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My Company - The level of engagement employees feel with their job and organisation
My Company is what we call an ‘output’ factor, it focuses on people’s ‘love’ and ‘pride’ in working for your organisation.
Now unfortunately you can’t directly make people feel these emotions, but when all of the other seven factors are doing well, people will be far more likely to experience that love and pride ultimately improving the My Company factor as a result.
The joint managing partners held regular webinars during the pandemic to keep all members of the team updated on the business and other topics, such as Covid safety. Staff were able to raise questions, anonymously if they preferred, and the managing partners made sure every question was answered.
Communication pods were set up after the pandemic started to ensure staff kept in contact with their teams and allow managers to check, informally, how everyone was doing. This helped managers to identify people who were struggling to work from home and put in place measures to support them.
BHP provided online pilates classes for staff working at home. It also introduced a fortnightly mindfulness/meditation session, delivered on Zoom by a wellbeing professional. This was held during work hours, and recorded for use later by staff who could not join in because of other commitments.
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.
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.
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.
Triple Point anticipates a mindset change in relation to flexible working but has not formalised this yet. In between lockdowns, people were allowed back to the office on a recommended but discretionary basis, which suited different people's wants and needs, and maintained a hub for employees to connect.
Development needs are assessed on an individual basis, with generous study support packages for those wishing to pursue professional qualifications. Group development sessions and 1:1 coaching are available throughout the year and there is a leadership development programme for an identified high-potential group.
During the pandemic, the company donated 15% of initial fees taken from all investment products to its Helping Hands initiative to supply 17,000 hand creams to frontline NHS workers, ambulance trusts, care homes and schools across the UK. Gifting is set to continue via a percentage raised in this way.
Rapport works with WOW! Awards to uncover personal, individual stories of outstanding service by its employees. Its favourites are published in the Rapport Inspire book – which sits in the British library. All new starters get a copy to introduce them to Rapport's values and exceptional people.
All learning and development moved to a virtual setting within a fortnight of the March 2020 lockdown and Rapport has hosted training every day since. With over 12,500 hours completed content has covered more than just customer service and courses have taken a holistic approach encompassing financial, mental and emotional wellbeing.
As allies to the LGBTQIA+ community Rapport held events to recognise Transgender Awareness in November and during Pride Month it shared messages of acceptance, empowerment and compassion. On National Coming Out Day it partnered with the myGwork business community for a social media campaign #IAmOutAtWork where some Rapport employees proudly shared personalised graphics to mark the day.
To give employee an engagement a boost during lockdown staff created videos of themselves covering the famous Beatles song Here Comes the Sun and competed in a virtual Olympics. When the videos were premiered Prestige sent everyone popcorn to enjoy as they watched them.
Staff have a well-equipped breakout room to unwind in, complete with a newly stocked games console, ping pong table, air hockey and an arcade games machine. At the weekly online quiz a name was picked at random from a hat to decide who would be quizmaster next, a tradition that Prestige has kept.
For every pound of weight that employees lost during an eight-week fitness programme this year, Prestige Telecom donated £5 to charity. Senior managers and directors also took part in a ration challenge, in which they ate the same food a Syrian refugee is allocated, to help Concern Worldwide raise over £1.5m.
The monthly Simply the Best awards honour staff who have demonstrated PeoplePlus's three trademarks – True North, Own It, Improve to be the Best. Winners receive a financial award and an invitation to the annual awards evening at Warwick Castle.
PeoplePlus has launched an internal management development programme, called Improve to be the Best, for every line manager. The four-week programme is focused on employee engagement and the service-profit chain. The company also offers a range of internal apprenticeships leading to recognised management qualifications.
PeoplePlus has a long-running partnership with the Prince's Trust, which includes staff donating the pence from their salaries to the charity via the Pennies From Heaven scheme. Also, employees receive a paid day off for volunteering, which many used last year to offer pandemic-related help to charities and local people.
Ahead of a gradual return to the office, Olive has sent out survival packs containing a branded drinks bottle, face mask, branded hand sanitiser, Vitamin C and Zinc tablets and two packs of jellybeans – inside an Olive-branded canvas bag saying “Thanks for being awesome”.
Furloughed workers have been encouraged to complete product and technical training to enhance their skills and a number of people have achieved qualifications in the past year. Talent mapping across the business helps all employees to see where their role fits in and work towards new goals.
Everyone has access to a personal trainer to get fit – as well as free weekly Zumba and Pilates classes. For those who need extra support, Olive provides a professional counselling service. The business has offered flexibility to working parents and carers with extra responsibilities.
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.
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