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
No1 Lounges reward their operational staff with a ‘Performance Bonus' of up to 15% of gross salary each month. The bonus is awarded in two parts, one of 5% and one of 10%. Performance is linked directly to guests' experiences, which they receive in the lounge each day with a feedback questionnaire. 5% is attributed to each team achieving the target Net Promoter Score within the lounge and 10% is awarded based on how guests score certain aspects of their experience which are relevant to each role. The Performance Bonus scheme is free of any management bias and is not connected to the company's financial performance, which No1 Lounges believe to be unique in the world of hospitality. In addition to the Performance Bonus scheme the company also operate ‘on-the-spot' rewards for extra-special service moments, all in recognition of people going above and beyond in the delivery of the lounge experiences. These include tickets to the cinema and theatre, spa days, extra holiday time and high street vouchers.
It's integral to the successful running of No1 Lounges that every employee has a comprehensive understanding of the broader workings and objectives of the business. That's why ‘Tray Days' and ‘Desk Days' take place regularly and are open to all employees, from Heads of Department to housekeepers. Desk Days allow operational employees to spend time with each department in Head Office (referred to as the London Office to avoid hierarchy) and Tray Days give the London Office valuable exposure to the workings of lounges. The CEO Phil Cameron is extremely hands on. Phil, Joe (Head of Operations and Jamie (Head of People) spend at least two days a week in the operations, supporting the Managers, Supervisors and Team Members. They also have a weekly call with each lounge Manager, which takes place every Monday morning. The running of the operations is complex and Phil believes high pressured situations need to be handled calmly, while keeping the businesses objectives front of mind. He aims to inspire his teams by ensuring he's personable, passionate and present. One distinctive initiative that demonstrates the way the Phil engages colleagues in the organisation is ‘Grill Phil'. These take place every six weeks at each airport and allow him to communicate any business updates and new ideas directly. Staff can then ‘grill' him on any topics and raise any issues, which the company believe is key to engagement. The majority of actions to come out of a Grill Phil are implemented or responded to within a month of the meeting to ensure employees feel listened to, supported and an integral part of No1 Lounges development.
In designing the NHBC's bonus structure the organisation have recognised that whilst all employees can influence business performance, those at lower grades have considerably less influence than Senior Managers on corporate objectives. As a result of this, to drive and recognise employee performance NHBC have weighted the bonus calculations for lower graded employees, allowing them to have greater influence over their bonus achievement. For most employees the bonus is based on 75% individual performance and 25% Company performance, whilst the CEO is 85% Company performance. This means that lower graded employees will receive a substantial proportion of bonus if they perform well but the Company does not over achieve.
NHBC six core principles or behaviours are integral to an organisational wide recognition scheme called Star Awards, a scheme that is open to all employees. Staff can nominate colleagues for work or actions that embody one or more of the NHBC behaviours. The nominees receive notification of the nomination and their names are posted on the organisation's intranet. At the end of the year the nominations go forward to a cross sectional judging panel, with winners and runners up of each category being invited to attend a gala event.
money.co.uk offer 3 days' paid leave for team members to volunteer for a charity or organization of their choice. They value community and believe that work should not prevent those who want to, to volunteer for organisations who need help. They have a number of people on the team who are involved in organisations and charities outside of work such as the Brownies Association and Soroptimists International. This policy allows these individuals to get involved with the community and give back to organisations set up to help those most in need. This supportive policy is a sign that they support community and believe that it's important for the team to have interests outside of work. money.co.uk has allocated £2 million to donate to local and national charities this year and all employees are involved in deciding which organisations the donations go to. The team recently voted to collectively sponsor the Young Enterprise's “Learn to Earn” programme. This year Chris has empowered his team further by giving £5,000 to every member of his team to donate to a charity of their choice and so far 48 employees have embraced the opportunity to support an organisation that has special meaning for them.
money.co.uk offer 3 days' paid leave for team members to volunteer for a charity or organization of their choice. They value community and believe that work should not prevent those who want to, to volunteer for organisations who need help. They have a number of people on the team who are involved in organisations and charities outside of work such as the Brownies Association and Soroptimists International. This policy allows these individuals to get involved with the community and give back to organisations set up to help those most in need. This supportive policy is a sign that they support community and believe that it's important for the team to have interests outside of work. money.co.uk has allocated £2 million to donate to local and national charities this year and all employees are involved in deciding which organisations the donations go to. The team recently voted to collectively sponsor the Young Enterprise's “Learn to Earn” programme. This year Chris has empowered his team further by giving £5,000 to every member of his team to donate to a charity of their choice and so far 48 employees have embraced the opportunity to support an organisation that has special meaning for them.
