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My Team - Employees' feelings towards their immediate colleagues and how well they work together
My team benefits from a high scoring My Manager factor as the manager is key to creating and sustaining a productive and positive work environment.
An employee’s perceived team will be those they work with on a daily basis.
Initiatives such as the Cycle to Work scheme and a city-centre based office to support commuting by public transport are just two of the initiatives Simitive has in place to lessen its environmental impact. Combined with this, it runs a paperless office and employs fully cloud-based IT systems.
After becoming increasingly concerned about the health and wellbeing of its staff during periods of lockdown, the company launched an employee wellbeing programme including 24/7 access to helplines, free counselling sessions, ensuring holidays and breaks were taken, as well as access to confidential conversations with Heads of Department, HR, and Directors.
In order to keep a culture of collaboration and interest during the pandemic, the company held regular meetings on a company and team level, as well as coffee mornings and fun events such as Taskmaster. These were all held in addition to weekly 1-2-1s for all staff members, as well as six monthly development reviews.
A staff forum network, known as ‘Gateway Together’, exists to raise awareness of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Designed to promote a constantly evolving positive and inclusive culture, it has led to a number of events initiatives including Eid celebrations, Pride, Men’s Health, Black History Month, and International Women’s Week.
Gateway’s office refurbishment included a new recycling system, as well as other initiatives that focused on a commitment to mitigating its impact on the environment. These include LED lighting, the use of hybrid vehicles and electric charging points, as well as a ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme and a bike loan initiative.
Collaboration and inclusion activities consist of weekly team briefings internally, as well as a number of external team bonding activities. These include taking part in virtual ‘escape rooms’, as well as the establishment of a ‘Birthday Month Club’ to encourage celebration across different teams.
William Blair's Global Inclusion Council, created in 2017, is an advisory group of colleagues responsible for defining the firm's inclusion strategy and priorities to create a workplace where people are encouraged to bring their individual perspectives and experiences to work to drive greater creativity.
During the pandemic, it was important to keep employees up-to-date and to promote team bonding. William Blair launched a microsite dedicated to Covid-19 updates and a special edition of the firm's global electronic newsletter, Inside William Blair@Home.
Each employee received a food voucher that could be used for home deliveries while working from home. The company has a strong employee assistance programme to support every member of the workforce. Laptops were issued to all staff to enable the team to work from home over the past year.
UKCloud is committed to supporting employees' development, ensuring that it is tailored towards each staff member's specific ambitions and career path. A buddy system for new recruits provides a career mentor for people as they embark on a five-week programme of on-the-job training.
Colleagues found new and interesting virtual ways to use their social budget – £75 per head every quarter – while operating remotely. UKCloud believes this initiative has been pivotal in helping to maintain strong team interaction during a challenging year.
A Health and Wellbeing Week in January 2021 promoted practical strategies for feeling better. Senior leaders got behind the initiative, encouraging staff to exercise during the cold winter months. They have also been active in continuing to break down the stigma associated with mental health.
Every second Wednesday, staff have the afternoon off to work on personal development projects alone or in groups. They show off their projects in a regular video series and monthly newsletter. Each employee also has £300 to spend on courses and resources on the online learning platform Learnably, launched in December 2020.
One of the lessons of lockdown was that the more people communicated outside their day job, the more productive collaborations they had on important projects. Mediatonic recognised its teams had different rhythms and stopped organising fun events such as quizzes and tea breaks in favour of empowering groups to host events of their own design.
Mediatonic is a founding partner for Safe in Our World's new campaign, #LevelUpMentalHealth, which seeks to unite the gaming industry to support both players and developers who may be struggling silently with their mental health. The company has also set aside money to support two charities fighting racial inequality in the UK.
Thrive Homes switched quickly to being a remote business last March. The Chief Executive, Elspeth Mackenzie, took to the internal social network OneThrive to provide business updates and advice on public health guidelines. Workplace by Facebook was also used to keep staff informed.
The Lumina Spark programme is used to develop people's understanding of themselves and others. It provides tools to constructively share, challenge, debate and give feedback, and to enhance emotional intelligence when interacting with colleagues and customers. Managers draw on its insights in the growth of their teams.
Inspired by a two-minute video from New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, managers took part in a 15-second challenge, #PrideinThrive. Each of them filmed themselves talking about what they were most proud of and grateful for. The clips were posted on the firm's internal social network.
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