tools, we have the competences. The French market might be

Anne Zeller

Continued

They require a differentiated

approach. But in return, they

give us a better margin too.

CharpentesFrancaisesBranches:

Employees:

Turnover:

14

360

€ 60 million (17% of the

entire ISB business)

Market leader in France

in trusses


difficult, but it’s not im-possible. We can do it.”

Twenty new colleaguesAnother substantial pro-ject ISB managed in the past nine months, is cut-ting the ties with Wolse-ley France. This showed to what extent ISB was dependent on the support from Wolseley France. ISB now has to stand on its own legs. “Mean-ing that we had to build up an entire new corpo-rate division level”, says Anne Galloway, ISB’s HR Director. “We have hired twenty new people, from both in- and outside Wolseley”.

“The HR team for ex-ample, has shiftet four people, handling pay roll, so employees get their salary in time, and train-ing”, Anne tells. “Finance, logistics, IT - ordering wa-ter, maintenance of the trucks and the fork lifts, you name it, we now are responsible for everything ourselves. We found competent people to take that responsibility”.

Taking responsibility“It’s scary and exciting-ly refreshing at the same time”, says Anne. “If we don’t perform, we have no one but ourselves to blame. The good things is, it’s all in our own hands now. The decision process is a lot faster. We have the full picture of

tual expectations and, we stressed how impor-tant it is to communi-cate these expectations to the local team. We have to make sure that everybody understands what is expect-

the situation and can take better informed decisions as well. The key words for ISB are responsibility and accountability”. Anne explains: “We have clear action plans and targets, boiled down to the local branches. But this is on-ly a start. We can make all the plans we want, at the end of the day it’s the local teams that have to take the responsibility for the goals and make them happen.”

The fact that lo-cal teams have to take charge, is one of the is-sues discussed during the leadership team meeting in September. “We have gathered 50 managers from the business and we had a three day meet-ing where we discussed both the business but al-so spent time working on the team”, says Anne. “There has been a lot more dialogue compared to the other years. We agreed upon a few mu-tual action points we want to prioritize. For example emphasiz-ing our core val-ues: excellence, ambition and team spirit, but also im-proving our business through sales re-lated ac-tions. We dis-cussed mu-

ed from him and her. Eve-rybody has to understand that the team at head-quarters supports them, but they cannot do their job for them. We’re a team and we have to act

like one.”

Anne Galloway

Business

ISB

7Fittings 8 · 2013

HardTalkwith Patrick Headon

How is Wolseley CE’s performing?

In July we finished the fis-cal year 2012/13. This gives us an excellent

opportunity to look both back and for-ward. For an accu-rate picture of our performance in the past fiscal year, we need to look at he businesses individ-

ually.

Tobler’s performance in 2012/2013

Unfortu-nately, none of the CE

businesses has delivered budget. Tobler however, thanks to a massive ef-fort of the team in Swit-zerland, almost made it. They managed to keep a high level of customer satisfaction and navigate through a tough peri-od with prices being un-der severe pressure. The team pushed to the limit and with an impressive final sprint - they got the business back on track

and almost made the budget. Something they can be very proud of. And something to learn from this year.

ÖAG’s performance in 2012/2013

ÖAG had a tough year. They un-

derwent a significant re-organization, necessary for the long term surviv-al of the business. There were job losses, which was tough. We do care aboutour people, but we have to keep a balanced business perspective at all times. If we don’t, we might put the entire busi-ness to risk. In April, the company got a new MD, Felix Fröhner, coming from Procter and Gam-ble. Felix committed to an ambitious plan and even though the mar-ket in Austria proved to be tougher than we ex-pected, he and his team found a way to deliver 2013 target nonetheless. We believe this will be a habit ÖAG keep in the new fiscal year.


In an enterprise with more than 3,000 employees, the top management may seem very distant. With HardTalk, you get close to top management,

because here we put you in contact with CE’s most senior manager. Patrick Headon answers you and your colleagues questions,

however searching they are.

HardTalk

Wasco’s performance in 2012/2013

Wasco is operating in one of our

toughest markets. We’re not the market leader. Actually, we’re the num-ber three. The team in The Netherlands has made a tremendous ef-fort. They are focusing on the smaller customer segments, which requires that they run harder and deal with more custom-ers. They shifted focus to higher margin prod-ucts. The result has been a respectable profit mar-gin. Unfortunately, mar-ket conditions forced us to look critically at the showrooms here and we decided to close them down. We could not see a sound plan to make them profitable within a rea-sonable amount of time. I am confident that we have prepared the busi-ness for profitability, al-so in 2013/14, despite a tough market.

