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Personal Growth - How employees feel about training and their future prospects
When it comes to Personal Growth, focusing on providing growth and development opportunities will make people feel invested in as individuals, so are more likely then to feel better about the Fair Deal factor.
The organisation showed its work family it cared during the pandemic with paid days off to recognise the contribution they had made, thank you days focussed on fun and wellbeing plus treat bags accompanied by a note of appreciation from Chief Executive, Marcia Sinfield.
FHA has always invested significantly in training and development even in challenging periods and last year it introduced a Leading Change Programme, open to all while 30 staff took up the opportunity to increase their skills and qualifications through apprenticeship programmes.
Teams have had coffee mornings, quizzes and opportunities to just talk about how they are feeling with support from Time to Change Champions and they have been encouraged to take a walk during their breaks to appreciate nature with WhatsApp groups featuring different activities and beautiful views from across Wales.
Training has been ongoing throughout the pandemic and has included virtual continuing professional development sessions, seminars, Lessons Learnt and best practice workshops. EDGE has focussed on sharing short lessons delivered by different disciplines, sectors and individual team members and all employees have been actively encouraged to identify topics for training.
A 120 day free subscription to Peloton was offered during the national lockdown, giving staff access to online classes from yoga to boot camp. Social activities from WhatsApp office group chat/jokes, to virtual quizzes, running and cycling, virtual after work drinks and breakfast clubs have helped boost health and wellbeing.
In addition to fundraising, staff are involved in a range of community and volunteering activities. During the pandemic, one member of staff volunteered for night shifts as part of the team constructing The NHS Nightingale Hospital in Birmingham and another served as a sergeant in The Special Constabulary.
The management team has weekly meetings to discuss all operational aspects of the business including the impact of Covid. In April, the company appointed an education and training lead who works across the whole organisation assessing and addressing development needs.
The business likes to send physical things through the post to remind people that it appreciates them. This includes small birthday presents, quarterly deliveries of a director-chosen gift – a bottle of wine, chocolate, beauty products, dependant on individual preferences. Several sets of hand-packed care boxes also went out.
Development was ongoing for all staff during the pandemic and was, in fact, strengthened to levels higher than previous years. This included training with the company's tooling partners; LinkedIn Learning; in-house courses; lunch-and-learn sessions; and staff obtaining formal qualifications such as Six Sigma and Prince 2 certification.
The leadership team's calm, positive and transparent handling of the challenges created by the pandemic instilled camaraderie among staff and inspired peer to peer support. Staff were encouraged to maintain contact with the leadership team and each other and to get involved in social events including weekly coffee catch-ups.
DRS hosts regular events including team lunches and sent employees thank you hampers in recognition of their hard work. Regular thanks and recognition is given in weekly 1-2-1s, quarterly reviews and annual appraisals. Perks include free massages, a discount app and corporate gym memberships.
DRS funds additional qualification and training which has recently included German lessons to help an employee with negotiations in Germany and a diploma in resourcing and talent planning for another member of the team. Soft skill courses also contribute to personal and professional development.
The single most important method to gauge a manager's performance or success is through their team and peers. The company says if it had to choose one measurement of leadership it would be team engagement, and how the team thrives with its manager.
Lockdown gave the business the opportunity to stop and reflect on the training offered and the result was a complete overhaul of the online training system, moving to a new system with increased content compatibility and accessibility for all. The drpg Academy was also relaunched as the home for all development needs.
People at the company felt everyone was in unprecedented times together and so the focus was on open conversations, transparency and regular updates. Every week saw a TV-style programme give news on what was happening, how drpg was doing, what needed doing, and with people able to ask questions and comment
Kavi and Shamil undertook monthly catch-ups with all the Babu (management) teams and the new Dishoom Delivery Kitchen workforce. Their priority was to keep employees reassured and informed. More than that, Shamil held a weekly virtual yoga class for anyone on staff to take part in.
Dishoom introduced Flow, a new training app, to provide training for café teams following the extended period away from work. Additionally the company created comprehensive corona safety standards, everyone has taken part in Covid safety training, and people will be made aware of all the required measures going forward.
After communications went online the company wanted to give its people something tangible to hold so the Dishoom Samachar – its own newspaper – was launched. It was delivered to every team members' home. There was also a Zoom kids' party for Chote Dishoom Wallas (the team's children), with a personalised invite sent to their homes.
Staff can nominate colleagues who have been particularly helpful with a project or gone out of their way to provide a service for a Thank you Award with the recipient receiving a £25 voucher that can be redeemed against a wide range of retailers and leisure activities.
The Knowing Diabetes programme ensures staff continue to learn more about diabetes with a range of external speakers giving a talk every two months. New learning opportunities have included half-hour Five Things I Learnt About sessions and staff-led French and German speaking circles which ran over the summer.
The charity created virtual spaces for staff to talk about how they were doing, learn about wellbeing and keep in touch. It also held a Wellbeing Week and a virtual “at the coffee machine sessions” for people to “drop in” and talk about whatever they wanted.
Curtins promotes collaboration, encouraging virtual teams and engagement in central initiatives driven by staff working groups or forums, using social and digital platforms to create dynamic learning practices and knowledge transfer. Reverse mentoring is a pioneering initiative where junior staff partner with senior management.
The Strive Towards Excellence Programme (STEP Ahead) provides personal and behavioural development opportunities through collaborative learning in line with evolving managerial pathways. The programme is founded on the values, stories and people-focused culture of Curtins and how this is demonstrated through leadership.
A survey helped managers to understand where the teams were struggling during lockdown and how they felt they could get support. It also helped the business to develop a picture of what people were doing to promote good mental health, so that it could be shared and celebrated.
Many of the managers have risen through the ranks to achieve senior positions, meaning their knowledge and understanding of their departments is unrivalled. That makes them well-equipped to implement the most effective incentives, performance strategies and wellbeing activities for their teams.
This year, Croner has been awarded Platinum Trusted Service status by Feefo, an independent market research organisation, which recognises businesses that go above and beyond to provide a consistently excellent service and dedicate themselves to exceeding customer expectations for at least three years in a row.
A Next Leaders programme supports employee development by teaching the specific skills needed for managerial roles. It provides tailored mentoring to educate and prepare individuals for a particular position. Line managers and departmental managers are coached on different areas such as client satisfaction, team building and teamwork.
The mission is to be a housing association motivated by Christian and social concern to create places where people want to live, invests in good quality housing and provides affordable support and servicesthat are accessible to those in housing need.
Christian Housing believes in developing its staff internally through individual training or job shadowing. Staff are given the opportunity to “act up” as managers to cover maternity leave or sickness absence. E-learning sessions on GDPR, whistleblowing, business continuity planning and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are available.
Every month, employees are invited to an ‘All Hands' Zoom meeting with senior managers providing business updates and providing an open forum for questions. Weekly virtual coffee meetings are held for colleagues to chat informally and a staff member runs weekly mindfulness video calls.
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