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My Manager - How employees feel about and communicate with their direct manager
The quality of direct line management really impacts engagement, after all the latest stats suggest that 7 out of 10 people leave their manager and not their organisation.
Great managers should be selling the direction and vision of the organisation, helping others see how their role impacts the bigger picture, ultimately influencing the factor My Company. Good Managers recognise the importance of growing and developing their people, which means the My Manager factor also has a significant impact on the factor Personal Growth.
When it comes to My Team, great managers build great teams, but world class managers also focus on connecting teams throughout the organisation. Managers can heavily influence the Wellbeing factor by helping to positively restore a work/life balance, managing employee workload and recognising that employees have a life outside of work
Service managers have clearly defined key performance indicators that are monitored monthly. Performance reports are shared across the management team and discussed at bi-monthly management team meetings.
All frontline services have monthly externally-facilitated group supervision with a trained supervisor focusing on team dynamics and some of the issues that arise from their work with vulnerable people.
Better Places have a High Flyers incentive running every six months, offering the opportunity for a maximum of three people to win an all expenses paid trip to New York. This has been brilliantly received and has seen six employees and their partners visit New York in 2017.
When a new consultant joins the company, they are assigned with a senior person in the market they will be working in. The shadowing takes the form of listening to calls, attending meetings and learning as much about the candidate and clients over the first three-six months.
In 2017 they hosted a company conference for the London and Birmingham teams to help staff to get to know their colleagues better. Employees took part in the Enigma challenge, which consisted of 250 tasks covering all elements from mental skills to agility.
Aspire provide job shadowing for talent consultants in Birmingham as well as new starters, whereby they sit in on interviews for training purposes. In addition, new starters visit the London office in the first three months to learn and train on the job.
The firm provide and maintain dedicated rest areas. There are employee review and monitoring processes, with any concerns fully investigated. While working parents are on maternity or paternity leave, they're encouraged to visit the workplace with their baby to maintain contact with colleagues.
The business operate a staff discount scheme, pension scheme, life assurance, and a charities and communities fund. They also run motivational-speaking sessions. There's a quarterly employee review scheme focusing on contributions to the overall success of the business.
Xero UK have an ‘All Hands' meeting fortnightly which is recorded and circulated, and have weekly Friday Night Drinks in both their Milton Keynes and London offices in order to encourage communication and a more sociable form of engagement. They have a pool table, ping pong, space invaders and play station so employees can relax and enjoy each other's company further in the office. Use Officevibe, a weekly engagement check-in tool, allows for employees to comment on 10 factors and to give feedback and dialogue about how they are feeling about work.
Xero UK receive support from their own Learning and Development Specialist. Some employees have had further coaching than that given at the beginning of employment. They have a monthly People Managers Meeting and PX are there to support and advise. Some employees are going on to do a coaching qualification themselves. 360 degree feedback is given annually. There is increasing use of Workday to initiate feedback. Engagement is measured by Officevibe and reported real time on a weekly basis to ensure that employees are happy at work. The company work hard to maintain a two-way flow of information.
Whitbread strive to support and encourage development within their Management populations. When Managers are appointed to a new role they are assigned a mentor who will be an experienced and high performing operator at the same level. In Premier Inn the ‘Shooting Stars' programme supports team members as they progress into their first management role all the way through to being an experienced multi-site manager. Whitbread also have Apprenticeships programmes to develop and support team members, starting from an Intermediate level 2 through to an MSC level 7 in Multi Site Management. Across Premier Inn 398 Apprentices have been promoted, 102 to Operations Manager, 58 to Assistant Operations Manager, 166 to a Premier Inn Host, 58 to Head Housekeeper and 14 to Head Chef. Health & Safety also features heavily, with bi-annual audits conducted by an external provider to ensure that all sites and Managers are compliant with health & safety laws and internal targets relating to the safety of team members. Across Whitbread they measure management performance through their Whitbread in numbers card or ‘WINcards', which is split into four central measures: Winning Teams, Customer Heartbeat, Profitable Growth and Good Together.
Whitbread strive to support and encourage development within their Management populations. When Managers are appointed to a new role they are assigned a mentor who will be an experienced and high performing operator at the same level. In Premier Inn the ‘Shooting Stars' programme supports team members as they progress into their first management role all the way through to being an experienced multi-site manager. Whitbread also have Apprenticeships programmes to develop and support team members, starting from an Intermediate level 2 through to an MSC level 7 in Multi Site Management. Across Premier Inn 398 Apprentices have been promoted, 102 to Operations Manager, 58 to Assistant Operations Manager, 166 to a Premier Inn Host, 58 to Head Housekeeper and 14 to Head Chef. Health & Safety also features heavily, with bi-annual audits conducted by an external provider to ensure that all sites and Managers are compliant with health & safety laws and internal targets relating to the safety of team members. Across Whitbread they measure management performance through their Whitbread in numbers card or ‘WINcards', which is split into four central measures: Winning Teams, Customer Heartbeat, Profitable Growth and Good Together.
Twice a year companywide training events on employment law are provided, as well as managerial skills sessions for all Managers. Urgo also give 360 assessments for people Managers. As part of the annual appraisal process, Managers are assessed versus the Urgo Managerial competencies. A talent review day also takes place each year, where each Manager is presented by their line Manager to the Leadership Team in order to identify high potential people and to also create development plans.
Twice a year companywide training events on employment law are provided, as well as managerial skills sessions for all Managers. Urgo also give 360 assessments for people Managers. As part of the annual appraisal process, Managers are assessed versus the Urgo Managerial competencies. A talent review day also takes place each year, where each Manager is presented by their line Manager to the Leadership Team in order to identify high potential people and to also create development plans.
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