Family and friends fun days bring everyone together to live one of the charity's values: "Challenge, have fun and smile." Regular newsletters, along with all-staff meetings and communications, keep the culture alive. News and staff feedback is shared through the HR department's People Hub.
Employees are encouraged to do apprenticeships. The charity has introduced a leadership academy that offers a blended learning programme and it has seen positive change, growth and development in those who have taken part. The HR department supports aspiring leaders to develop in their role.
The comprehensive rewards and recognition benefits package on offer includes giving out monthly golden tickets to those who have lived the charity's values or gone above and beyond. The golden ticket can be exchanged for a prize in the "goodie cupboard".
Riverford gives all co-owners the opportunity to refer a friend for any of its live vacancies. If the referred candidate is successful in getting the role, once they have passed their probation period, it pays the co-owner who made the recommendation £400. The friend they recommended will also get £100 – this is an unlimited
Fair pay is fundamental at the organisation, particularly for those co-owners at the lower levels of pay. It is a Real Living Wage employer. To offset the gender pay gap, it has overhauled its role banding, increased transparency over the rates for different levels, and installed measures to ensure that these bandings are consistently applied.
Riverford has a whole host of developmental opportunities for its people. Including captured learning, personal and professional needs during 1:1s, establishing aspirations, and providing learning to support the individual in improving confidence, performance, and motivation. It also runs an internal management programme that focuses on performance coaching and development conversations.
As part of Stress Awareness Month, it encouraged all colleagues to take part in an event in partnership with the Lighthouse charity. Believe housing is committed to continuing to work with the charity to provide access and support for all employees across emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing.
Since the pandemic, the organisation has not stood still in its ambitions to deliver great things. It encourages its leaders to be accessible and visible, some examples include attendance at welcome events for new starters, leadership huddles, and time spent in front-line parts of the business.
The growth and development of its people are really important and it strives to make this a big part of its culture. It works on building a new culture and people strategy which includes how to attract the best people and how it builds skills and exciting careers for now and the future.
Staff received a special cost-of-living bonus, with those on the smallest salaries getting the most. Employees have also been given early access to a proportion of their performance-related bonus and can now get an advance of up to 50% of their accrued salary every month, interest-free. This access comes with financial coaching and tools.
Senior managers are encouraged to use twenty7tec's internal comms platform to publicly 'shout out' employees who've done something outstanding – linking the 'thank you' to one of the company's values. Staff can also highlight their colleagues' good work, and everyone can 'like' or interact with the feedback.
Everyone has a personal development plan that's reviewed each quarter with their line manager and supported by the Head of People. Growth opportunities include internal and external mentoring, 15 hours of paid personal development or study time, paid-for memberships and subscriptions, and access to an 'anytime, anywhere' online training platform.
Oakland has a dedicated menopause support policy available. For managers, recognising the symptoms of the menopause is vital to treating an affected employee fairly. This policy includes installing a water cooler, providing desk fans, making rooms for rest available, allowing for more frequent breaks, quiet working spaces, and extended deadlines.
It has recently introduced personal learning budgets for its teams. This provides each employee with a £400 individual learning budget that they can choose to spend on the learning intervention that best meets their development plan. Additionally it offers internal workshops when there is a requirement for tailored training.
As part of its Oakland Gives Back scheme, it matches the amount raised for any employee taking part in charity fundraising. If at the end of the financial year the amount allocated to good causes has not been spent it asks employees to nominate small local charities close to their heart.
The Big Circle Move initiative was launched in support of physical health. 725 members of staff participated in a 30-day active challenge of moving for 30 minutes every day in May. A total of 40,730 miles of activity was completed and three winners received an Apple Watch in recognition of looking after their physical health.
The organisation’s values and principles are Respect, Compassion, Selflessness, Support, Agility, Bravery, Collaboration, and Commitment. The leadership team live these values and principles every day, setting an example for the staff. Every employee was invited to have candid and direct conversations with the COO about the business
The organisation has created a dedicated career development hub which enables employees to map out their professional careers within the organisation, regardless of role. Circle Health Group believes in growing and developing talent from within and there are numerous clinical and non-clinical opportunities available.
All employees can undertake mental health awareness training, and staff and their families can access help – including legal and financial – through the Employee Assistance Programme. ‘Myth Busters’ have been published on topics like domestic abuse, often linked to a colleague sharing their story. There are also wellbeing talks and monthly ‘desk yoga.'
All staff are on the digital learning portal giving them access to content, events and training and helping them create development plans. There are also open sessions throughout the year on topics including ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘building resilience’. And staff can undertake technical training or academic study and learn from internal coaches and mentors.
In the past year, employees have donated more than £200,000 to causes they care about through the Payroll Giving Scheme. And NATS also supports two corporate charities – the Jon Egging Trust (JET), by offering young people communication and leadership workshops and Aerobility, which gives disabled people the chance to fly a plane.
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