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Giving Something Back - The extent to which employees feel their organisation has a positive impact on society
Giving Something Back focuses on the organisation’s social responsibilities. If key factors such as ‘Leadership’ and ‘My Manager’ are performing well, it can influence the improvement of all the other factors, boosting your overall engagement.
A new interaction and communication platform, called Connect, has been created to bring all managers together virtually. This allows them to contribute and discuss business priorities, but also provides a “safe space” for them to discuss challenges and support each other.
Best Companies survey feedback indicated that staff wanted better organisational clarity and an understanding of how each team contributed to Benenden's objectives. In response, each employee now receives a document that includes strategic objectives, key results areas, key performance indicators and each department's objectives for the year.
Benenden's sponsorship of York City Football Club Foundation helped the Sporting Memories group, set up for older fans of the club, to hold vital social get-togethers online after the pandemic started. The Benenden Health Community Fund supported projects including food banks and cookery workshops for young people.
Baringa's female development programme supports women as they climb the career ladder – and helps male leaders understand how to be supportive. All senior managers, directors and partners have Baringa Adviser Training every two months so everyone knows what great looks like and all are committed to doing what it takes.
Teams have held virtual walking competitions, counting steps to race from London to Paris. Online yoga and fitness sessions have also kept people on their toes. As well as providing a 24-hour employee assistance programme, Baringa has trained people across all grades as mental health first aiders to spot signs of burnout.
Everyone has one volunteering day a year to support the community. Staff helped to research the impact of Covid-19 on youth employment prospects under the Drive Forward programme for young people leaving the care system. They produced a youth opportunity index, identifying sectors with the greatest number of jobs.
Every year we take on young people from local schools and colleges and either fund their qualifications directly or place them on an apprenticeship levy-funded scheme. At any time, approximately 10% of the workforce is being assisted through a qualification by Baily Garner.
Staff are regularly encouraged by management to switch off from work, go for walks and engage in virtual social events whenever possible. Employees are also encouraged to make calls to colleagues they have not spoken to for a while and to continue to listen to and support colleagues.
Everyone is allocated two paid days a year to volunteer or get involved in a community project and staff have been encouraged use these days for remote activities where possible during lockdown. The firm also donated the £15,000 it would have spent on the annual client Christmas party to charity.
Leaders have access to bespoke coaching to grow their skills. To support them with coronavirus-related challenges, 217 hours of bespoke coaching took place. This included a focus on traditional leadership topics with a remote angle, such as maintaining team culture remotely and running a virtual team meeting.
An intranet and communications platform called GWEN (Got What Everyone Needs) was developed and rolled out during the pandemic. This enabled the business to provide instant updates to staff in addition to the weekly videos from the chief executive, which became known as Corona Comms.
The business's UK office has been designed to minimise its environmental impact. The lighting and the appliances are low energy – and low water, where applicable – and have sensors that turn them off when not in use. All Austin Fraser and Austin Vita offices are 99% paperless.
The Leadership Team has been producing weekly vlogs to keep staff updated and maintain visibility. A number of executive team Q+A sessions have been held and all leaders have regularly attended virtual team meetings, not only in their own teams but with others too.
Virtual exercise classes and 'tea breaks' have given staff the opportunity to come together to chat to people they don't often come into contact, helping them stay fit and socially connected. Flu vaccinations have also been provided for those who want them.
The group's charity, Realise, has a programme of support for a wide range of projects worth approximately £300,000 a year and the Homeworks team has provided services throughout the pandemic to ensure neighbourhoods remained safe, clean and tidy, including removing several tonnes of fly-tipping.
Amplyfi has introduced CEO & President Check-ins, where groups of five team members from across the business meet one of the two top executives. The senior leadership team are visible daily in the Slack channels. All staff have one-to-ones with their line managers at least once a month.
Amplyfi offers company-wide cash bonus and options schemes and a sector-leading leave allowance. A survey gave staff the opportunity to list, in order of preference, what they would like added to the company's benefits package. Healthcare is being introduced for the entire workforce.
To reduce its impact on the environment, Amplyfi has become a fully paperless company. Also, it sources offices close to cycle paths. After the pandemic started, the company adopted a remote-first approach to all activities. This strategy will be continued to cut business travel to a minimum.
All employees have access to the Learning Hive, adm's online learning portal, which offers a variety of development resources including LinkedIn Learning. Academy sessions are workshops run by subject-matter experts within the business. Financial support is available for professional exams, such as accounting and HR.
Culture Club is an initiative run by staff, for staff, to ensure everyone makes time for fun and socialising in and out of the office. It also allows employees to meet team members in different parts of the world. Events include a sports day, a bake-off, workout classes and quizzes.
The agency's Americas office asked colleagues to nominate local charities that were in need of PPE. A range of deserving charities was put forward, making it hard to choose just one, so adm decided to divide 2 million PPE masks between all seven nominations.
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.
ARC's new health and wellbeing group, the brainchild of one of the staff, sends out mental health tips. The group organised a Race to Kochi, with UK and Australian staff challenged to walk the number of steps to Kochi, the city that lies halfway between them.
All staff are granted shares in ARC through a tax-efficient scheme, which offers a company loan so they can buy into the scheme without using their own funds upfront. Every employee receives 1,500 shares, with significantly more available to those who win work for themselves or others.
Under a new initiative, every staff member is entitled to an additional day off to give practical support to their favourite environmental cause. Covid-19 limited the options in the scheme's first year, but some staff joined local litter-picking activities. There are plans for beach clean-ups or tree planting initiatives.
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