AXA Sun Life is a long-established UK Life and Pensions business. A number of mergers and acquisitions had taken place in recent years, only some of which had been fully integrated. Early in 2000, Aquarius was asked to help with the design and development of a new organisation in the following context:

Energy Centres were formed as the retailing business for British Gas (now Centrica). Traditionally their High Street showrooms were outlets for gas appliances and the facility for customers to settle their accounts. The separation of Centrica from Transco removed the accounts collection function. They had now become a white-goods retailer in competition with the out of town ﾑshedsﾒ such as Dixons and Comet. As a result, jobs were redefined on more conventional retailing lines and they needed to recruit large numbers of staff.

English Partnerships are the Regeneration Agency of the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions formed from the former English Estates and parts of the Civil Service. They are based at nine offices throughout England. Our first major consulting intervention with them was to develop an integrated pay and grading system designed to bring together two distinct cultures with widely different pay structures.

Having gained Treasury approval for the new system the focus then turned to methods of managing performance. Some professional staff were accustomed to private sector bonus arrangements while others were wedded to a public sector incremental approach. At all levels there was scepticism about the willingness and ability to adopt a meaningful approach to linking performance to pay. Many had had bad experiences previously.

GE Capital Global Consumer Finance is a highly successful part of GE, voted the World's Most Admired Company, with a record of consistent growth of market share and profitability in demanding markets. Their major business stream is the provision and operation of in-store credit cards. They value innovation and change to achieve their business goals and pursue excellence in all that they do.

There has been a long association between the company and Aquarius and we work as partners to develop and implement HR initiatives. We had been instrumental in developing a broad banding approach to facilitate grading and career development across the organisation and to reinforce the ﾑno barriersﾒ culture, but needed to address growing discomfort with pay flexibility issues.

GE Capital Global Consumer Finance is a highly successful part of GE, voted the World's Most Admired Company, with a record of consistent growth of market share and profitability in demanding markets. Their major business stream is the provision and operation of in-store credit cards. They value innovation and change to achieve their business goals and pursue excellence in all that they do. There has been a long association between the company and Aquarius and we work as partners to develop and implement HR initiatives.

We had been instrumental in developing a broad banding approach and to facilitate grading and career development across the organisation and to reinforce the 'no barriers' culture. We then advised in the development of an appropriate reward strategy.

The next phase, carried out in a two-year programme, was organisation clarification and the development of behavioural competencies for application in key HR processes.