Clay Jones, Rockwell Collins chairman, president and CEO, at left, with Bill Richter, senior vice president of human resources Photography by Thomas Lindfors

The HR department at Rockwell Collins was in a state of flux.

On December 8, 2000, Rockwell International had announced a decision to spin off Rockwell Collins as an independent, publicly-traded company.

Bill Richter, senior vice president of human resources for Rockwell Collins, knew the HR organization would need to be restructured to match the needs of this new company. "Our processes and programs needed to go through a major overhaul — and time was critical. We needed to redesign HR prior to our planned spin-off."

The department needed to get ahead of the game and create an HR organization that could meet the corporate demands of a "new" Rockwell Collins. Richter brought the idea of redesigning HR to Clay Jones, Rockwell Collins chairman, president and CEO, who was extremely supportive.

Rockwell Collins At a Glance Leader in electronic communications, avionics, in-flight entertainment systems Annual sales of $2.5 billion Customers: aircraft manufacturers, 400+ airlines, major share of world’s military forces HQ in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Approximately 15,000 employees 60 locations worldwide Holds 600+ patents Recognized for Lean Electronics, a company-wide initiative to enhance customer value through elimination of process waste

Richter's goals were to develop a cost-neutral plan, provide closer alignment between HR and the businesses, design an organizational model that would be more responsive to employees and help them to be more productive, and create a structure focused on strategic planning.

"I wanted help regarding the redesign process and to understand what other companies were doing," he says. "We had successfully worked with Watson Wyatt in the past on M&A integration, so they were the obvious choice."

“Our processes and programs needed to go through a major overhaul — and time was critical,” says Bill Richter, senior vice president of human resources. “We needed to redesign HR prior to our planned spin-off.”

The Planning Begins

The first step was a three-day, off-site workshop with HR and non-HR employees. "We wanted to hear from a variety of people, so we took a diagonal slice of the corporation and invited a number of employees to join in," says Richter.

The workshops allowed the HR team to garner broad input and collect data on the current HR environment, and to learn what was broken and what was working well. At the same time, Watson Wyatt conducted a study, which included a series of one-on-one interviews with senior leaders, to assess the business issues and human capital challenges.

"Through these sessions, we attempted to identify the company's key business needs, objectives and drivers," says Watson Wyatt consultant Paul Smithivas. "We also inquired about what changes were anticipated when Rockwell Collins went public and how HR could be more responsive to the businesses."

Seven key business priorities for HR evolved from those interviews: resource acquisition, best place to work/retention, training and development, change management, M&A integration/alliance management, leadership excellence and diversity.

"These priorities were identified as the foundation for the company's new HR strategy," says Watson Wyatt consultant Haris Ahmed. "Based on them, we came up with a blueprint for a new HR structure, competencies and processes. We then worked with the Rockwell Collins HR team to revise, refine and add meat to the bones."

After several versions, a model was developed that clearly defined newly established roles and responsibilities, identified owners and outlined a robust implementation plan for the redesign. This plan included establishing HR business partner roles, a regional alignment, a service center and functional experts.

Putting It All Together

Rockwell Collins was nearly ready to implement the new model when the September 11 terrorist attacks changed the world — and the nature of their business. "We make planes safer, but when people don't fly, our customers don't buy. And this caused our industry to go soft," Richter says.

As a result, the company announced a worldwide workforce reduction of 2,800 employees in October 2001. This called for immediate measures and the quick implementation of new HR business partner roles.

Business partners have a strong dotted line to the business units and a hard line to HR. "They work closely with senior business leaders and their organizations to ensure that the HR needs of the business are addressed in an effective and timely manner," says Bob Chiusano, executive vice president and chief operating officer of commercial systems. "They provide dedicated resources to the business and ensure that the seven business priorities are addressed."

During the layoffs, business partners worked with business leaders to plan and execute the necessary reductions-in-force and keep employees informed.

"The layoffs were well planned, thanks to the business partner concept," says Richter. "In fact, I received positive feedback from numerous employees on how well the layoffs were handled. We communicated what was happening in advance, and offered severance and outplacement packages."

After several versions, a model was developed that clearly defined newly established roles and responsibilities, identified owners and outlined a robust implementation plan for the redesign.

Adds Chiusano, "I used to get complaints about HR — they took too long to prepare offers, gave insufficient assistance on employee issues, etc. Those types of issues have been reduced dramatically because they are addressed at the appropriate levels, and in a timely fashion. The business partner roles make sense because each business unit has significant HR challenges. In fact, there is nothing that I do that doesn't have a link to HR — it's crucial to my success."

Out of the business partner model grew a network of HR regional systems. "Because we have plants scattered all over the world, it was necessary to establish regional managers, providing closer alignment between HR and the Rockwell Collins businesses," Richter says. "Now, when there's a medical plan change, I can call each regional manager who will disseminate the information. This beats the old days when I had to call every plant location; it's the most efficient way to deploy messages and keep employees in the loop."

FY02 Goal FY02 Actual Call pick-up 95% 98.6% Average speed to answer 25 sec 1.6 sec Cases resolved during first call 60% 95% Cases resolved by service center 70% 96% Rockwell Collins' HR Service Center Successfully launched on April 15, 2002, the service center provides all current and past employees with an accessible, reliable and timely resource for HR inquiries. Since its introduction, the center has received 15,000 calls and has exceeded all FY02 goals:

Richter notes that another important part of the redesign was the creation of an HR service center to provide Rockwell Collins employees throughout the world with an accessible, reliable and timely resource for all HR inquiries. Accessible by phone, e-mail and the Internet, the center has received 15,000 calls since its April 2002 launch and has exceeded all FY02 goals.

Jones believes the service center has made a world of difference to employees. "It's a customer-friendly, single line of input. We've taken the principles of customer service and applied them to our internal customers."

To focus on emerging trends and strategic planning, the HR team established a group of corporate functional experts. "This group supports HR's identification of emerging practices in areas such as forecasting staffing requirements, strategic planning for enhancing workforce diversity, and corporate planning for compensation, organizational development, industrial relations, benefits and administrative services," says Richter.

Moving Forward

"Our role with Rockwell Collins was that of facilitator. We worked closely with the HR team to develop the redesign, but they implemented the changes," Smithivas says. "This was important because Rockwell Collins did not want a consultant-driven process; rather, they wanted to own the redesign. They were looking for our expertise to offer best practices and to create a roadmap to guide them."

Adds Richter, "We are very pleased with the redesign and its success. What we have now is a far more efficient customer service organization without any added cost."

Looking back on the initiative, Jones recalls the challenges that the company had to overcome. "This redesign was implemented during a dramatic aviation crisis when we were asking ourselves how we planned to do business. Also, we experienced challenges associated with change management and with an HR team that was already swamped with the company's reductions-in-force.

"But it has been a success, and we're on the right track," he says. "We're still making improvements, but that's a normal function of business — continually improving, upgrading and moving with the times. I feel confident that we've made positive changes in this company with the HR redesign."

Lessons Learned Advice from Rockwell Collins senior leaders regarding HR redesign: Talk to the individual businesses and be sure you understand their needs and wants. Involve them in the entire process. Lay out a detailed process map to show how you plan to get from point A to point B. In addition to HR, involve as many people throughout the enterprise as possible. Develop a detailed communication plan explaining what you’re doing and why.

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