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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
The company have in place a 'Spot Bonus Award Policy'. This is awarded by management on a special basis when employees have made a particularly noteworthy contribution, above and beyond the call of duty. This programme provides managers with a valuable tool to motivate, reward and recognise those employees who distinguish themselves through extra efforts. Significant short-term contributions earns a bonus of £200. A Significant medium/longer-term contribution earns the employee £300-500. A special recognition award to sustained leadership performance over a considerable timeframe, and/or the accomplishment of mission critical, company-wide projects of a major scale is awarded with £1000. To achieve maximum recognition and motivational value, managers are encouraged to provide the employee with a letter of commendation, which will be included in the employee's HR file. They also have a colleague recognition programme; colleagues can nominate an individual or team who has made a measurable contribution to the company; if successful, every quarter a nominated individual wins £1000, or if a team, £2000.
OpenBet supports employee development via a plethora of activities, such as, Brown Bag sessions to share knowledge across the organisation, workshops for hands on programming activities, supervised Google hangouts with subject matter experts at hand to explain specific subjects and topics, internal and external training sessions on soft skills, managerial skills as well as methodologies and technical skills. Traditional classroom training is used in conjunction with e-learning activities and remote teaching via conference systems and remote internet meetings. Training plans are developed for specific roles within the organisation to help new comers or people being promoted internally, handle their new role within OpenBet.
As a contract catering company, Olive is committed to healthy eating and offering healthy eating choices to their customers and staff. In 2012,Olive signed up to the Department of Health's Responsibility Deal pledge to reduce the salt in the food they produce. As part of this pledge they have put together communication packages to educate both their employees and their customers about the dangers of excessive salt levels in food and the benefits of reducing salt usage. Their Operations teams also periodically run Healthy Eating Awareness days at their sites which enable their customers to learn more about general nutrition and health awareness.
In July 2014 Olive Catering Services employed their first ever L & D Manager. Their role is to support business retention and growth by identifying and designing L & D solutions that are focused on the achievement of the business and people strategy. By investing in this new internal role they aim to further demonstrate their ongoing commitment to people development.
Nicoll Curtin's leadership team knows that the best ideas can come from anywhere in the business so they are committed to learning from everyone and implementing great ideas irrespective of where they have come from. The leadership team reviews any ideas that come through and communicates them with the business. Work hard, work together. The Senior Management team understands why their business is successful and it's because of who they hire and how they develop their consultants. Their MD and Sales Director sit with the teams on a daily basis and operate an open desk policy, meaning anyone can go up to them and ask questions. They sit on the floor and hot desk throughout the teams which demonstrates how involved they really are.
Team building is incredibly important at Nicoll Curtin. As a company they have an incredibly strong culture and people genuinely are surprised by how positively like-minded their colleagues are to themselves. Their teams are always initiating their own team building nights with a yearly budget each team leader is given, but getting the whole company together is important. Each summer they fly in their Zurich office and shut down the office for the afternoon and organise a group programme which gets people from all parts of the office working together. Last summer they rented out a space in Victoria Park and had a company organise a giant Olympics course where teams competed in 6 challenges and one crowned the winner. Feedback was exceptional on the event, not only because of the investment into the calibre of activities but the fact that staff developed great relationships with new people in the business across floors and between their global offices. Following that event, their summer party takes place in the evening at a top dinner destination in the city and it is all funded by the business and something the staff talk all year about. Another initiative Nicoll Curtin has started is called Project Outstanding whereby a team is nominated at the quarterly town hall to spend £500 in any way they want in order to make the business more outstanding. The teams hold brainstorming sessions and come up with their idea which they present to the business at the next quarterly town hall, and pass along the baton.
2013 was Multiply's 10th anniversary and to celebrate this they took all their employees away for an overnight stay at Aberfeldy. The theme was a pagan ritual ceremony and each employee had a specially chosen, bespoke outfit waiting for them in their room on arrival. Their team from London flew up to join this too and the whole company had a fantastic evening of entertainment and celebration. This event took several months to plan and was packed with unique and personal touches. All costs were fully covered by Multiply and the event was a fantastic success. They have various other team building events including a yearly Company Update BBQ in the summer which brings the whole agency together in either London or Edinburgh. They have also recently installed their own bespoke bar in the basement, and they have ‘down time Friday' to encourage everyone to get together for a Friday refreshment.
