STAFF SURVEY

I've been heartened and humbled by the superb results from our recent survey of staff opinions. In the midst of an austere and unpredictable economic environment, the way our staff feel about working at The Hanley is emphatically positive. Amongst the most eye-catching results are ; 88% of staff would recommend The Hanley as a good place to work........ 92% of staff believe they're encouraged to take personal responsibility for their work quality and performance........95% fully understand the organisations aims and objectives.......86% state that their line manager encourages them to take initiative and make decisions. Naturally we have areas where we need to refocus our efforts . These mainly surround career progression (which isn't always easy to engineer in a 60 person firm) and the need for more training and development ( I will really start to worry when our staff have an appetite for LESS training).So a valuable and instructive exercise, as well as a motivating one. We believe that if we continue to treat our staff well then they'll continue to treat our customers that way too.

BOOKSTORES ARE GREAT

I felt a bit guilty reading a weekend newspaper report about the 25% fall in the number of independent booksellers in the UK over the past years.My guilt was based on my buying habit of using Amazon to purchase books these days because it is just so easy to do so.I probably buy 5 or 6 books a month and so I'd be a regular customer of a local bookshop if I'd gained such an affinity. ( I am currently really enjoying Andrew Rawnsley's book on the rise and fall of New Labour; The End of the Party)
I then rationalised things a bit more by reminding myself that I do occasionally use a local bookstore in Hanley when I am in the city centre but I'm not aware they have an on-line offering so all I am really doing is exercising "channel preferences" to suit my buying behaviour. If pressed I'd also admit that buying books on-line is fun, but not as enjoyable as browsing a bookshop. In reality, 21st century retailing is all about giving customers a range of choices in how to do business with you but never compromising on service excellence. I would however gladly support the Booksellers Association's goal of helping creative and entrepeneurial people who run bookshops to thrive by cutting car parking costs in city centres. Many of us who believe in local branches on the High Street would welcome more imaginative measures to revitalise town centre shopping .Sometimes there is no substitute for face to face expert advice.

"GENERATION RENT"

It didn't take long for my relaxing Bank Holiday weekend to recede, as I switched on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 to hear Ruth Davison of the National Housing Federation predict that the proportion of home-ownership in the UK could plummet to 63.8% in the next decade, ( a level unseen since the mid 1980s) unless we tackle the "crisis of the chronic under-supply of new homes". The research commissioned by the NHF predicts higher rents and an entire generation "locked out of decent housing". No punches pulled there. Certainly the historically low level of new homes built last year creates a supply-side problem but in reality the demand-side has deep fractures too, most notably on affordability and the way house price inflation has out-stripped wages growth. This latter dimension of a multi-dimensional problem makes the plight of young, aspiring first-time buyers more acute as they feel compelled to rent as mortgage lenders (rightly) insist that they demonstrate an ability to pay before a mortgage is offered. Escalating rents in high demand locations have led some to forecast that rent levels will rise by 20% over the next 5 years.So "Generation Rent" face the vicious circle of having incomes squeeze as rents rise and wages fail to keep pace with rising inflation , making it hard to save for a (larger)deposit and so having to continue to rent. .......so whats the answer? Well, no sound-bites from me on a layered problem such as this but I still believe that home ownership is an emotional desire and an aspiration for most people in the UK. Demand is high and supply can be improved by more efficient planning guidelines as envisaged in the new Planning Policy Framework announced last month, and a move away from the quantity targets which gave us an over-supply of inner city flats.Strategic initiatives by government and by developers to stimulate the buying process are welcome as is the repositioning of housing nearer the top of the political agenda. It may also be time for a re-appraisal of controls, standards and the degree of competition in the private rented sector. In the meantime as a lender we will continue to play our part too, by helping first time buyers in our locality to save for a mortgage and to obtain an affordable mortgage on the right property for them.