ISB’s performance in 2012/2013

ISBISB had a challeng-ing first

six months. The market for new buildings was down 20-30% - a de-crease never seen before in the history of French construction. This hit the business hard and the team in France had to fight hard in the sec-ond half of the year to get back in control and get all the processes in place. (You can read more about this on page 4-7) The second chal-lenge they faced, was a separation from Wolseley France. They went from depending on Wolseley France for all the sup-porting functions, to be-ing responsible for every-thing from HR to IT, from Finances and Control to Marketing and Commu-nications. While at the same time, simplifying the corporate structure.

Focus on engagement is necessary

We have a good engage-ment score (EES) but we will listen and im-prove. There are a lot of good ideas. The chal-lenge is not to try to do too much, but do fewer things well and commu-nicate clearly about it. We have good customer sat-isfaction levels which we are determined to drive forward. Customers pay more for great service. This year we start the year with realistic budg-ets. In the year to date, we are ahead, which we have not been for some time. We need to focus in particular on gross margin and make sure the whole organization is clear on how we can drive these forward. This is an excit-ing year. No market is easy. But with your ideas, energy and persistence we will make it a great year.

CFM got a new owner

We recent-ly complet-ed the sale

of CFM. The Purchaser, vanMarcke, is the lead-ing sanitary player in Bel-gium. The two compa-nies fit together well and create a powerfull com-bination, which is good news for the future of CFM and its employees. The transaction was com-pleted fast, thanks to the commitment of the CFM management team - for which I am very grateful. We wish all CFM employ-ees good luck under the new ownership and thank them for their commit-ment to the business over the years.

9Fittings 8 · 2013

How did your colleagues rate your

The results of the employee engagement survey 2013

Earlier this year, you were asked to participate in a survey, where you could share your opinion about the quality of your workplace. Most of you did, some of you didn’t. In fact, compared to last year, with the exception of Wasco, the participation level decreased. The average engagement score also declined with a small notch. The good news is that, in spite of this, the overall results are positive. Meaning that in spite of tough times, we’re happy for our working place.

An impressive 93%! of all Wasco em-ployees com-

pleted the engagement survey. That is a ten per cent! increase, compared to 2012. “Amazing, isn’t it?”, says Monique Valk-enburg-Kok, Wasco’s HR manager, proudly. The secret for Wasco’s success, is a combination of both hard work and management buy in.

survey, but we also pro-vided regular updates on how many people already completed the survey - all the way up to the deadline for the survey. We ensured that eve-rybody, also our logistic staff, had on line access

Taking input seriously“We used all available channels to communi-cate with staff”, Monique explains. “Of course dur-ing the introduction of the

to the survey. In the DC’s, we made computers available, especially for this purpose. We visited the DC’s, to support and motivate the colleagues in logistics to complete the survey. We helped them if they had issues, comments or questions. A crucial driver for our success, is that top man-agement discusses en-gagement directly with staff when visiting them

work-place?

Wasco’s staff likes their work-

place better than last year

on pretty much every topic

in the survey10 Fittings 8 · 2013

Your Workplace

during the bi-annual informa-

tion meetings.” Another impor-

tant reason for the high participation lev-

el, according to Mo-nique, is that employ-

ees experience that their opinion is taken serious-ly. “One of the five main raised flags from last year’s survey, was educa-tion, training and knowl-edge sharing. Therefore we extended our educa-tional program and made changes in our training as well. Product training, for example, is made avail-able for more colleagues. On top of that, instead of offering the training lo-

truly impressive.” Wasco’s staff likes

their workplace better than last year on pretty much every topic in the survey. In fact, Wasco is the ONLY business unit where scores have gone up. “I can of course only speak on behalf of Was-co”, says Monique in an attempt to explain the result. “Wasco is a very special company. Our employees have a per-sonal relation to the com-pany. We have the typi-cal Dutch no-nonsense culture, but at the same time, there’s a feeling of solidarity and belonging. The latter might be due to it’s history of being a family owned business.”

Can we still improve?“The result”, says Mo-nique, “can intimidate me. I can’t help speculat-

cally, we invite the par-ticipants to Twello. Do-ing so, we facilitate that they can learn from each other.”

