State of Engagement 2026 Report |
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Employees are encouraged to do apprenticeships. The charity has introduced a leadership academy that offers a blended learning programme and it has seen positive change, growth and development in those who have taken part. The HR department supports aspiring leaders to develop in their role.
The comprehensive rewards and recognition benefits package on offer includes giving out monthly golden tickets to those who have lived the charity's values or gone above and beyond. The golden ticket can be exchanged for a prize in the "goodie cupboard".
Family and friends fun days bring everyone together to live one of the charity's values: "Challenge, have fun and smile." Regular newsletters, along with all-staff meetings and communications, keep the culture alive. News and staff feedback is shared through the HR department's People Hub.
The leadership team uses a range of channels and digital to share information and encourage feedback from employees. The CEO and CSO shares regular video messages. The videos are unscripted to maintain authenticity. The videos are easily accessible on smart devices and all comms activity then comes together in its weekly newsletter to all staff.
The organisation has implemented technology so that people can join team and board meetings remotely and in person at the same time. Thakeham also has a working group covering all departments who meet every 2-3 months to discuss ideas, thoughts and suggestions that are fed back to senior leadership so that actions can be implemented.
Thakeham funds and encourages all employees to attend a regular health screening through Nuffield health. The organisation has trained Mental Health First Aiders and champions and also provides access to an in house counsellor at no cost for employees. They can see the counsellor in the office, via teams/zoom or at her practice off site.
Fair pay is fundamental at the organisation, particularly for those co-owners at the lower levels of pay. It is a Real Living Wage employer. To offset the gender pay gap, it has overhauled its role banding, increased transparency over the rates for different levels, and installed measures to ensure that these bandings are consistently applied.
Riverford has a whole host of developmental opportunities for its people. Including captured learning, personal and professional needs during 1:1s, establishing aspirations, and providing learning to support the individual in improving confidence, performance, and motivation. It also runs an internal management programme that focuses on performance coaching and development conversations.
Riverford gives all co-owners the opportunity to refer a friend for any of its live vacancies. If the referred candidate is successful in getting the role, once they have passed their probation period, it pays the co-owner who made the recommendation £400. The friend they recommended will also get £100 – this is an unlimited
They work closely with Mencap by providing garden space for their service users to build and establish a vegetable garden. The produce they grow is used in the hospice kitchen and food waste from the kitchen and cafe is composted for use in the garden.
To improve employee engagement they introduced a monthly 'ideas hub' to generate discussion and feedback on what is going well and what is not going so well within the organisation. During these hubs, staff were encouraged to identify and introduce the topics for discussion.
They have a Moving on Together Group, a group of staff from across the organisation who champion team interaction and communications. They group new leads on the annual staff event and have developed a communications framework based on staff feedback.
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