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
Talkington Bates visit local colleges and schools for chefs where they hold live Q&A or surgery sessions. Their offices are open plan and senior management hot desk, they always operate an open door policy. They have a staff forum on the intranet with an intranet based ‘Ask the leader' system and the leader/ senior management interact with employees during regular site visits. The leader of the organisation in particular knows all staff by their first names, visit all sites on a regular basis and takes a personal interest in all staff.
Talkington Bates have training programmes on the intranet for their managers and offer pay/ support for external management qualifications through NLP and external training facilitators. Individual training plans are set and 360 feedback is given at 6 monthly appraisals. All managers have a mentor as well as external coaching/ mentoring through Skills south east. Managers regularly attend seminars on employment law as well as field trips to other sites, suppliers and high street organisations.
System C plc ensure that employees feel they are rewarded for their efforts. They have a Competitive benefits package, Annual performance related bonus (based on company performance and indiividual performance), Competitive salaries (internal/external benchmarking to ensure fair and equitable salaries), Comprehensive Appraisal process in place as well as regaular one to one meetings with line managers to discuss progress against set objectives. The Company supports employees through professional qualifications, both financially and with given study leave. There is a dedicated training budget in place for each employee, to ensure continued personal development. Share options are awarded to employees for performance periodically and they have implemented a SAYE for 3 years sharescheme.
At System C plc they offer HR mentoring/support, dedicated training budget should external course be required and support from Executive Directors and Operations Board for all line managers. Paid time off and financial support is given to support management qualifications(i.e. FCIPD MCIPD MBA PhD CIMA Management Accountancy qualifications. Mentoring and Coaching schemes are in place as well as 'HR In Touch' - Coaching for employees and managers and 360 feedback internal and external schemes are in place. External coaching/ mentoring are available for executive and operation board directors and the HR team regularly attend external seminars on employement law which are run by local and london law firms and Work-Stream Manager Meetings Senior Management Meetings.
Some examples of the sorts of training activities Steljes employees might undertake are product training event weekends, bespoke training courses written for Managers and employees, Health and Safety Training, Professional Qualifications, Role specific courses, Internal Product Training and Product Certification Training. There are fully funded professional courses, time off work for study leave and exams and fully paid for course materials.
Steljes have a sales Employee of the month award which comprises of a plaque on the wall and a prize awarded by the Sales and Business Development Director. Milestone recognition is awarded with Fortnum and Mason Hampers at the Company Christmas Party by the Chairman for those staff who have reached 5, 10, 15 and 20 years service. There is instant recognition in the form of thank you cards, instant rewards, peer recognition etc. Steljes have Boy and Girl Done Good Awards from the Group Chief Executive of a meal for two at a restaurant of their choice awarded at monthly company meetings for staff nominated by others in the business and customers for things they have done well.
On average, employees receive 8 hours per year formal training, with an average spend per employee of £500 on training per year. Examples of the sorts of training activities STA Travel employees might undertakeare: Head Office Brand and Culture training sessions, Presentation skills courses (2 day), Recruitment Training sessions, 3-week induction courses, Assistant Manager course, Coaching courses, STAy workshops, Eurostar courses, Travel Connect courses, 1 day finance team training, new Branch Manager support days, weeks training in Sweden, Sales Training Courses, webinar sales training sessions for Sweden and The design of 60 coaching cards to support the face to face with the customer programme…
Managers toolkits are available on the intranet at STA Travel as well as formal external management courses. Internal management development training is offered as formal leadership training opportunities and coaching/ mentoring is provided by external leadership specialists. STA Travel have external meetings within peer groups and HR Breakfast meetings provided by Employment Lawyers etc are supported. They support and enhance the development of people managers within their organisation by working alongside the employees providing easy access to decision making and coaching.
Keith Griffiths, Managing Director and HR Manager have quarterly informal lunch get togethers with employees from three hotels. Usually three colleagues from each hotel are picked up in the MD's and HR Manager's cars and transported to the venue where they have an informal chat about how it is working for Somerston and including a brief business update. Keith Griffiths and Senior Managers make regular, structured visits as well as ad hoc visits to all locations and purposely engage with the front line employees.
All Hotels employees except GMs have their hours monitored , Somerston don't encourage opt out from Working Time Directive though a few do in order to meet their personal economic and social needs. They encourage employees to take their annual leave in small chunks on a regular basis rather than saving up for a long holiday though they are often receptive to such requests for long breaks. Somerston do assess the potential impact on the employee not taking regular breaks.
Robinson Low Francis say "Steve is a strong, visible leader who interacts with his partners and staff on a daily basis. He encourages ideas, he is enthusiastic, he believes in his company and his staff, he is outspoken and approachable and believes in transparency."
Robinson Low Francis say "Steve is a strong, visible leader who interacts with his partners and staff on a daily basis. He encourages ideas, he is enthusiastic, he believes in his company and his staff, he is outspoken and approachable and believes in transparency."
Robert Dyas provide an Operations and Procedures Manual and all requests for support for external management qualifications are considered, Colleagues have had time off for study, time off to attend courses or leave early and also financial support is awarded if the qualification links to the job role i.e. CIPD /CIMA. They have a Senior Store Manager programme with the top 10% of Store Managers and run an Assistant Manager training programme. 360 feedback has been done within the Operations Team (District Managers/Communications and HR). They have recently trained their Ops team in Predictive Index (PI) which they also distributed to all Store Managers.
Robert Dyas have a No Smoking Policy and Smoking is not permitted inside any premises and a lot of Head Office Colleagues will now offer fruit as well as cakes when buying for their birthday! They promote their Retail Trust Helpline as well as encouraging colleagues to approach their Line Manager or HR if they have an ongoing concern. With regards to other mental health issues they refer all cases to their occupational Health provider for advice and support and any colleague who requests time off for private treatment will be given the time requested. Head Office colleagues have a discounted membership at the local Health Centre and they encourage all Colleagues to take regular breaks.
RFIB Group Limited have an EAP scheme for Eating healthily, Managing stress and Other mental health issues in addition to medical referral. They take employee wellbeing seriously and once a month they have accupunture massages available as well as holding subsidised in house pilates classes twice weekly.
RFIB Group Limited use performance recognition and have an Unsung Hero Award - awarded monthly at the company presentation evening. This is given for excelling in one of the core competencies of Strive for Excellence, Technical Competence, Problem Solving, Working with Others, Working with Others, Communication and Commercial Awareness. They also have a milestone recognition scheme where additional leave is given upon reaching 10 and 15 years of service and after 25 years of service employees are given the gift of a watch.
Renaissance Personnel operates flexible working patterns to enable employees to strike a fair balance between work life and social life. There are free annual medical checks for all employees, free health assessments for Night Workers and staff are allowed time off to attend sponsored walks or the London Marathon. All staff are offered free basic healthcare which comprise of vital signs checks. If there is anything unusual, they are referred to their own GP. The employees are encouraged to take regular exercise which does not only have to be about paying gym membership.
Renaissance Personnel operates flexible working patterns to enable employees to strike a fair balance between work life and social life. There are free annual medical checks for all employees, free health assessments for Night Workers and staff are allowed time off to attend sponsored walks or the London Marathon. All staff are offered free basic healthcare which comprise of vital signs checks. If there is anything unusual, they are referred to their own GP. The employees are encouraged to take regular exercise which does not only have to be about paying gym membership.
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