Personal relation strengthens engagement“Colleagues acknowledge that we improved on all topics. That makes me proud.” The Dutch HR Manager has good rea-sons to be proud of the results: they are excel-lent. “Our ESI (the ac-cumulated engagement score) score is 80,6, that is a 1,5% improvement. That doesn’t seem like an awful lot. But when your score is high to start with, improving with 1,5% is

ing, how on earth we can improve the results next year. To stay at the cur-rent level, or improve, we have to make sure that the reporting process on the survey is structured and integrated in the en-tire business. Line- and team managers have to take responsibility for the necessary improvements in their departments and teams.” Monique is a big fan of employee engage-ment. “Engaged employ-ees outperform their dis-engaged counterparts. This will have an impact on customer satisfac-tion and loyalty. Which the business will benefit from.”

Continuedon page 15

Whybother?

Worldwide, companies increasingly acknowl-edge the link between engagement and business results. According to international studies, engaged employees are up to 50% more productive than their unengaged counterparts. Engaged employees make you stand out from competitors. Companies that score in the top ten of employee engagement, surpass their compe-tition by 72% in earnings per share. Investing in an engaging workplace, from a business per-

spective, thus makes a lot of sense. The side effect, happy employees, is hard to argue

against as well.

?

Monique Valkenburg-

Kok

Engaged employees outperform their disengaged counterparts

11Fittings 8 · 2013

When Tobler earlier this year announced the acquisition

of Keramikland – a sanitary company focusing on the creme de la creme of the market – they

managed to surprise both friends and competitors.

The company with showrooms in Cham (Zug) and Hutwill

(Bern) indicates that the heating specialists from Urdorf are serious

about the sanitary market. But who are these sanitary nerds, what

do they do and why are they a good match?

Bathing was one of the most com-mon daily activities in Ro-man cul-

ture and was practiced across a wide variety of social classes. Today, we witness clear evidence of this practice being re-introduced both in pub-lic spa’s AND increasingly also at home in our pri-vate bathrooms. A trend the two founders of Kera-mikland, Stefan and Ben-no Kneubuhler, by acci-dent stumbled upon.

Reckless and ignorant“It was certainly not in the cards from the very start”, says Stefan Kneu-bühler, founder and re-sponsible for Sales. “We bought the tiles and boards company we worked for. We were 20, maybe 21 years old, and with the right amount of juvenile recklessness and ignorance, we were able to convince ourselves that we would make a fortune. The name, Ker-amikland, is a leftover from the very start in 1990.”

‘Feinschmecker’ for theSanitary


‘Feinschmecker’

Expansion

“It was not the gold-mine we expected. The turnaround, came after we visited the fair in Bo-logna, getting lost in the

Selling sanitary dreamsIt will not come as a sur-prise to you that a bath-room from Keramikland has a high end price tag. You’d expect people to save on sanitary in times when money is tight. Yet this has not stopped Keramikland from sell-ing personal spa’s valued

section for temporary in-terior design. Here we in-tuitively understood that there’s a huge market for high end bathrooms.”

Passionate about qualityA typical Keramikland customer is male or fe-male between 35 and 60, with a medium or high income. They often work in a leading func-tion and have a passion for quality and design in common. Among bank-ers, a bathroom from Keramikland is somewhat of a must. How did they manage to become a life style brand? “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. Our philosophy, our team and our prod-ucts.”

“Personally, I think, my ambition level, my pas-sion to create new things and my perseverance - also when things are not moving ahead as we’d like - have contributed to our success. What drives me is to enthuse our cus-tomers by sharing ideas and finding individually, tailored solutions.”

CHF 10.000 and more. “The secret”, Stefan

explains, “is that the cus-tomers‘ demand is cen-tral. We sell individual, seamless solutions. Eve-rything in our showroom,

More on next page

CEO, Urs Wehrle, is convinced to, with the support of Tobler, strengthen and where possible increase Keramiklands’ market position. “Thanks to Tobler, we have increased our salesforce significantly. Together we will evalu-ate the possibility to increase our presence, initiate additional showrooms. Tobler on the other hand side, will be able to benefit from our extensive sanitary assortment as well as our showroom experience. What surprised and impressed me about Tobler, is that they, in spite of their size, are managed in a familiar and hu-mane fashion. I was also impressed by the professional approach during the acquisition as well as the respect they showed for our organization and our work. When assessing Toblers‘ existing sanitary assortment, the Comfort line, it’s obvious that this is aimed at a different customer segment. It speaks another language. I think it is important that we test how to position the line in the future, and in what quantity and in which chan-nels the line will be offered. We’d like to support a future rejuvenation of the line. After all, we should be able to benefit from each other.”

