Spotlight: Our employee survey
The opinions of our employees are an invaluable resource to us at Thomas Cook Group. In keeping with our PROUD value, United as One Team, we now ask consistent survey questions across all our businesses. Through the survey we identify ways to improve employee satisfaction and retention, building a strong, unified team.
Data on this page
Our employees are also our eyes and ears on the ground: by listening to them, we can learn more about what our customers and other stakeholders want, and quickly respond where we find areas for improvement.
For many years, Thomas Cook Group has carried out employee surveys across all our companies. Since 2008, we have used a consistent set of questions for all parts of the business. This has enabled us to produce a Group-wide engagement score, and also to compare scores between our companies, highlighting pockets of excellence and areas needing attention.
Our survey consists of 15 questions covering topics such as quality of service, leadership, personal development, vision and values, and camaraderie within teams. Our 2010 results showed that, for the third year running, our engagement score has improved and that we significantly outperform the benchmark for companies measuring employee engagement. In fact, scores of 3.67 or higher are considered 'Excellent'.
Thomas Cook employee engagement score
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.74 | 3.83 | 3.90 |
In the UK, we call the survey echo, which stands for 'employees communicating honest opinions'. The name was also chosen because we want what our employees tell us to reverberate. The survey is a wasted opportunity if we allow our employees' words to fall on deaf ears; its main value is in the actions we take as a result of what we are told.
Examples of actions taken in response to our 2009 survey include:
- The introduction of a new process for goal setting in North America, which made clearer the links between organisational goals and individual objectives
- The launch of an apprentice programme in the new Condor maintenance company
- Implementation of standardised career paths within service and quality departments for employees in our Central Europe business segment
- A campaign to raise awareness of performance appraisals in Egypt, using e-learning and training sessions
- An increased focus on providing feedback on employee performance in Northern Europe
- The launch of an online learning and development programme, giving greater access to development opportunities for employees in the UK and Ireland.
Responding to employee feedback in India
By studying the results of the 2009 survey, Thomas Cook India identified a need to invest in training and development for its managers. In 2010, the company has developed a wide-reaching programme that includes:
- Courses delivered in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad and Indore. These cover issues including capital budgeting, teambuilding and service quality
- Workshops to help middle-managers better understand their roles and develop their leadership skills
- Guidance meetings for managers who received low scores in the survey
- Training in the key areas of foreign exchange, outbound leisure and corporate travel
- Identification of committed, promising employees to form a key talent pool. Individuals in this pool are supported to develop their potential with initiatives such as strategic workshops.
PROUD value
United as one team
Did you know?
Over three quarters of our employees around the world gave us their feedback through our 2010 employee survey.
