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Metro describes itself as the first urban national newspaper and with a circulation of over 1.1 million copies across the UK, it is the world's largest free newspaper and the fourth biggest newspaper in the UK. It is part of Associated Newspapers who also publish The Daily Mail and The Evening Standard.

The paper has continued to make waves in the publishing world ever since its launch in March 1999 as a free, colour, weekday newspaper for London’s commuters. From an initial London–based circulation of 280,000 copies, it is now available to commuters on their way to work in 16 cities around the UK including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Bristol, Bath, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In addition, it has launched three new editions within the last year in Dublin, Cardiff and Liverpool.

Metro aims to continue its geographic expansion through overseas acquisitions and plans to franchise into other areas.

Metro’s impressive expansion has been accompanied by outstanding year on year revenue growth of 20 per cent and annual profits of £10 million and a turnover of £70 million.

In its early days, a lack of people focus meant that Metro had enormous difficulties in holding on to its employees. Consequently high staff turnover rates and high recruitment costs became the order of the day. Only a few years after its launch, employee attrition was running at 33 per cent in 2001 and each sales person that left was costing Metro an estimated £91,000 in recruitment and training costs and lost sales.

It was against this backdrop that Steve Auckland was appointed as managing director of Metro. Chair of London Cares at Business in the Community which encourages personal development through voluntary community work, Auckland was keen to endorse the principles of the IIP Standard.

Auckland explains, “When I joined Metro we lacked direction, our start–up culture had led to an autocratic management style which was holding back communication between staff and management. It’s not surprising therefore that some staff chose to leave and this churn was costing the paper significant sums of money. I wanted to turn this around and more importantly I wanted to install a new sense of direction in the paper, so that staff could clearly see opportunities for their future development.”

Realising that these important changes would need to be driven consistently and over a sustained period, Auckland appointed a new Director of Talent and Culture, Lara Ashworth, to begin the process of change. Ashworth was tasked with helping Metro to develop its existing talent and with reducing staff turnover. In order to accomplish this, Ashworth devised Metro’s Talent Strategy to build a structure that would encourage excellence and loyalty among its staff.

Auckland comments, “I was confident that Investors in People would give us a comprehensive framework and structure, without becoming a burden. I also knew that it would give us focus, keep us on track and help us not only to attract but also to retain the best people.”

The initial Investors in People assessment revealed that development was a key weakness within the editorial team.  Consequently, Metro’s senior editorial team undertook a seven week ‘bite size’ training programme. They learned how to avoid micro–management, to empower and also to develop their staff. The programme enabled them to become better managers and to facilitate cultural change on the paper. This process has inspired the launch of Editorial Appraisals and the refinement of an Editorial Development Scheme, thereby recognising success and nurturing talent.

Specific ongoing development initiatives include ‘Quarterly Talent Brainstorms’ and Quarterly Managing Director Talent lunches, both of which seek ideas for improvement. The vast majority of ideas, over 60 per cent, have been implemented as a result of these sessions. A ‘Talent Programme’ for top performers focusing on inspiring high performance and tailored Personal Development Plans in line with career aspirations, ensure that everyone has a clear vision for their career progression.

With this in mind, each new employee attends a three day induction programme. Finally, Metro conducts regular measurement to assess progress and staff satisfaction, this process provides senior management with clear indicators with which to monitor the success of its Talent strategy and its performance against the IIP Standard.

Employee attrition has been reduced dramatically by over 50 per cent and now stands at just 9 percent. Metro has also been able to attract the best, with application volumes soaring to over 50 per cent for advertising vacancies. In addition, employee satisfaction surveys reveal that 91 per cent of staff say they are proud to tell people that they work for the paper.  Auckland explains, “Our staff survey scores are improving year on year by six per cent and 78 per cent of staff say they love working on our paper. We have all bought into the IIP Standard which is now very much part of the fabric of Metro.”

The financial side of the business is also benefiting, with significant savings of £1 million each year against recruitment costs, retained knowledge and potential lost business.

Auckland concludes, “We’re committed to developing our people and to continually assessing the quality of our Talent Strategy. At Metro we relish challenge and the Standard helps us to raise the bar for our own standards and to strive for continuous improvement. We have already seen the powerful benefits that can be gained through adopting Investors in People.

“As a result we have been sharing best practice and knowledge in a number of ways – and are looking forward to helping other organisations learn from our experiences.”