HONORARY DOCTORATE

Yesterday I attended Staffordshire Universitys graduation ceremony to receive my honorary doctorate degree. As Lou Reed would say "just a perfect day". Sunshine, lots of smiling faces, and a very proud and humble CEO of The Hanley on stage to receive my awarded degree. It was a real privilege to be there and to be recognised in this way, a testimony to all my colleagues at The Hanley over the past 9 years who have worked tenaciously to do the very best for our customers and members. I was struck by the professionalism of everyone involved in the organisation of the event and by the delight amongst my contacts and colleagues in the University's Business School at the achievement of all their students. These are tough times for the higher education sector, on the cusp of a radical shift in funding. The need for a demonstrably excellent student experience and strong employability credentials will be distinguishing features in an increasingly competitive university sector. From my own exposure to Staffs Uni over several years ( and many more to come I hope) this particular organisation will "shine" and future students are in good hands.

NAMES MAY CHANGE BUT.......

On Friday I played in the annual Building Societies Association golf day at the Leicestershire golf club and managed to win the event with the lowest net score (66 as you ask). The trophy I won is a handsome, silver "layer cake" engraved with winners dating back to 1930 when a gentleman named C.O.Marshall from the Abbey Road building society won the event at Walton Heath golf club. Since then the list of societies engraved on the trophy include Colchester Permanent, Huddersfield & Bradford, Middleton and the Burnley as well as more recent "plc converters" such as Woolwich and Halifax. The rich history of the mutual sector is always engaging but the list of names also reminded me that , despite media coverage to the contrary, the consolidation of our sector is not a new phenomenon. Building societies have survived and thrived through market turbulence and many boom & bust cycles. More UK adults than ever before do business with mutuals, and although the flavour may change the mould is still fit for purpose.

BOARD STRATEGY AWAY-DAY

We have just held our annual Board "away-day" to review our strategy and agree priorities for the coming financial year which starts on 1st September. You could be forgiven for thinking that a strategy for a small building society right now can be summed up in one word....Survival...However, we like to think we can do a bit better than just survive, and in any case the survival instincts of small, local mutuals over the past few years since the "credit crunch" and through the recession have been commendable. If this era in financial services has taught us nothing else it must surely be that big aint necessarily beautiful. The author Peter Drucker once commented that " strategy is not about forecasting the future,it is about understanding the future implications of todays decisions". None of us can claim to be experts in predicting what the future holds but we can strive to make decisions for this business which put us in a strong place as the future unfolds. To do that we need to identify our strengths and play to those, evaluate the likely risks we face and create a range of products our members will want. We also aim to be distinctive in the way we deliver service. No amount of TV advertising by large banks proclaiming their commitment to outstanding customer service can guarantee the much-desired reputational enhancement for those banks, but it is curious to watch our large plc competitors try to mimic the way we do business. Our strategy day was challenging, thought-provoking, interactive, productive and enjoyable. Easy for me to say that I know, but the acid test would be, what would a Hanley member think of our day-long discussions had he/she been an observer?My firm belief is they'd have been reassured and impressed by the conviction and the vision shown by the Hanley Board.

BSA CHAIR

I have recently just completed my year of office as Chairman of the Building Societies Association,an experience I thoroughly enjoyed as it provided me with a broader appreciation of the spectrum of issues facing the mutual sector and an opportunity to influence the direction of development. Mutuals have much to offer, primarily because we are owned by our customers (members) and are not answerable to shareholders demanding a dividend for their financial stake. But mutuality in itself is just an organisational form, and we need to give it meaning by our focus on outstanding service and competitive products. The mood of the mutual sector, as reflected at our BSA Conference in Birmingham earlier this month, is a mix of optimism and realisation that we need to seize the chance given to us by the current plight of the state-funded banks and customer thirst for financial expertise that they can actually trust. Building societies have been around for many decades (since 1854 in The Hanleys case) and whilst we don't want to live in the past, we believe that many of the virtues we demonstrate are in high demand in our 21st century marketplace. Our job is to refashion and remould without jeopardising the core values of mutuality. An exciting challenge and one we are relishing at The Hanley. It is often assumed that making a product or service more contemporary requires a cutting-edge- technology solution, and of course the smartphone generation have created new market dynamics, which we all try to wrestle with and benefit from, but in fact successful business is about adapting and staying relevant, without compromising on quality. For every Apple there is a Burberry and for every Amazon there is an Innocent.