Tobler feat. Keramikland


Sanitary

can be customized. Our staff is trained to sell dreams. Of course we train them to do so. But equally important is that they believe in the

dream we sell. Therefore I think it is important to encourage them to try the exhibited steam showers,Whirlpools, Hamams etc. We select our products based up-on design, high quality

standards and function-ality. Roughly 80% of our products we import from Italy. Our products should not only look great, when you touch them, you should expe-rience the quality.”

Stefan’s passion for bathrooms is not restricted to his professional life only. “When visiting hotels, I can’t help myself to check the bathroom. I might learn some-thing. Unfortunately, even in the expensive segment, bathrooms more often than not, are build on a tight budget. If you ask me, the total wrong place to save money. Of course!” Stefan’s own bathroom is, as you might expect, totally top notch. “50 square meters of all the imaginable luxury Keramikland has to offer”, the proud founder says grinning. “There’s a customized, natural stone sink, closets with interior lighting and leather, a Well Box steam bath with neck and back massage and color therapy, a sauna with color therapy, heated wooden chairs and a massive amount of indirect lighting - in other words, an oasis of energy. How the bathroom of my dreams looks like? That changes every six months. Whenever there’s new products, I can hardly wait to add them to our as-sortment. In my head, I can see the room as if I was standing right in it. Every room re-quires its own person-ality, it’s own personal solution. There are so many possibilities, with a high level of

complexity - I love it.”

Anof energy

Continued

oasis

FOCUSHow to get

away from price

Your showroom requires a sophisticated design. Customers have to see their new bathroom in the showroom.

In the showrooms in Keramikland, staff is used to sell dreams. But how do you sell a dream and get the customers’ mind away from the price? Stefan - who personally trains all sales people in Keramikland, has five tips for you:

1

Your customer must have the possibility to test the products in the showroom and get the full experience.

2

Sell additional products like for example relevant and beautiful accessories.3

Offer the customer alternatives. Instead of selling a traditional shower, sell them a steam shower.4

Seduce your customer with alluring ideas and concepts that inspire them.5

Stefan Kneubühler

Benno Kneubühler


Your Workplace

Continued on next page

Wasco Tobler ÖAG CFM ISB

SurveyParticipation93%

71%

72%

89%

38%

83% 80

% 79%

100%

Wasco Tobler ÖAG CFM ISB

EngagementScores

74,6%

63,6% 56,5

%

76,4% 73,8

%

80,1%

81,1%

78,7% 71

%

(How motivated are you?)

iThis is the first year ISB participates - therefore we don’t have any results from 2012 to compare with This year

Last year (2012)Continued

from page 11

difference between the

highest score, WASCO, and

the lowest score, ISB

23,6%There’s

The engagement score is the average score of all chosen aspects considered important for engage-ment, weighed by importance. Meaning that if you score bad at aspects that are considered more im-portant, but good at aspects that are less important, it will influence your average score negatively.

more Wasco employees completed the employee engagement survey compared to last year

10%In 2013, a whopping

Overall - compared to 2012, this year, less people completed the survey. With ONE positive exception: Wasco. Dutch participation level increased with 10% to an impressive 93%. The secret? Thanks to the efforts of management, our colleagues in The Netherlands ac-knowledged the importance of sharing their personal opinions about how they feel about their workplace. There are no historical numbers available for ISB, as this is the first year ISB participates.

51,5%of ISB employees would

recommend ISB as a

working place to friends

and family (compared

to 44% in an earlier

survey)

How motivated are you?Overall, motivation has not changed significantly compared to 2012. Motivation in Wasco increased somewhat, whereas the other business units showed a small decrease.


ISBand CFM employ-ees, compared to

the other units, are more pessimis-

tic when rating their workplace. Both

businesses have been been on a rough

ride. Colleagues in Luxembourg experi-

enced a lot of changes both in resources

and working processes. Staff in France

dealt with an uncertainty concerning their

future for a relatively long period of time.

