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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
In summer 2011 the company held an all staff event at the University's sport facilities to promote the facilities to encourage employees to sign up for membership. The event included dodgeball, swimming, 5 a side football, climbing wall, spinning, image consultancy, and walking tours amongst other things. For the last two years the company have also run an employee baking league. This has been particularly effective for engaging their staff in something fun at work , mixing with other people and encouraging them to take a break! In previous years they have offered an employee Wellbeing Week every January. Employees can participate in a number of healthy activities during their working time to improve their health, safety and wellbeing. Free fruit is also provided during the week. The idea for the week is that they provide free of charge taster sessions that employees can then choose to continue in their own time to improve their lifestyles.
In summer 2011 the company held an all staff event at the University's sport facilities to promote the facilities to encourage employees to sign up for membership. The event included dodgeball, swimming, 5 a side football, climbing wall, spinning, image consultancy, and walking tours amongst other things. For the last two years the company have also run an employee baking league. This has been particularly effective for engaging their staff in something fun at work , mixing with other people and encouraging them to take a break! In previous years they have offered an employee Wellbeing Week every January. Employees can participate in a number of healthy activities during their working time to improve their health, safety and wellbeing. Free fruit is also provided during the week. The idea for the week is that they provide free of charge taster sessions that employees can then choose to continue in their own time to improve their lifestyles.
Employee development is fully supported and the Association has become an accredited City and Guilds Centre and has a dedicated Learning and Development Team to ensure that qualifications are offered for most roles within the association. It is also an approved centre for the Institute of Leadership and Management, offering a variety of levels of management qualifications for staff wanting to go into management or improve their management skills.
The organisation is a charitable housing association providing a wide range of housing and support services for the families and single people including those with special needs. They are a well-established provider of support to people with complex needs, both in the community and living in their own supported housing schemes, supporting people with learning difficulties, mental health issues, young people, women and the homeless. Their aim is to provide appropriate support to each person living in their own home to enable them to develop independent living skills, be involved in decisions regarding their life and participate in their local community. They also run charity shops.
GHA runs a contribution based pay scheme which is quite unique to the sector in which they operate. This was introduced for the 2010-2011 performance year following an extensive review of their reward strategy practices. The Association's new Reward Strategy aims to pay upper quartile salaries for upper quartile performance, ensuring that pay is aligned with the market and internal relativities ensuring that the Association's salary bill is affordable and rewards the achievement of objectives in the year of performance via the bonus. As part of this strategy the Association introduced the contribution based pay scheme.
Gallions offer an excellent foundation for all new members of staff. On the first day with the Association they undertake an introductory meeting with HR and are presented with an Induction Plan and Induction Guide, which includes background information about the growth of the Association, their structure, aims, values, purpose and how they fit into this. The organisation helps employees develop a better awareness of their stock and challenges managing it. They offer a Neighbourhood Warden Tour where employees spend an afternoon with their Wardens, walking and driving round the estate, again gaining an understanding of their stock, residents and the challenges. They also do CCT Awareness so employees listen to the variety of calls that come into Gallions' Customer Contact Centre to understand the issues from their residents and how Gallions deal with them.
Employees are rewarded for their efforts. Those who have shown a dedication and commitment beyond expectation are rewarded through nominations such as Team and Teacher of the Year at the College's Annual Awards Ceremony. This prestigious event acknowledges the award winners for their outstanding commitment to both the customer and organisation as a whole. Their success is fed back to all College staff at both the ceremony and within articles published in the monthly newsletter 'Eastleigh College Matters'.
Managers have an open door policy, which really works and "walk to job”, ensuring that staff see them and are able to talk to them. They set key performance indicators and targets for their staff which are negotiated and closely monitored and amended as necessary. Recognition is therefore given to the work expected of that member of staff. The workloads are negotiated and revisited at least twice a year and are also scrutinised by the Senior Management Team to ensure that there is fairness and transparency. Every manager has 1:1 meetings with the staff in their teams weekly, which provides opportunities for issues to be raised. Following the Communication and Consultation Group Meeting, managers have an "Onward briefing" with their teams which involves open discussion and consultation where staff openly express their views which are then taken back to the Communication and Consultation Group. They express thanks publicly and privately when staff perform well and the Senior Management Team is copied in on these communications. Annually an award is presented to the College Team of the Year and Teacher of the Year which are valued enormously.