The Møller Centre are committed to the health and wellbeing of their team and have several practices in place designed to support staff wellbeing. They offer onsite workplace massage for all staff at the end of the year. The HR and Training Manager is booked on to the Mental Health First Aid course to offer further support to those suffering with mental health issues. They offer a free counselling service as part of their health care plan and the HR and Training Manager has access to a number of other resources and Counsellor's if required. They have run and will continue to run resilience training. They have run a series of Pilates classes in house. They also include a wellbeing tip in the monthly newsletter, which is always well received. They try to link the message to something topical such as National No Smoking Day, Stress Awareness Day or Mental Health Awareness Day. As above but in addition to this they have run a mental health first aid lite course for Manager's to enable them to spot the signs of mental health issues. Each month the HR and Training Manager also offers an open 2 hour drop in session which is available to all staff to discuss any issues which are personal or work related.
The Møller Centre staff nominated Charity of the Year for 2015/2016 was East Anglian Air Ambulance, which provides Helicopter Emergency Medical Services across the county. During their year of support, they provided various ways for team members to get involved and raise much needed funds. Some of the team joined in with a collection in the local market square. They held a race night and quiz night, inviting staff to join in, have fun and raise money. They encouraged staff to donate money at Christmas for a non-uniform day and donated money in lieu of sending company Christmas cards. They asked for volunteers to take part in running the Cambridge Half Marathon, with other team members supporting on the day. They donated their time and facilities by running an afternoon tea for the EAAA volunteers and had a Euro-themed football sweepstake, again, raising much needed funds. Throughout the year they also sold various merchandise with all proceeds going to EAAA and had collection tins throughout the Centre. During the lead up to the Quiz night they sold EAAA scratchcards, offering some light hearted competition to see who could win the most! They also contributed an amount to the Charity for every Delegate Feedback Questionnaire received at the Centre during the year.
At Mcginley's, individual and team efforts are recognised and rewarded on a regular basis, with the most prestigious being the company's long-established Pinnacle Club. The Pinnacle Club is for the over-achievers and recognises and praises performance excellence across the business. It is certainly a key motivator, encouraging a little healthy ‘peer' competition and inspiring team performance. It is held every quarter and on an annual basis. This year's annual prize consisted of an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas, with all winners staying in suites at the opulent Palazzo Hotel, dining at various exclusive 5 star restaurants and spending three VIP evenings at Omnia nightclub, Caesar's Palace, with world famous DJ Calvin Harris, all whilst being transported everywhere in a hummer limo. Some of the quarterly incentives included a private hospitality box at the Royal Ascot, Club Hospitality at Premier League football fixtures, the ultimate cook and dine experience at L'Atelier des Chefs, VIP box seating at the ATP Tour Finals, T20 cricket at the Oval, a unique human and sensory experience at the famed ‘Dans le Noir' and dinner at the chef's table at Gordon Ramsay's swanky Michelin star restaurant, Maze. As well as qualifying for the Pinnacle Club, each employee also receives uncapped commission and vouchers up to and including the value of £200.
