Interserve's HR Director - Commercial, Scott Hill on inherited teams: "Successfully integrating employees is to tailor the process to their needs"

Any business that regularly transfers employees, or has experienced a merger or acquisition, will be familiar with the challenges of managing inherited teams.

Integrating new employees into an existing company’s culture and values is not easy; it’s a challenging and unsettling time for employees too. In the facilities management sector – where around 80% of the workforce has TUPE transferred at some point – the issue is especially acute.

Speaking to HR Grapevine, Scott Hill, HR Director - Commercial at Interserve, explains how the facilities management industry can best tackle the challenge of inherited teams: “Facilities management professionals manage and maintain the estates and assets of some of the UK’s leading organisations. In the outsourcing industry, accounts change hands regularly and teams often experience the transfer process multiple times; Interserve alone has transferred 23,000 employees.

“This frequency of change can cause ‘transfer fatigue’ among teams, making it harder to spark engagement with a new employer. Outsourced facilities management professionals also tend to work offsite at customers’ buildings which can add to feelings of detachment. They often develop a greater sense of loyalty to what remains constant throughout their working experience – the property, building or estate they help maintain.