My Team - Employees' feelings towards their immediate colleagues and how well they work together
My team benefits from a high scoring My Manager factor as the manager is key to creating and sustaining a productive and positive work environment.
An employee’s perceived team will be those they work with on a daily basis.
A staff forum network, known as ‘Gateway Together’, exists to raise awareness of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Designed to promote a constantly evolving positive and inclusive culture, it has led to a number of events initiatives including Eid celebrations, Pride, Men’s Health, Black History Month, and International Women’s Week.
Gateway’s office refurbishment included a new recycling system, as well as other initiatives that focused on a commitment to mitigating its impact on the environment. These include LED lighting, the use of hybrid vehicles and electric charging points, as well as a ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme and a bike loan initiative.
Collaboration and inclusion activities consist of weekly team briefings internally, as well as a number of external team bonding activities. These include taking part in virtual ‘escape rooms’, as well as the establishment of a ‘Birthday Month Club’ to encourage celebration across different teams.
The chief executive holds virtual All Company Update meetings twice a month to stay in touch with team members across 1E's locations around the world. All managers have been encouraged to increase their interactions with colleagues and hold more frequent team meetings using video.
A new company event called Lightning Speed was accompanied by a gift box for each employee, including a 1E hoodie and socks and a chilli plant kit. The event included a motivational speaker, employee awards and presentations on company strategy. It was so successful it will now be held annually.
The company has made it a priority to encourage staff to take breaks, and blocks out time in all employee calendars to reinforce the point. Health and wellbeing workshops, run by external providers, are given. Flexible working is available for all employees.
During the pandemic, the chief executive Maria Mills and director of care Jade Vallance worked many shifts in residential service and used video calls to ask teams about how best they could be supported. Employees' contributions were recognised by Maria Mills delivering hampers by hand to each service. Gift vouchers were sent to all staff.
During the pandemic, the staff newsletter and awards scheme moved from monthly to fortnightly. The executive team also organised celebrations to mark events such as VE Day, Easter, Christmas, Eid and LGBT+ month. The team has also contributed to fun events such as quizzes, dance competitions and lip-sync challenges.
During the pandemic, more than £300,000 was reinvested in the community. Money went to the Surrey People's Group, which enabled those with learning disabilities to support each other; technology to help service users connect with friends and families; and sensory and communication equipment to help manage anxiety and challenging behaviours.
Nine homes are ranked “outstanding” by the Care Quality Commission and Barchester has been placed in the Top 20 Large Care Home Groups on carehome.co.uk for four consecutive years. In-house Barchester Care Awards recognise excellenct performance in teams across the company's 236 homes and six mental health hospitals.
With training crucial to safe operations, training specialists were instructed on Zoom and Kahoot to use whiteboards, breakout rooms and polls to keep their courses intact online. An Advanced Carer programme was adopted with 400 people accessing training, including giving medication, in case of a qualified nurse shortage.
Employees share in the commercial success of their care home/hospital through an annual profit share scheme. A Rewarding Excellence scheme financially recognises the contribution of every employee in receiving a good or excellent regulatory rating. More than 1,000 key nursing staff had their NMC membership fee paid.
Leaders became reliant on video calls during the pandemic, but made sure to not just chat or write emails to employees, but to engage in weekly socials, consistent team meetings and quick calls to discuss an issue or concern. The company believes in the lead-by-example approach.
Bark offers secondments to all its departments. The aim is to make sure there is a smooth transition from one role to another and that everyone is happy with the transition. A variety of internal or external training is available to encourage staff to increase their skills.
Weekly one-to-ones take place with all employees and there are also weekly team-building events, along with six-week and quarterly town hall meetings, which have been moved online. There are also online socials.
A mini MBA programme is a bespoke training scheme, created with London Business School, in which 20-25 future leaders take a two-week residential course to develop their leadership style and understand their future role in the agency, in terms of building internal and external relationships and acquiring enhanced management skills.
The agency has launched a BBH Parent Network, an advice site with its own interactive feed for working parents to connect and share tips and advice based on their own experiences of working from home. BBH Satellite was launched to connect colleagues living in the same area for non-work-related chats.
With many new recruits joining remotely, the People Team created a Virtual Onboarding Programme to help new employees to settle in their new roles despite not physically meeting their line manager or future colleagues. They were also paired with BBH ‘buddies' to assist their integration.
The results from staff surveys have been shared with employees and in 2020 the company tackled feedback about hiccups in communication by ensuring that all staff members can raise issues directly with the leadership team.
Before Covid-19 restrictions, staff enjoyed getting together out of work for karting and white-water rafting. Although social events were forced online during 2020, team members have stayed on their toes by competing in fitness events, and relaxed by sharing virtual Friday afternoon drinks.
Boss has worked with Streamz, a London youth charity, for three years and its employees contribute to the cause not only through donations but by helping young people develop their CVs and advising them on how to interview well. The company is also the main sponsor for Hartley Wintney Football Club in Hampshire.
The senior leadership team communicates with staff through company-wide meetings every quarter, which involve Q&A sessions where staff can choose to be anonymous. They spoke one-to-one to every employee at the start of the pandemic and set up weekly management calls to ensure the flow of information through the business.
When senior managers noticed that some staff were struggling with home working and isolation during the lockdowns, they set up a virtual social calendar which had events, challenges and drop-in sessions. On the agenda were coffee catch-ups, photo competitions, virtual bingo and virtual escape room.
Every Monday, on all social media channels, a ‘Meet The Team' campaign showcases one employee, who explains what their role is and shares some of their home life. The aim is to show that behind ‘Making Technology Human' is a human being.