According to Anne Galloway, ISB’s HR

Director, this has had a negative effect

on staff and how they score in the annu-

al engagement survey. But according to

Anne, there’s more to it. “I think that, even under normal cir-

cumstances, our scores would not equal

those of Wasco or Tobler. French people

in general have a less positive view up-

on their job situation. When we compare

our scores with other French companies,

we’re average.” She might be on to something actu-

ally. The UN recently published a rank-

ing of the world’s happiest countries and

guess what? Switzerland and The Neth-

erlands came in third and fourth while

the French, well, they are stuck on num-

ber 25! Austria got a solid 8th place and

Luxembourg is the number 19. And

if you want to belong to the happi-

est people in the world, you would

have to move to Denmark.

Continued

How loyal are you?Tobler employees, in spite of a minor drop since last year, are still the most loyal employees in Wolseley Central Europe. In general, loyalty is quite high.

Happiness with a cultural twist

Cold feet

Toblers’ staff rate their workplace positively. The ESI, the accumu-lated engagement score, might have gone down with 1,8% com-pared to last year, but it is still at an impressive 76%. Tobler, after last years’ survey, has initiated a number of improvement projects. One of them: the induction of new employees. New employees like the 25 year old Manuela Adrienne Bolliger who started in marketing in January of this year.

or not— here I am

Manuela Adrienne Bolliger

IvanWidmer


Your Workplace

Manuela be-fore ap-plying for a job in

Tobler, did an appren-ticeship at Swisscom, a telecom company, and held a job in the mar-keting department of a bank. “When I saw To-blers’ job add on the In-ternet, I thought this is my chance. The func-tion, marketing co-ordi-nator, and the content of the job, appealed to me. As did the com-pany profile. So I ap-plied and ... I got the job.” She had to wait a couple of weeks be-fore she could start, and got cold feet. “I revisited the job add and the Internet site. And of course, typically me, I started doubting whether this was the place for me.”

The first 100 daysAccording to the origi-nal planning, Manuela was scheduled for a To-bler introduction day in January. “One day after my first day on the job. Unfortunately, I had to reschedule and post-pone my induction until April. As far as I can remember, we were around twen-ty new people, a few women, most-

Tobler welcomes new ideas“I got a real good im-pression of Tobler”, says Manuela. “I would have liked to hear a little bit more about Wolseley though. How the re-lation is, how that is working and to what extend we are depend-ing on them. It would also have been nice to combine the presenta-tions with team exer-cises. I don’t really know how that exactly should look like but, you know, something that would loosen up the atmos-phere and help us get-ting to know each other better. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the in-troduction. It was well organized and I had the feeling that the other participants also liked it.”

“The cold feet are long gone. I have a great boss, Ivan. You know, in my last job, I had a boss where noth-ing was possible. He

ly men. From different parts of the country, dif-ferent departments and functions. We started early in the morning with presentations about the business, the different functions and depart-ments and products. Ac-tually, this was the first time I saw Toblers’ prod-ucts in real life. How funny is that?”, Manuela says laughing.

“You get a lot of use-ful information but you need to digest it in a rel-atively short amount of time. It was very inter-esting. A colleague did a presentation about his first 100 days on the job and how to make them a success. He shared his experiences and the challenges he bumped into. We finished the in-troduction with an in-formal lunch at noon. The department lead-ers joined us for lunch, which gave us the op-portunity to have one on ones - and ask ques-tions.”

didn’t like changes. The default answer to all ideas was ‘no’. I don’t want that kind of job. I want to have the feel-ing that I can make a difference. That I am appreciated, and my ideas and thoughts are being considered. The culture in Tobler is so much different. People are open to new ideas. You have to argue for them, true, but if you come with the right ar-guments, you get a shot at them.”

“Right now I am working on the corpo-rate wording manual. I discussed with my boss that our external com-munication would benefit if we’d be more consist-ent. He told me to go for it, that would never have happened in my former job. I feel appreciated here. I actually recom-mended one of my good friends to come and work here too.”

I want to have the feeling that I can make a difference. That I am appreciated, and my ideas and thoughts are being considered.


Most people would probably feel a little schizophrenic work-ing two jobs at the same time. It would not exactly help either if one job was in Austria, being the boss of a depart-ment, and the other job in Switzerland, working in the sister department but as a functional special-ist. Nevertheless, this is what Olivier Kurt has voluntarily accepted to do. Why would he want to do that?