Mcginley's weekly fresh fruit drop and healthy treats like energy and cereal bars, which are always provided at meetings, encourages staff to eat healthily. The company provides clean and well-maintained areas for employees to prepare and store their own meals too. McGinley have embraced the notion of actively encouraging employees to take proper lunch breaks and hit the gym at lunchtime. The company also offers the flexibility of a slightly longer lunch break so it's definitely worth it! Moreover, for those that wake up early to squeeze in a morning workout session, the company is always accommodating to a slightly late start. Mcginley's have even partnered with Incorpore to offer all employees a discounted gym membership scheme across 2980 health clubs in the UK. They have also created a staff breakout area with pool and ping-pong tables where staff can relax away from the PC screen and unwind. There's even some good quality coffee and coffee machines, which helps to brighten the mood and is probably one of the quickest pick-me-ups! All of offices are given the option to listen to music whilst they work, as playing music instantly relaxes the mood and stress levels. The daily morning huddles also help teams and individuals to reach out to fellow colleagues to lend a helping hand, providing support, guidance and ultimately reducing stress.
McDonald's are aware that no single factor is more important to their success than the dedication and efforts of their employees. As a result of this the company operate the “Employee of the Month” (EoM) award in all restaurants. Every year 12 employees per restaurant have the chance to win this accolade and a gift box to go with it. Every employee of the month receives a range of prizes ranging from an Employee of the Month gold name badge and a personalised congratulations card to a specially designed ‘Make It Special' USB stick, an engraved black Congress pen in a presentation case and an engraved black A6 mole notepad to name but a few. Four times a year each restaurant will select an employee from the EoM winners to be their Employee of the Quarter and winners from all restaurants are then entered into a competition to find the “Employee of the Quarter” for each Operations Manager group. The winners of this quarterly competition are then considered for the Director of Operations “Employee of the Year”. Finally, each person selected as the Director of Operations overall winner will go forward to compete to become McDonald's Employee of the Year final, which takes place at McDonald's Head Office with the COO and Senior Vice President. As finalists they receive £250 worth of Love to Shop vouchers and the overall winner will also receive £2,500 worth of Travel Vouchers. All also receive recognition trophies.
The Wellbeing programme offers McDonalds employees a variety of support and helpful information to enhance their wellbeing both at work and at home. A dedicated Wellbeing Hub on ourlounge contains handy articles and information about what employees can do to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. It has advice and support on topics like staying active, eating well, work/life balance and mental health. As part of the Wellbeing Programme, the team research and feature apps of the month, which have included apps like HeadSpace. Every employee receives a ‘How's it Going Chat' with their direct reporting Manager on a regular basis. This provides an ideal opportunity for the employee to have an open and frank discussion with their direct reporting Manager. Employees have the opportunity to discuss any issues that could be causing workplace stress and discuss what support or changes are needed. In recent Senior Leadership Engagement Drop In sessions, workload and workplace stress were some of the discussion topics to enable employees to openly discuss concerns and solutions with Senior Leadership.
Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.
Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.
All London Diocesan staff are invited to a Summer BBQ in June and a Christmas Party in early December. Both are open to all and are a great way for staff from different business areas to meet one another. The organisation have a social committee who oversee the event but departmental teams are invited to get involved in the set up and to help build teams by laying tables, preparing food and overseeing the BBQ. 60-80 people would attend dependent on holiday etc. In between these events the Social Committee organise smaller social gatherings around a specific interest. These are usually after work or in a lunch break, for example Cheese and Wine Tasting and the Theatre.
Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.
Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.
When a customer contacts itsu to give brilliant feedback on one of the colleagues in their shops, a member of the Executive Team goes out to that shop to present a custom made Tiffany butterfly charm to them. This is really celebrated throughout the business and photos of these Executive visits are put within the quarterly its-us magazine, which is given to every colleague at itsu.
itsu have launched two Leadership Programmes this year for their emerging Leaders and Senior Leaders. An important element is a personalised learning plan for Managers, as this encourages ownership. The company ran a 360 based on the judgement-drive-influence model and each individual was given one to one feedback from the report. They were then asked to present their strengths, opportunities and how they were going to work on them, which has informed their personalised learning path. They will continue to be supported in their development through mentoring and coaching from their Line Manager. All Managers have a twice yearly performance review, which looks at their results and behaviours against itsu's current values. Shop Managers are measured in a champions league format which measures their KPI's. If they are under delivering they are performance managed throughout the year. Those that are meeting expectations will be in line for promotion. As well as this Head Office Managers are measured by personalised KPI's specific to their job role.
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