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 firm's charity, 'Build Africa' facilitates the firm's direct involvement in the building and equipping of a school in Kenya. The scale of the project has allowed them to have a very direct and tangible impact on the lives of an entire African community and has included members of the firm being directly involved when visiting Kenya. In addition, each year for the last 10 years, staff members bring in Christmas presents for local children who are in the care of Tunbridge Wells Social Services and who would not normally enjoy the kind of Christmas most of us take for granted.
The firm has a permanent Health & Wellbeing Page on their Intranet, with information and links to various websites, including local personal trainers & health clubs, nutrition sites and health & wellbeing articles on the NHS Direct & BBC websites. They have run a series of Health & Wellbeing seminars that were well attended and very much appreciated by all staff. They are also very proud of the success they had with their "Stop Smoking Scheme". For this they arranged for the NHS to run an in-house stop smoking scheme, which they offered as part of their health & wellbeing programme, several members of staff participated in the scheme and all managed to complete the programme and quit smoking.
Crest Medical take the approach to wellbeing whereby they try to identify and tackle the cause and not the symptoms of their people's welfare. Wherever possible they try and accommodate and support any changes and adjustments to relieve any pressures that may occur either personally or professionally. They do this by ensuring they maintain an open dialogue with their employees through their communications infrastructure and people management.
Within the organisation a working party has been implemented following an employee suggestion, with the aim to review operational progress and identify any areas for improvement. It involves a group of voluntary representatives who provide a voice for the rest of their team to highlight key operational concerns and any ideas/suggestions to rectify them. The MD is also in attendance as the final decision maker on feasibility from a commercial point of view. The Management focus group meet on a weekly basis to evaluate business as a whole. This encourages sharing best practice, cohesion and support between departments. Feedback is communicated back to teams and actions implemented. The mission, vision and values workshop encouraged the involvement of respected employees and demonstrated the business commitment to listening to its employees and reinforced the inclusive culture and open door policy.
The company organises and pays for one charity initiative each year which anyone in the agency can join. They believe passionately that the event should put something back into the local community where they work. On the surface Covent Garden, and the borough of Camden, where they are headquartered, is a wealthy and vibrant part of London. Behind the scenes it is home to many disadvantaged and under-privileged people and children. Their Give Day is designed to undertake a project which makes an immediate, if small, difference to the community. In the past they have cleared ponds in local parks, doing work that would otherwise need to be paid for by scarce resources, or painted local community facilities which again would need to be paid for from limited funds.
The company organises and pays for one charity initiative each year which anyone in the agency can join. They believe passionately that the event should put something back into the local community where they work. On the surface Covent Garden, and the borough of Camden, where they are headquartered, is a wealthy and vibrant part of London. Behind the scenes it is home to many disadvantaged and under-privileged people and children. Their Give Day is designed to undertake a project which makes an immediate, if small, difference to the community. In the past they have cleared ponds in local parks, doing work that would otherwise need to be paid for by scarce resources, or painted local community facilities which again would need to be paid for from limited funds.
Managers take a holistic approach to their reports, both professionally and personally which can only be done by recognising strengths and weaknesses of individuals, guiding them through difficult challenges and always being available for advice. They understand that from time to time situations arise which may be unplanned and endeavour to take a flexible approach to day to day working and will accommodate life outside of the working day where possible, e.g. appointments, deliveries at home or when illness arise. They also go out of their way to make sure enough time is taken to resolve any issues, even if this may mean working from home. They also recognise achievement, both individually and externally and celebrate every success and achievement as a team.
COMPUTERLINKS are committed to recycling, using Biffa recycling bins internally and externally, recycling all technical or printer equipment through an environmentally friendly agency and using only recycled stationary and toilet paper. As an organisation they provide market leading solutions that protect organisations of all sizes against Cyberthreats. Protecting infrastructure from cyber-attacks is critically important as any disruption can have a severe effect on the world. Due to the complex, interconnected fabric that controls the globe, Cyberthreats impact most aspects of our everyday lives from personal banking through to vital resources such as electricity and water supplies. Any compromise can cause significant economic and social damage and can even be fatal. They distribute both established and new technologies to provide protection against such threats. Working with trusted partners, these solutions are implemented by organisations across all markets to ensure the attacks are kept to a manageable level, to minimise disruption and protect the livelihoods of the global population.