2013 was Multiply's 10th anniversary and to celebrate this they took all their employees away for an overnight stay at Aberfeldy. The theme was a pagan ritual ceremony and each employee had a specially chosen, bespoke outfit waiting for them in their room on arrival. Their team from London flew up to join this too and the whole company had a fantastic evening of entertainment and celebration. This event took several months to plan and was packed with unique and personal touches. All costs were fully covered by Multiply and the event was a fantastic success. They have various other team building events including a yearly Company Update BBQ in the summer which brings the whole agency together in either London or Edinburgh. They have also recently installed their own bespoke bar in the basement, and they have ‘down time Friday' to encourage everyone to get together for a Friday refreshment.
Each summer the company holds a themed summer party. This year it was based around the Football World Cup finals. The company provided food, drinks and a variety of entertainments and competitions throughout the day with colleagues positively encouraged to get involved. In the weeks leading up, they also launched a fantasy world cup league competition with prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places - nearly 60 staff took part. This year they were able to provide Segway's for colleagues to "try out" along with some more familiar "games", such as "test your strength", "hoop the ducks", and "crazy golf". On the day employees were encouraged to wear casual clothes and were welcome to sport their favourite football teams' shirts if they wanted to. The party featured a face-painting artist, table football and a penalty shootout competition. On the day a fish and chip lunch was provided and a healthy alternative, and soft drinks. The divisions of the company get fully immersed in the activities of the day, and competition between the various departments can get quite fierce. A full range of photos are provided after the event, and a general round up of the day's activities are fed back via the Buzz platforms.
Each summer the company holds a themed summer party. This year it was based around the Football World Cup finals. The company provided food, drinks and a variety of entertainments and competitions throughout the day with colleagues positively encouraged to get involved. In the weeks leading up, they also launched a fantasy world cup league competition with prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places - nearly 60 staff took part. This year they were able to provide Segway's for colleagues to "try out" along with some more familiar "games", such as "test your strength", "hoop the ducks", and "crazy golf". On the day employees were encouraged to wear casual clothes and were welcome to sport their favourite football teams' shirts if they wanted to. The party featured a face-painting artist, table football and a penalty shootout competition. On the day a fish and chip lunch was provided and a healthy alternative, and soft drinks. The divisions of the company get fully immersed in the activities of the day, and competition between the various departments can get quite fierce. A full range of photos are provided after the event, and a general round up of the day's activities are fed back via the Buzz platforms.
Employee development is key to delivering Midas Vision and the roll out of the CLEAR programme supports their long term commitment to developing their staff. Core elements of the CLEAR programme include: Bespoke management and leadership training delivered to operational, commercial and business support staff , Performance Development Review (PDR) training, Introduction of monthly 1-2-1 meetings between staff and their line managers to discuss progress and development needs – known as CLEAR Catch Ups, Training initiatives covering customer service workshops, commercial excellence workshops and team-specific training aimed at improving team effectiveness and performance. The CLEAR programme, which, is cascaded throughout the business is also supported by the introduction of quarterly People Reviews with the senior managers of each division, ensuring that employee development is discussed on a regular basis at a high level and development themes identified in addition to the TNA conducted as part of our annual PDR (appraisal) process.
Employee development is key to delivering Midas Vision and the roll out of the CLEAR programme supports their long term commitment to developing their staff. Core elements of the CLEAR programme include: Bespoke management and leadership training delivered to operational, commercial and business support staff , Performance Development Review (PDR) training, Introduction of monthly 1-2-1 meetings between staff and their line managers to discuss progress and development needs – known as CLEAR Catch Ups, Training initiatives covering customer service workshops, commercial excellence workshops and team-specific training aimed at improving team effectiveness and performance. The CLEAR programme, which, is cascaded throughout the business is also supported by the introduction of quarterly People Reviews with the senior managers of each division, ensuring that employee development is discussed on a regular basis at a high level and development themes identified in addition to the TNA conducted as part of our annual PDR (appraisal) process.
