Leadership - How employees feel about the head of the organisation, senior management and the organisation's values and principles
Leadership has the biggest influence on how employees feel about the organisation.
Leaders need to create inspiring visions and provide clear direction to positively Impact the My Company factor.
When it comes to Wellbeing, no amount of free fruit or stress busting classes are going to address an imbalance. Employee Wellbeing is a by-product of the leadership and management culture.
If there’s pressure at the top of your organisation, it won’t take long to be felt throughout.
Blackstone employees are encouraged to start the week on a high with 'Blackstone TV' – a global call in which the leadership team shares valuable insights and updates to connect, motivate and inspire. The team also regularly posts videos, podcasts and newsletters and visits regional offices to host town hall meetings and invite questions.
All Blackstone staff are encouraged to hone their leadership skills. The firm doesn't view them as specific to certain job positions; it wants all employees to be able to convince others of their ideas and make them happen together. All staff are evaluated on their leadership and managerial qualities during the annual 360 review process.
Volunteering is big at Blackstone. It includes mentoring and career guidance for at-risk young people, renovating buildings for those in need and volunteering at food redistribution centres. During 2022, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation donated £336,000 to UK charity partners. Its London employees raised a further £228,500 through their own initiatives.
The organisation has 17 trained Mental Health First Aiders across the business and its Employee Assistance Programme gives staff multiple avenues to discuss their mental health in an open and confidential manner. The HR Team also run Mental Health in the Workplace sessions for Managers, which are compulsory for them to attend.
AJ Bell publish a regular series of interviews with its CEO and other members of the Executive Committee to its staff intranet. The videos cover business and performance updates, as well as personal reflections, and support the organisation’s work on an open and accountable culture. They also ensure staff receive a consistent message from leaders.
In February, the organisation launched its new charitable initiative – the AJ Bell Futures Foundation – initially committing to contribute 0.5% of its profits before tax to the Foundation each year – to establish deep-rooted, long-term partnerships whilst building futures in its communities. To date, it has donated £100,000 to each of its charity partners.
The company understands that quality time is crucial to overall employee wellbeing, and ensures that all staff have their birthday off every year. It shows gratitude to one star performer weekly by awarding them an all-expenses paid break at a luxury barn in the Lake District, including paid leave and £100 spending money.
To ensure that the company informs its colleagues, improvements, developments, and successes both big and small are communicated. It has an open-door policy and adopts a non-hierarchal approach to feedback. Is leadership team alternates weekly ‘Tea Trolley’ duties, providing opportunities to share ideas/feedback whilst delivering yummy treats.
It is keen to help employees develop and grow, and achieve their own professional and personal goals. Due to the nature of the service it provides, it relies on its colleagues’ strength and passion. When Health Assured was formed, demand for workplace wellbeing solutions was a shadow of what it would become.
Bringing teams together is a big part of the Quint Group ethos. Two annual company-wide events bringing everyone together are the summer BBQ and the Christmas Party. In addition to this, the organisation also hosts smaller inter-team events such as pool and table tennis competitions, a fantasy football league, a Mario Kart competition, and more.
Quint Group’s overall strategy and objectives are clearly communicated to everyone during the annual group-wide strategy update. This is further broken down from group to team and individual objectives, and OKRs are then created. These OKRs are regularly reviewed and reinforced during weekly and monthly meetings, stand-ups and performance appraisals.
Quint Group has created a Compensation Committee that is responsible for ensuring pay and reward equity across the organisation. Every year, the organisation goes through a robust salary benchmarking exercise using external and internal data to ensure that its salaries are competitive, and in line with the market and the organisation’s reward and compensation philosophy.
All staff are encouraged to stay in touch with each other as much as possible though Teams calls, regular team catch up meetings, and coffee meetings. Each team has a budget they can use to come together and participate in non-work related activities of their choice. There is also coffee mornings for those learning Welsh!
To combat the cost of living crisis, the Board at Keep Wales Tidy quickly approved 4%+ pay increase across all employees, as well as an additional one-off payment to all staff. The organisation has also undertaken a salary benchmarking survey to ensure that all employee salaries remain competitive in the market.
Senior leaders commit to the values of "Bold, Responsible, Passionate, Inspiring and Together" and collaborate to ensure they are involved in, and aware of, the day-to-day running of the charity. They also work alongside team members to make sure deadlines are met. An open-door policy means they embrace honest conversations with staff.
One way Cornelius has brought its teams together is through its giving fund (charity committee) and wellbeing events. One event held by the giving fund was Meat Free May, where everyone brought in a vegetarian meal for the team. This helped build strong working relationships.
The senior management team lives the company’s values of We Lead, We Care, We Deliver in order to drive the organisation forward together. The senior managers also ensure that all their actions reflect the values, through the complete employee lifecycle, leading effectively, and delivering the results needed to drive the business forward.
Cornelius utilises both monetary and non-monetary efforts to reward its employees uniquely and effectively. An example of this is its yearly appraisal scheme, which is used to give employees objectives and to add check-in points throughout the year. The appraisal scheme also links to the annual bonus, which financially rewards staff for their achievements.
It has introduced regular 1-1 meetings with each employee which gives the opportunity for each person to discuss their goals and for managers to check each person is ok. It also has a suggestion box to be raised at each SMT meeting for discussion.
Just Digital has a golden ticket reward and recognition scheme. This is peer-to-peer recognition and employees are able to award a ticket to another colleague and for that, in exchange, they receive a small gift. That ticket goes into a quarterly draw and then in turn an annual draw to receive bigger prizes.
Dedicated to giving back, the company has 0% landfill waste. Additionally, it has an ESG committee that gives tips on green living; following this, it is aiming to procure sustainable products, for example coffee and company clothing.
The healthcare provider has implemented Menopause Support initiatives to raise awareness, with the hope to erase the stigma around this topic. Additionally, it has created a social and wellbeing committee to engage employees in more social activities as well as activities to promote physical health.
The company launched its Leadership Academy last year aiming to empower its junior and first-line manager cohorts to maximise their potential and bring about positive change within their departments. Additionally, it released a digital skills programme, providing comprehensive training opportunities across many subjects including Microsoft Teams, Advanced Power BI, and Project Management.
With a desire to increase the personal engagement of the Head of Departments, it equips leaders with the ability to lead change positively and recognise their role in establishing a healthy culture within their direct span of influence and beyond. This program will enable relationships between departments to strengthen and drive home company values.
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