Creating a £1bn turnaround in Energis

In 2000 Energis was a FTSE 15 company, providing Telecoms services to a Global client base, it was valued at £10billion. By 2002 it was bankrupt, with £800m of debt. Re-financed, Archie Norman took over as Chairman and appointed John Pluthero as CEO.

The Problem

Chemistry worked with Archie & John across their biggest single issue, people. What do the right people look like? Have we got the right people? How do we get the right people? How do we keep and motivate them? The Energis environment was unique, sensationally fast paced, delivery focused and above all full of ambiguity and opportunity, success at Energis was not about what you did but how you did it!

How We Helped

Chemistry built the Employee Value Proposition (why work here), defined the predictors of success in the turnaround environment and created a candidate sourcing strategy that sourced and attracted the right talent from a diverse mix of industries. Chemistry enabled Energis to "flood" their organisation with the "right" talent, building a no-compromise selection toolset in the process. And the "right" talent didn't mean best telco, it meant the right combination of intellect, values, motivations and behaviours ... and if they had relevant experience too, fantastic.

The Result

The impact was dramatic, in 12 months Energis hired 650 people, changing out virtually every layer of management whilst "turning round" the organisation. By 2005 (just 2 years later) C&W acquired Energis for £750m.