Ferguson plc Annual Report and Accounts 2020
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Key resources and relationships
What we rely on to provide our value added services
Our key resources and relationships are crucial to ensuring we are able to offer our customers industry leading, value added services that ultimately drive profitable growth. Our associates are the driving force of the business and a key differentiator in how we create value. They are guided by our purpose, vision, mission and values that are a reminder of the goals we are working towards and how we expect to get there. For information on how we engage with and consider our key stakeholders, please see pages 24, 25 and 66.
Our Vision:
Our people
To be a trusted partner and deliver the best service to customers in our industry.
34,000
Our Mission: Our associates provide expert advice and a range of products and services our customers want to improve their construction, renovation and maintenance projects.
Our Values: Our values recognize the behaviors that guide our actions and those of our Company (as shown below). Safety We are accountable for our own safety and the safety of others.
Service We source great products, provide unrivaled service and build enduring relationships to deliver value to our customers.
Results We have high expectations and drive performance to deliver excellent results.
People We recruit passionate people and provide excellent development opportunities.
Integrity We act fairly, honestly and with integrity.
Innovation We encourage innovation to improve our customers’ solutions.
associates
Our associates are at the heart of everything we do. By living our values through the work they perform and the customer service they provide, they are the key to our success. They strengthen our culture by forming and maintaining relationships that build on loyalty and trust while delivering excellence in all areas.
Leadership The growth of our business relies on success of our leaders and how they motivate and inspire our associates every day. As with prior years, we continue to see a blend of external hires and internal succession appointments within the USA, Canada and the UK to leadership positions, enabling us to broaden the experience, knowledge and diversity of our leaders. How we develop all our associates, including our leaders, is discussed in the “Talent management and development” section below.
Talent management and development Last year, we updated and launched the Group’s Mission, Vision and Values. These reinforce our commitment to our customers and associates; they guide what we stand for and how we act. Our values encourage the right behaviors for all associates to provide the best customer service, work with the utmost integrity and look for new, innovative approaches to lead both our customers and our business into the future. In the USA, we continued to invest in our talent management model, developing our leaders through the completion of specific development activities including participating in Strategic Project Teams on business development opportunities.
This was to enhance their knowledge and broaden their leadership experience. Additional focus allowed us to execute on succession planning and role movement across the leadership ranks to produce well rounded and seasoned leadership talent. Having set out our inclusion and diversity (I&D) framework last year we are now delivering our key actions. We have commenced training and learning activities for all people managers and are rolling out our all associate program. We have launched our first Business Resource Groups for Women and African American associates; our third Group for LGBTQ will be set up before the end of calendar year 2020. The I&D Council was created with a diverse group of leaders from across the organization, the team has been engaged with driving I&D initiatives and is providing great insights to the work we have underway. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we quickly adjusted all our training offerings and programs to virtual, including facilitation where required. As a result, over 700 members of our salesforce strengthened their virtual selling skills. We continue to evaluate and evolve our curriculum and strategically align our offerings to the skills our associates need to grow, develop and drive best-in-class business results. In Canada, we have continued to drive the talent strategy and enhance our capabilities while improving the HR infrastructure to gain efficiencies. Building upon the principles of employee self-service and maintaining a single system-of-record, we launched five technology-enabled capabilities: performance management, compensation planning, talent development, employee recognition, and a new intranet. We refined our organization structure across all levels, and implemented new function-specific operating models, both to ensure more efficient delivery of products and services to our customers and further align to the Ferguson US model. This was enhanced by the launch of a multiyear Leadership Development Program for 300+ leaders, spanning all functional areas of the business.