SwissBreeze

A refreshing

Olivier Kurt, HR partner in Tobler, is sta-tioned in Ur-

dorf. Earlier this year, he divided his attention be-tween Urdorf and Vien-na, taking on the job as interim HR director for ÖAG. “The daily leader for the HR team in Aus-tria, Lukas Schreiner, was involved in an urgent pro-ject that demanded his full attention. As a result, there was an opportu-nity to fill in his position for three months, from March to May”, Olivier explains. “An opportunity I could not refuse”.

Hands tied due to legislation“The team in Austria gave me a warm welcome”,

in ÖAG

Olivier Kurt


Ideas@work

Olivier says. “They turned my time here into a fan-tastic experience. We share the same HR back-ground and working for the same group, we share the same values too. But Austrian labour law is dif-ferent compared to Swiss legislation. Here I relied heavily on Lukas’ team. I was a bit surprised by Austrian legislation. I ex-perienced it to be some-what more restrictive than what I am used to in Switzerland. My Austrian colleagues have so many excellent ideas, but they often have to go the ex-tra mile and consider so many constraints rather than just doing it.”

Cross pollinating good ideas“That didn’t keep me from bringing the good ideas to Tobler and see what we can do with them in Switzerland, where the laws are differ-ent”, Olivier tells. “Cross pollinating good ideas is one of the main advan-tages of job exchanges

very happy with the way things turned out. “Wolseley encourages job rotations. The benefits in

terms of learnings are significant. I was

a bit hesitant to start with. Hand over the respon-sibility for my

team, is a big deci-

sion. Olivi-er’s boss, Mi-

chael Engeler, whom I know well and whose judgement I trust, recom-mended Olivier warmly. The entire project worked out great for all parties involved. My team was very positive about work-ing together with Olivier. It’s like opening the win-dows and let a breeze of fresh air enter. Olivier did a great job in ÖAG. Based upon the experi-ences we have now, we are confident that we will plan more swaps, also in other departments.”

My boss can sleep safe“It was the first time I was in charge of a larg-er team (7 people)”, says Olivier. “It was like get-ting a temporary promo-tion. Before I started I promised myself to be authentic. I agreed with Lukas on the tasks and priorities, but at the same time negotiated that I was allowed to make

between different busi-nesses.” An example of a good idea exchange are the induction days. ÖAG and Tobler have differ-ent approaches. “Based upon Olivier’s observa-tions, we de-cided to reduce the du-ration and the frequency of the introduction days to welcome new colleagues”, says Elisabeth Illy, responsible for people development and recruitment in ÖAG. “The changes we made, represent a saving in both time and money.” Olivi-er: “Inspired by the pro-cess in ÖAG, I discussed the induction days with my colleagues in Tobler and we decided to make some changes.”

Olivier took good care of my teamLukas Schreiner is

changes, or at least raise an issue, if I saw room for improvement. It was a great way to get hands on experience leading. I fell, I could take charge, and move things forward. This experience has con-tributed to my ambition level. I’m not out to get my boss’s job”, Olivier says laughing, “but I do hope there will be new challenges on my career path where I can use the experiences I just got.”

When the Swiss meet the AustriansElisabeth enjoyed work-ing with Olivier. A lot. “On a professional lev-el, his HR competencies shine through whatever he does. We could always come to him for advice and sparring. It was a lot of fun too. Also because there are tiny differences in culture and language. We both speak German but Olivier managed to surprise us more than once with words we sim-ply did not know.” “I have experienced the Austrians to be more ... discrete, more polite, more for-mal maybe”, says Olivier. “They don’t openly ut-ter criticism, as we would do in Switzerland.” Elisa-beth: “We took Oliver to a restaurant called ‘Sch-weizerhaus’ in the Wiener Prater on his last even-ing in Vienna. All the dif-ferences in spite, he en-joys Wiener Schnitzel and drinking beers, just like we Austrians do.”

Vienna prater park


Selling related products to compensate for cheap boilers“The market for alterna-tive heating solutions is small”, Eric says. “Last year, on a national level, 425.000 boilers were sold, compared to 4.000 heating pumps. It’s not because people are unin-terested, but we’re talk-ing about rather large investments. The govern-ment, if you ask me, is not helping. We hope this situation will change at some point in time.”

