My Company - The level of engagement employees feel with their job and organisation
My Company is what we call an ‘output’ factor, it focuses on people’s ‘love’ and ‘pride’ in working for your organisation.
Now unfortunately you can’t directly make people feel these emotions, but when all of the other seven factors are doing well, people will be far more likely to experience that love and pride ultimately improving the My Company factor as a result.
Each year every employee has £120 to spend towards their development which they call the Personal Development Fund. This can be work related or non work related e.g. gym, driving lessons.
Birmingham Hippodrome is committed to forging relationships with schools and colleges in the West Midlands and surrounding areas and developing the next generation of artists and audiences. They bring creativity into the curriculum, connect learning outcomes to exciting opportunities at the Hippodrome, and provide young people with the chance to experience and connect with theatre. Their schools network – Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) – is designed to allow schools and colleges to have as much flexibility as possible and to find the model that works best for them.
Birmingham Hippodrome is committed to forging relationships with schools and colleges in the West Midlands and surrounding areas and developing the next generation of artists and audiences. They bring creativity into the curriculum, connect learning outcomes to exciting opportunities at the Hippodrome, and provide young people with the chance to experience and connect with theatre. Their schools network – Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) – is designed to allow schools and colleges to have as much flexibility as possible and to find the model that works best for them.
Their senior management team (SLT) prides itself in rolling up their sleeves and getting stuff done, they aim to work in a servant leadership style consistently across the business, putting their teams first and themselves second. Their commitment to the values is clear across the employee experience, they are all involved in the interviewing process regardless of the level of hire, and all of their SLT meet with each new starter to explain their area of the business and how it works. This is also a great way of their new starters getting to know the senior team quickly and breaking down any perception of hierarchy in the organisation.
Their office is open plan and all senior management sit within their Team, this means they have a super transparent way of working and all of their Teams feel close to their member of the SLT. Each one takes responsibility of hosting the Monthly Meeting as they all agree on the importance of regularly communicating with the entire Team. The SLT make a point of being involved in everything they do and throw themselves fully into their team events and socials i.e. everyone in the business was in a Hackday Team (no exceptions) and their COO was working alongside their Customer Delight Associates, Marketing Execs. Often the SLT themselves will take the lead in organising team socials and other ways to care for the whole Team i.e. their Director of Marketing created and hosted the entire Crystal Maze evening.
Management Development programme rolled out to all people Managers in 2018, this is being followed up in 2019 with additional modules focusing on Performance Conversations, Coaching skills and giving feedback. They've placed a special emphasis on getting more comfortable with feedback in 2019, it's a topic that comes up in their SLT meetings as well as feedback from their reviews so they've been really keen to help everyone be more confident with feedback conversations. Managers have already completed one day training on Performance Conversations and will be following up with workshops covering Everyday Feedback and Coaching Skills.The People Team are already thinking about what the next phase of learning is for the Management Team in 2020, they want their Managers to be ready to grow into amazing Leaders.
Management Development programme rolled out to all people Managers in 2018, this is being followed up in 2019 with additional modules focusing on Performance Conversations, Coaching skills and giving feedback. They've placed a special emphasis on getting more comfortable with feedback in 2019, it's a topic that comes up in their SLT meetings as well as feedback from their reviews so they've been really keen to help everyone be more confident with feedback conversations. Managers have already completed one day training on Performance Conversations and will be following up with workshops covering Everyday Feedback and Coaching Skills.The People Team are already thinking about what the next phase of learning is for the Management Team in 2020, they want their Managers to be ready to grow into amazing Leaders.
BLH have a talent drop-in every week and an open door policy. They have feedback channels and open conversation is core to their culture. They also conduct employee surveys and schedule development meetings.
Along with each employee receiving a £1000 development budget, BLH praise employees for their own personal development achievements in the weekly Monday morning company meeting.
All senior managers are approachable, not in separate office space, and their two founders work on an open door policy. Their top company value is people first and using this they make sure that all voices are heard and all opinions, no matter what level, are welcomed.
Within the business they offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), supported by their Occupational Health provider, this has been a key tool to provide support for their team and also their team leaders. The EAP provides free 24/7 confidential advice to their teams delivered by trained therapists and advisors. They have also launched their new app ‘Health e-hub', provided by their EAP provider which their teams can access for advice on a wide ranges of issues including financial, legal and medical information, relationship advice, housing concerns, alcohol or drug issues, childcare support, stress and anxiety, gambling, bereavement etc.
Within the business they offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), supported by their Occupational Health provider, this has been a key tool to provide support for their team and also their team leaders. The EAP provides free 24/7 confidential advice to their teams delivered by trained therapists and advisors. They have also launched their new app ‘Health e-hub', provided by their EAP provider which their teams can access for advice on a wide ranges of issues including financial, legal and medical information, relationship advice, housing concerns, alcohol or drug issues, childcare support, stress and anxiety, gambling, bereavement etc.
At Bourne they have a wide range of virtual learning solutions to help engage and blend their learning for all their team members. C-Live is a scenario based virtual classroom that connects the team from all over the country to enable peer to peer learning in a safe environment. Bespoke scenarios such as; performance reviews, challenging conversations and guest service help support the communication development of their future leaders. C-Live is a platform that sits on their Learning Management System which enables groups to ‘connect', share their progress and learning as well as providing the opportunity for the facilitator to moderate each group, sharing additional learning and resources to enhance the learning further. All of their brands offer the opportunity for team members to become brand ambassadors and then to progress to lead brand ambassadors. This provides them with exposure to additional development such as delivering training sessions, attending listening groups and conferences and passing on their passion for the brand to others.
The company paid for the entire business to travel to Croatia for three days of celebration, appreciation and reflection. Months in planning, this was filled with many unforgettable moments, from being taxied from the airport via speedboats to a 3-hour lunch on a private island.