Arthur Hindmarch the MD spends a morning every month with all new starters, taking the time to get to know them individually, taking them around the premises, explaining the functions of teams, developments that have taken place and plans for the future. He is very involved and hands on working with sales people across all divisions of the company. He personally launched the Added Value Programme and is spending time working with Business Development Managers across the business to empower and train them to sell cross divisionally all of the products and services. Arthur is a humble, open, understanding, funny and empowering individual. He firmly believes that staff should be given the space to grow and at times learn from their mistakes in part of that growth, is hugely appreciative and constantly praises all the staff personally.
Commercial has run a successful environmental programme for a number of years. It is the first company in its sector to become CarbonNeutral and was declared a Beacon Company for sustainability in 2008. It has successfully reduced waste to landfill by over 90% and normalised carbon emissions by over 70% since 2006. They also have Green Angels, which are a small group of staff from different parts of the business with different levels of seniority who work together for a short time on a project. They are tasked to deliver two things; communication and business transformation. Each Green Angels group selects one commitment as the focus for their activity. One team focused on Eliminate Waste and revamped the internal signage, introduced new recycling bins and added two new recycling streams. They also held a “What a Load of Rubbish Day” which included all staff in seminars, tours and a game to encourage recycling. Following their activity, not only did the level of contamination in recycling bins decrease, but staff also reported much better recycling rates at home.
Social events at COAL IT are circled in everyone's diary and none more so than the annual incentive. A memorable trip was where a group of 17 attended a 4 night all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. It was a fantastic experience especially for those who had not been before. Staff stayed at the Encore which is one of Las Vegas' new hotels and dined in top Las Vegas restaurants including Koi and Steve Whynn's SW restaurant. The holiday was topped off by a night in the Encore's new club XS, seeing the Rat Pack show and even bumping into the legend that is Tom Jones.
COAL IT hold regular appraisals and one to ones between managers and their staff, where they ask for feedback on the company, as well as any issues in general and these are then relayed back to all staff in the monthly sales meetings. In addition to this, they have a quarterly newsletter where they ask staff for feedback and give them an opportunity to put forward anything they would like to be included in the next issue.
As an organisation they seek to enhance the wellbeing of employees by providing daily fruit portions for every member of staff and managing stress and losing weight. They have weekly exercise classes and encourage sporting events and participate in many local firm sporting activities. They organise monthly end of the week get-togethers to wind down in readiness for the weekend and close the office during office hours to celebrate Christmas. They also operate a Health Benefit scheme which provides counselling and has a general health enquiry line.
As an organisation they seek to enhance the wellbeing of employees by providing daily fruit portions for every member of staff and managing stress and losing weight. They have weekly exercise classes and encourage sporting events and participate in many local firm sporting activities. They organise monthly end of the week get-togethers to wind down in readiness for the weekend and close the office during office hours to celebrate Christmas. They also operate a Health Benefit scheme which provides counselling and has a general health enquiry line.
Catermasters give on the spot gifts for people, for example a bouquet of flowers, a meal out for two and additional holiday. Catermasters have also worked on communications and making employees more aware of some of the things that they do as a business. They have also improved the induction programme and induction package to appeal to more front line team members.
Managers receive training in reviewing with staff. Managers also work alongside staff on a daily basis and teamwork is heavily promoted. Managers have monthly staff meetings to review how things have gone etc. Managers are required to carry out monthly training bites and ensure job descriptions and information is up to date.
Managers have to ensure that the maintenance of the PRIDE boards and the free flow of information is delivered consistently throughout the year. They also need to be aware of issues within the team and particulary if individuals within their team seem to be struggling and in turn giving them the advice and support they need to continue to be fulfilled within their role.
The leadership has built the business from a standing start in 2005 to a £25 million pound business at the end of 2011. This has been achieved by adhering to the values and ethos that the company was established on and being able as the company grew to communicate, motivate the new team members joining to all feel a sense of ownership and pride in the development of the company. This has been supported by a really effective communication and engagement policy that means that all team members feel they have a voice and that voice will be listened to and acted upon by all members of the management team. They believe that the success of the business is firmly established in the culture and the ability of the team.
ByBox gives everybody the chance to prove to themselves how good they really could be. It helps them to find and unlock the unique energy that is in all of us but that so many other companies work so hard to stamp-out. At ByBox, it doesn't matter a jot where you came from, how old you are, how you were educated or what you do in your spare time. All that matters is that you have the true desire to be part of something memorable.
ByBox gives everybody the chance to prove to themselves how good they really could be. It helps them to find and unlock the unique energy that is in all of us but that so many other companies work so hard to stamp-out. At ByBox, it doesn't matter a jot where you came from, how old you are, how you were educated or what you do in your spare time. All that matters is that you have the true desire to be part of something memorable.
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