The market for boil-ers in The Netherlands is competitive. “There are many places where you can buy your boiler. Price is an issue. We make lit-

ple are literally out in the cold. They need whatever needs fixing, fixed now. That we have the parts that are needed to fix the problem in our inventory, is far more important than the price.”

“My boss thinks the win-ter is going to be cold”, Eric says. “My ex-perience is that warm sum-mers are often succeeded by rather warm winters as well. We had a great sum-mer in The Netherlands. I hope though

that I am wrong and he’s right. What will keep you warm this winter? I ad-vice you to get a girl-friend.”

tle money on selling boil-ers. What is more inter-esting, is to sell related products. That is why, when you visit our web-site and you’re looking for a boiler, you immediately can see products that fit this particular boiler. In-stallers are very happy for this service, because they’re guaranteed that all parts are compatible.”

Spare parts is where the money is“The added value for Wasco, is in spare parts”, Eric says. “Here we are one out of two big play-ers on the market and that gives us a far better position when pricing our products. When the heat-ing doesn’t work, peo-

girl/boy friend

Eric van den Berg, purchaser in Wasco, is hoping for a cold winter. “Temperatures below minus five are excellent for business. It makes the revenue boom. Besides, I like ice skating.” New exciting products that will boom this winter, we should not expect. At least not in The Netherlands. “We’re a real gas country. It’s boilers - everywhere you look.”

WarmWinter

Whatkeeps you

this ?Your

Eric van den Berg


Products

Nobody wants to freeze at homeThomas, together with about 200 colleagues, is part of Toblers’ service or-ganisation. “Our number is one of the most impor-tant telephone numbers in the winter”, Thomas says jokingly. “When their installation fails, we jump in our cars to fix the prob-lem. A lot of customers have service contracts with us. We check their installation periodically, which in turn gives our customers peace of mind when the winter comes. If, god forbid, anything

tivities stop, which is not good for sales. A good winter for me personal, is a moderate winter with a lot of snow. I love to stand on skis”.

Better isolation sets bar for installationsThomas has been with the company for 22 years. A lot has hap-pened, both in relation to products and customer mentality. “Products have become more complex. New houses are better isolated than ever before. But to get the most out

goes wrong anyways, we’ll be on their door step as soon as possible. The same goes for people who don’t have a service contract with Tobler.”

“A good winter busi-ness wise”, Thomas ex-plains, “depends on where you are in the or-ganisation. A very cold winter is good for us. It means a lot of work. And people who sit in the cold, don’t argue too much about the costs. They want their installation up and running as fast as possible. But when it’s very cold, construction ac-

of your isolation, your in-stallation must be precise and accurate. This goes for both traditional and al-ternative systems. It re-quires more expertise al-so both from colleagues in sales and service, and from the installer. End us-ers nowadays, thanks to the Internet, are better in-formed. They know what they want and they are more demanding.”

“The prognoses for this winter”, Thomas tells, “point in the direction of a mild winter. But let’s see about that. Forecasts have been wrong before.”

“Heating pumps are popular around here”, says Thomas Mohler, Service Manager in Tobler. “They’re installed in approximately 80% of all new buildings. The picture is somewhat different for renovations. It’s a cost issue. Traditional oil and gas installations are cheaper than heating pumps. The balance might tip though once we see more cheap heating pumps on the market.”

Tobler’s

service organisation Thomas Mohler


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1 How many boilers did Wasco sell in 2012?

A 425.000

B 40.000

C 580.000

2 What’s the name of the prestigious sanitary business Tobler acquired?

A Feinschmecker Paradies

B Spa & Co

C Keramikland

3 What has been the level of participation in the engagement survey?

A Lower than 2012 except for Wasco

B Higher than 2012 except for Wasco

C Lower than 2012 except for ÖAG

4 Why do we care about engage-ment?

A An engaged work-force is a more productive

B Engaged employees make less mistakes

C Engaged employees deliver better cus-tomer service

5 What are the keywords for ISB for this fiscal year?

A Responsibility and loyalty

B Responsibility and accountabil-ity

C Responsibility and growth

The winner of an iPhone is Jocelyne Recoguillé,

from Agence Sinbila, ISB. Congratulations.

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Swiss Breeze – Tobler’s Olivier working in Austria

Cold Feet – a new colleague in marketing in Tobler

What keeps you warm – Tobler and Wasco

Tobler buys Keramikland

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