A race night was held in January 2011. This was a social event but was also used as an occasion to raise money for the chair's charity. 70 staff attended and £800 was raised for charity. They also held an away day which included staff representatives from their staff forum, union reps and Board Directors. The event was an excellent way of building relationships between the staff and the Board and they received excellent feedback.
A race night was held in January 2011. This was a social event but was also used as an occasion to raise money for the chair's charity. 70 staff attended and £800 was raised for charity. They also held an away day which included staff representatives from their staff forum, union reps and Board Directors. The event was an excellent way of building relationships between the staff and the Board and they received excellent feedback.
Individual supervision sessions are held with a line manager every 4-6 weeks where agenda items include a review of any work/personal issues affecting their work and identification of effective/ineffective competencies. Managers are explicit about what high performance looks like and focus on the results required from actions and tasks. They meet regularly with staff as a team to create a clear vision for their project area. They attend to individuals within the team, to ensure they understand their role in the performance of the organisation and feedback is provided regarding service level key performance indicator. They meet with their team regularly to share information and respond to staff questions and suggestions. They also take the time to relay information that could be confidential or impact in particular roles or individuals in the most sensitive way possible.
CAN seek to enhance the wellbeing of their employees. Their Staff Support Service offers staff one to one counselling on a range of issues to support them in their personal and work life. Feedback from staff has been very positive about this service.
Antrim Borough Council are an accredited Employer of Choice and a working group comprising representatives from across the Council meets monthly to ensure that relevant action plans are developed and implemented. The Council survey employees regularly on work life balance issues and incorporate the Health and Safety Executives Stress Management Standards within the survey. The results demonstrate that employees believe Council values staff and that relationships are good in the workplace. They use a 'Talkback' system to enable staff to forward ideas or ask questions but the primary method of listening to employees is through the line manager and their latest survey results showed that 89% of employees confirmed that their manager has an 'open door' approach. Line managers have also been fully trained to adopt a coaching style which focuses on listening to employees and encouraging them to fulfil their potential.
Antrim Borough Council are an accredited Employer of Choice and a working group comprising representatives from across the Council meets monthly to ensure that relevant action plans are developed and implemented. The Council survey employees regularly on work life balance issues and incorporate the Health and Safety Executives Stress Management Standards within the survey. The results demonstrate that employees believe Council values staff and that relationships are good in the workplace. They use a 'Talkback' system to enable staff to forward ideas or ask questions but the primary method of listening to employees is through the line manager and their latest survey results showed that 89% of employees confirmed that their manager has an 'open door' approach. Line managers have also been fully trained to adopt a coaching style which focuses on listening to employees and encouraging them to fulfil their potential.
Managers allow time for 1:1's to take place with members of their team every 4-6 weeks and ensure that this is structured to discuss work, work life balance, Health and Safety and any other issues. Part of this process is allowing for an open conversation to take place between the manager and members of staff. They are encouraged to discuss any recent training their team have been on during team meetings and individual 1:1's and through these and appraisals managers should be working with individuals to determine training that will be useful in the future to help them grow and develop. Managers attend training themselves to identify possible signs of stress or workload issues to help prevent this occurring in their members of staff. Managers are the key to driving the direction and vision of the organisation to their team, this is done through team meetings and on an individual level at 1:1's.
Employee development is supported at Affinity Sutton and they are committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to grow and their learning and development programme reflects that. They are passionate about continuous improvement and seek to ensure their people have the resources and working environment that promotes job satisfaction and employee wellbeing. There is targeted internal training supported by on the job coaching, regular one to ones, annual appraisals, an E-learning provision and ILM management programmes and there is also high level management support and endorsement.
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