Bow & Arrow aims to be the most transformative growth experience of an employees career, meaning holistic personal growth underpins everything they do. This is approached on two fronts; the skillsets people need to grow in day-to-day work, and the mindset they need to become business leaders.
The company paid for the entire business to travel to Croatia for three days of celebration, appreciation and reflection. Months in planning, this was filled with many unforgettable moments, from being taxied from the airport via speedboats to a 3-hour lunch on a private island.
The senior management team at Brightstar Financial live and breathe the mission, vision and values of the company in all that they do. They love what they do, they work tirelessly to secure and enhance partnership, they actively encourage, lead and place huge value on people development, they work ethically, always safeguarding standards and practices to ensure this and implement and encourage practices to make it easy to work with Brightstar.
Success at Brightstar is down to their people. They value the team and reward loyalty, commitment and hard work. To support this belief, they introduced the 'Brightstar Partners Programme' in 2019. Any Brightstar whom has completed 5 years of continuous service becomes a 'Brightstar Partner'. This status identifies and elevates their longest standing team members and affords specific benefits, opportunities and responsibilities to the individual.
The senior management team at Brightstar Financial live and breathe the mission, vision and values of the company in all that they do. They love what they do, they work tirelessly to secure and enhance partnership, they actively encourage, lead and place huge value on people development, they work ethically, always safeguarding standards and practices to ensure this and implement and encourage practices to make it easy to work with Brightstar.
This year, they made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste they create. They bought every employee a branded water bottle, and have glasses readily available for visitors (instead of plastic cups). They also have changed their hot drinks machines so that a mug has to be used rather than a paper/plastic cup. They no longer purchase plastic cups at all within the business.100% of their waste is recycled. This means that nothing they produce goes to landfill. They have replaced their air conditioning as well to save energy and maintain a comfortable temperature for everyone who works in the office.... creating a better working environment and running a more efficient air con system which will save costs. They are an accredited member of the carbon trust - with the aim to reduce CO2 emissions year on year.
Before the leadership development programme starts, each manager receives coaching from someone else who has been through the programme. They also choose action learning groups as part of the programme - this is a group of peers getting together regularly to discuss issues/concerns and learn from each other. Their Leader Essentials programme focuses less on leadership behaviour and more on the basics of being a great people manager, such as policies and processes, case studies on how to deal with certain situations etc. This not only ensures everyone is on the same page, but also builds internal relationships so each of their managers have someone else they can go to for advice.The HR team also support, having regular 121's with all managers to coach and mentor them where appropriate, and attending team meetings.
Wellbeing is covered at Bristan Group's quarterly employee forum, allowing employees to raise wellbeing issues at a group level. On top of this, they encourage their managers to hold regular 121s, allowing employees to be open and honest with how they are feeling. Their managers are equipped with the tools they need to do this, which includes a free 24/7 confidential employee assistance helpline.
The annual performance appraisal process identifies staff's training and development needs. Trainers from corporate partners of the Centre deliver intensive management and generic skill set training to Programme and Project Managers. The Centre introduced a 'One to Watch' award for emerging and upcoming Project Leaders. The winners of this award undertake comprehensive and structured management training, focusing on all Project Management elements.
The Centre have strategic forum meetings held every 3 months where all the project managers and the senior management meet to discuss and come with new ideas and develop the overall strategy and objectives. Workshops from external trainers on areas focusing organisational change and wellbeing were also introduced.
The annual performance appraisal process identifies staff's training and development needs. Trainers from corporate partners of the Centre deliver intensive management and generic skill set training to Programme and Project Managers. The Centre introduced a 'One to Watch' award for emerging and upcoming Project Leaders. The winners of this award undertake comprehensive and structured management training, focusing on all Project Management elements.
To ensure like-minded people join Bytes, any employee can refer someone to join the business as long as they are not a Manager or member of the Senior Management Team. Referral fees are paid 3 months after the person joins providing there is no likelihood of probation failure. Fees are £750 for an Intake Day Placement, £1500 for Admin Placements and £2000 for Technical and Sales.
Bytes invested in a small onsite gym which provides for running, rowing, cycling and incorporates a few weights. The company often run a "challenge" which is open to anyone in the business to join and can be a motivator for those who want to improve their fitness but don't have the funds or opportunity to join a gym.
Bytes invested in a small onsite gym which provides for running, rowing, cycling and incorporates a few weights. The company often run a "challenge" which is open to anyone in the business to join and can be a motivator for those who want to improve their fitness but don't have the funds or opportunity to join a gym.
Cairn currently have on-going 121 coaching for all Senior Managers along with individual psychometric and personality testing. 360 feedback is used on a regular basis to inform development. The Senior Management Team have also committed to shadowing teams with their directorate to understand the main challenges across the business, as well as how their strategic direction impacts teams.
Cairn are committed to ensuring that colleagues achieve a healthy work life balance. To help people achieve this, they recognise that they need to be more flexible as an employer. They have, for some time, had a flexi system where people can build up flexi time to take a day off every flexi period (each flexi period last 4 weeks). However, they have removed core hours allowing people to start and finish each day at a time of their choosing (provided they still work 34.5 hours each week). This means people can work around their other commitments such as doctor appointments and dropping off/picking up their kids from school.
Cairn are committed to ensuring that colleagues achieve a healthy work life balance. To help people achieve this, they recognise that they need to be more flexible as an employer. They have, for some time, had a flexi system where people can build up flexi time to take a day off every flexi period (each flexi period last 4 weeks). However, they have removed core hours allowing people to start and finish each day at a time of their choosing (provided they still work 34.5 hours each week). This means people can work around their other commitments such as doctor appointments and dropping off/picking up their kids from school.
