Do you work for Nationwide?

homer_j_3

Yes, as a mutual the board are voted in to make decisions on behalf of its members. So I am guessing that is where it differs from the PLC's as you dont get a say on who sits on the board.

Ultimately under a mutual organisation, if the members are not happy with the board they can vote to remove the fat cats on the board.

LizEstelle

Looks like my not-put-up prizes would have remained intact there, then.

ReportInvestor

LizEstelle wrote:

Where would you imagine that 'profit' ends up?

30% to Gordon and the rest into the Nationwide members' reserves?

I would confirm the comment from a previous poster that Nationwide has done very well in past surveys of the best companies to work for. It had a very low staff turnover rate, which is a measure that doesn't lie.

Staff I've dealt with have clearly bought into the mutual ethos of the company and enjoy the feeling that they can say that they are there to serve customers rather than exploit them.

Mrs_pbradley936

My sister works for them and they are wonderful. She has been with them for over 20 years and was working full time at first. Then when her children were small she worked part time and always had first choice over holiday dates. Now her children have grown up she is back to full time. They are always sending her on courses and the new uniform is fabulous.

LizEstelle

ReportInvestor wrote:

30% to Gordon and the rest into the Nationwide members' reserves?

I would confirm the comment from a previous poster that Nationwide has done very well in past surveys of the best companies to work for. It had a very low staff turnover rate, which is a measure that doesn't lie.

Staff I've dealt with have clearly bought into the mutual ethos of the company and enjoy the feeling that they can say that they are there to serve customers rather than exploit them.

You wouldn't be up for Nationwide board election, by any chance?

ReportInvestor

On the contrary .

I've given the board a hard time at past AGMs.

But when ordinary staff tell you that "they are there to serve customers rather than exploit them" & really believe it, what's the point of ruining their day?

LizEstelle

Well, one only asked as it seemed you might, at the very least, be interested in their corporate PR job.

What you posted sounded uncannily like the kind of thing they might have touted to the FSA when asking for permission not to consult their own membership about the Portman merger!

ReportInvestor

Why stir a hornets nest of envious & possibly ignorant members? It's a mutual, not a democratic republic. The board are elected by members to run it in the members' best interests. In the early 1980s the Nationwide board failed to do this and suffered the ignimony of a rebel member elected onto the board, which did precipitate an improvement.

Anyway, we digress .

LizEstelle

Digress indeed we do. Perhaps your answer to the OP's question should simply have been: 'Yes'!!

Oh go on.. I'm allowed one last dig...

ReportInvestor

I'm very happy with "Yes" .

Only salary based pension scheme in the sector.
Low staff turnover.
Backed by my own personal encounters with 3 different staff in 3 different branches.
The advantages of proclaiming mutuality over profit (which fits most people's temperament). Whatever else you feel about the "bank manager" TV ads, they help to give Nationwide staff a sense of identity and purpose.

And, I quite forgot, an expanding business model that should provide room for promotion and protection against redundancy.

And there's no Portman branch in Burnley to cloud the issue .

Does possibly pampering your staff make you a better organisation from a members' point of view? Maybe, maybe not. Answers on a postcard please.

Some people think that mutuals should focus exclusively on members, but in practice mutuals look after a variety of what they call like to call "stakeholders" and those include the staff.

Finally I just checked on the staff costs per employee, and Nationwide compare favourably with the other top five BSs, even managing to be on a par with the South based Portman.