State of Engagement 2026 Report |
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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.
The UK leadership team lead programmes covering age, gender, LGBT+, disability and faith to provide role models for behaviour both internally and externally. They share best practice with peer organisations through media engagement and conferences to encourage others to follow suit.
Internally-designed management and leadership courses are offered at all levels. Arcadis is an approved centre for the Chartered Management Institute and supports staff through MBA programmes. All staff have access to online training and managers are invited to one-to-one training sessions.
Arcadis supports mental and physical health as a priority, organising a 12-week physical exercise course with a personal trainer during lockdown and extending private medical insurance to include a Family Health helpline. The Babylon online GP service has been introduced so that doctors can be accessed without visiting a surgery.
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.
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.
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.
After lockdown started, the managing partners divided a list of staff names between them and did weekly check-ins. It was an opportunity for employees to take a little time out and talk about whatever was on their mind – anything from the latest advertising trends to Strictly Come Dancing.
Christmas parties are a big thing at S3, and the pandemic didn't stop the fun. Staff were given vouchers to buy drinks and snacks for the online party, which included a magician. A thank you gift was added to their December pay packet, recognising their efforts during a tough year.
After lockdown started, S3 took over a billboard space in Cardiff for month for its #CelebratingCreativity campaign. The billboard carried a series of ads, designed by agency staff, thanking people for the creative ways they were responding to Covid-19. Public nominations for the ads included whole streets doing sing-a-longs.
Global CEO Werner Lieberherr set up a monthly online meeting to update all employees on company-wide activities, including the impact of Covid-19 on the business. This takes place live, virtually, and people are free to ask him questions directly on any topic.
Employees have been inspired by the level of trust the company placed in them after it went from being 100% workplace-based to the vast majority working from home. Landis+Gyr trusted its people to continue to perform and they delivered – and, in many cases, exceeded expectations.
The Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning – the cancer charity's biggest fundraising event – took place virtually this year with employees encouraged to grab themselves a cuppa and a slice of cake and join the online chat to have a natter with colleagues.
Starting from January 2021, key performance indicator objectives for all managers include supporting the delivery of the group's Leadership Academy programme. Objectives are agreed at the beginning of every year; individual performance is assessed throughout; and 1:1s take place at the manager's discretion, according to need and regulatory requirements.
Staff were surveyed to check productivity, mental health and any support desired and the results suggested that 87% of employees felt KG was communicating enough and 90% believed they were receiving the right manager support. While company updates during lockdown were typically business-focused, any direct workforce concerns were addressed.
The business uses focus groups to review the needs of its workforce and to understand further what should be refreshed to improve employee engagement. On the back of this, the benefits offering, existing family-friendly policies, and how the company gives back were amended, to name just a few areas.
In September, CEO Brendan Mooney, who joined the company as a software engineer in 1989, was given the Chairman's Award for Excellence by the IOD for his personal impact on the culture and success of his organisation through outstanding professionalism and implementation of best practice in governance and leadership.
Kainos values its people highly. When staff said they wanted more flexibility in future, senior managers reconfigured offices to allow them to work how, when and where they want. Different spaces were created in office for employees to be safe and phased returns from home working were negotiated.
Continuous training at all levels is part of its success. An Effective Manager programme has been delivered virtually to 500 managers in the past year. A new Emerging Leaders programme moves participants beyond management fundamentals to four modules dealing with commerciality, connecting people, high performing teams and influencing.
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