Each department within London Square has a weekly team meeting in which all members of staff are encouraged to feedback their ideas and suggestions. The divisional director is then given the opportunity to present these ideas to other departments for feedback at the weekly management team. Each department also has a blackboard where they can chalk up jokes, thoughts and anecdotes, with a quote from the divisional director, giving them the opportunity to share these on a daily basis with the rest of their team. Every day, the team, including the Chief Executive, eat together if they are in the office at Wagamama-style tables in the dining room or play table tennis together outside, giving staff the opportunity to discuss their ideas with other members of the company. The open plan office has a relaxed open door policy so staff can approach any member of the company when they need to, including directors in their offices, to share ideas or seek counsel.
Each department within London Square has a weekly team meeting in which all members of staff are encouraged to feedback their ideas and suggestions. The divisional director is then given the opportunity to present these ideas to other departments for feedback at the weekly management team. Each department also has a blackboard where they can chalk up jokes, thoughts and anecdotes, with a quote from the divisional director, giving them the opportunity to share these on a daily basis with the rest of their team. Every day, the team, including the Chief Executive, eat together if they are in the office at Wagamama-style tables in the dining room or play table tennis together outside, giving staff the opportunity to discuss their ideas with other members of the company. The open plan office has a relaxed open door policy so staff can approach any member of the company when they need to, including directors in their offices, to share ideas or seek counsel.
Installation of the water machines, The Colour run event and health and fitness Occupation Health are all part of wellbeing in Leven Energy Services Limited.
In Leven Energy Services Limited they have Suggestion boxes and the Employee of the month Employee Forum. They also have Dress down Fridays.
EAP schemes are available across the firm and include access to online portals where helpful advice is immediately available. Face to face counselling is included, in addition to the 24/7 helpline. Kinetic have annual flu jabs, organising a nurse to come into the office to administer the vaccinations to encourage as many of the team as possible to take advantage of this benefit. Anyone who cannot take advantage of the on site programme has access to a drop in clinic where they can have the jab at their own convenience. Kinetic have gym membership as one of their flexible benefits and encourage staff to use this benefit to encourage well being and exercise in the firm. They also support a charity run every year where around a quarter of the office run in a 5K fun run fully subsidised by the firm called the 'Chartered City Race'. This is a great way of building team spirit, keeping fit while supporting a good cause. They try to arrange wellness weeks annually to raise the team's awareness of what is on offer and how they can benefit.
Kinetic Partners is very good at giving employees the development they desire. People are trusted on projects that stretch them all the time and therefore learn a lot. They are coached/monitored by extremely strong leaders. Kinetic also provide more structured training through their KP Academy which focuses on online training and individual skill sets required to succeed in their industry. Training has included: sales and business development, leadership, excel, word and more industry specific training courses. Kinetic are a great company for knowledge sharing as well and regularly have ‘lunch and learn' sessions to ensure that everyone within the firm has a sound knowledge of their global service offering. Kinetic also hold regular sessions on latest legislation and developments within each service line. Kinetic expect their employees to be proactive in their development and include a PDP in their appraisal process where leaders need to ensure that their teams are stretched by setting objectives that enable both short and medium term personal development goals to be realised. Kinetic's online training portal is accessible to everyone and they encourage the team to spend 2 hours minimum each month on personal development which is linked to the achievement of their objectives as detailed above. Their planned global training matrix will map every level in their organisation and the training required to achieve job success. This will also be a great tool where employees can see how, and in what areas, they need to develop in order to progress in their careers.
The senior management team are directly contactable on a day to day basis by anyone in the organisation. They aim to live by the values which means they value everyone equally and everyone is included. Everyone has a right to express themselves and be respected for who they are and they can influence the way the organisation works. Also each Senior manager has a team who they are nominated to link with in a back to the floor style and celebrate successes or raise issues at senior level.
They update their staff regularly as to changes and improvements which are made as a result of their feedback. Particularly useful is a document created to address the different areas staff wanted to see improvements in over the past few years. They have a Learning Programme called KeySteps. This lays out how someone's development progresses from their date of join. Its starts with Induction, moves through Mandatory training and role related training, leadership development and coaching etc. This is supported by the new Appraisal process, the Personal Development Star.
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