Catch up now
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.
Training increased in volume over the past year as an important tool to keep employees engaged in their roles. The company helps to put people through exams and several staff members passed their qualifications in recent months.
Half of Caspian's directors and managers are women, as well as 43% of the staff overall. The company has been nominated for the Women in Insurance awards and in 2020 was the first brokerage to sign the Lloyds of London Inclusivity Pledge.
Caspian introduced paperless documents, using remote training to bring in the e-signature system quickly. Not only did the streamlined process make the company's service greener but improved its service, tripling its Trustpilot review in 2020 compared with 2019.
Managers at Cardlytics care about the job satisfaction of their team members and get behind wellness initiatives – even laughter yoga to boost morale. A mental health workshop provided managers with the skills to spot the signs of employees who may be struggling.
Every member of staff has an individual training budget of £1,000. As well as internal training courses, Cardlytics offers self-development workshops for employees to explore interests. A mentorship programme allows people to share experience, knowledge and skills as well as perspectives and cultures.
Employees are allowed one day a year to volunteer for a good cause. Staff members support local planting projects and community schemes. Although fundraising plans were disrupted by the pandemic, Cardlytics staff contributed to charities supporting those with disabilities or ill health including £1,200 for NHS Charities Together.
The CEO has led a development group to review Diversity, Inclusion and Equality policies, which is open to all within the organisation and an example of how the senior management team (SMT) promotes core values. The SMT holds weekly one-to-ones with Sabbatical Officers to help tackle any challenges.
With student support a career choice, managers attend compulsory training courses such as IOSH Managing Safely and First Aid at Work. They are also encouraged to attend courses that would be beneficial to their role and support their professional and personal development.
With a premium put on keeping staff healthy and happy, all-staff Q&As and virtual Tea & Talk sessions have been introduced. A staff newsletter provides information on mental health and wellbeing support and issues are signposted and communicated on a regular basis.
Since its launch three years ago more than 1,300 employees have been through the company's Aspire development programme, which won ‘People Development Programme of the Year' at the Learning Awards in February. Over 950 of those participants have been promoted into the role they wanted.
Employees can nominate staff for a monetary award for “brilliant work” through the employee recognition scheme, ‘Just to Say'. The most exceptional examples are recognised at the annual Consumer Live event, which last year involved 18 livestreams, 68 awards, and was broadcast on BT Sport and hosted by Tess Daly and Rylan Clark-Neal.
The recently launched plastic reduction programme called ‘Get Drastic on Plastic' has set a goal that by 2025, all plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. BT Consumer encourages customers to return their products so they can be recycled or refurbished.
The Senior Leadership Team pitched in to deliver PPE to offices and carers when required to alleviate pressure on branch teams. All branch bosses had daily calls from a member of the SLT at the start of the pandemic offering step-by-step support and guidance and these now take place weekly.
The Bright Care Training Academy has continued to run throughout the pandemic to develop employees, who all have a personal development plan. An in-house performance coach is available to help and support the mental and physical wellbeing of all employees.
Bright Care believes strong teams are formed by people who play together as well as work together so it actively encourages employees to plan social events together knowing that other teams within the organisation will cover this time out for them.
The in-house development programme, MINDS, gives employees from all pay grades the opportunity to progress through the business into senior roles. There is no recognised qualification but two previous candidates have gone on to become general managers within the company.
In 2020 launched its "Souls" programme focussing on the mental health and wellbeing of team members. Employees have also been encouraged to take part in activities such as Couch to 5k and online exercise challenges with one person cycling the equivalent distance from Land's End to John O'Groats.
There is a 25% discount on holidays at any of the company's parks for staff, family and friends. Employees also get 25% off food and 15% off drinks in park venues which can be used in and out of working hours.
BCHG launched its Learning Academy in 2020 and despite the pandemic has managed to deliver its training programmes albeit mostly virtually. The organisation has also continued to support staff who are undertaking profession qualifications and apprenticeship programmes, and to enrol employees on courses relevant to their role.
In addition to weekly emails encouraging staff to remain positive during adversity and reminding them they have access to help and support if they need it, BCHG provided resilience training and ran virtual events including a laughtercise session, yoga and Monday night socials to combat loneliness.
In 2019 BCHG launched its agile working policy, and encouraged colleagues to work more flexibly investing heavily in IT and equipment and in doing has reduced its carbon footprint by reducing travel and office overheads such as heat, light and printing, saving money too.
Formal management development is supported through both internal and external programmes, leading to professional qualifications. During the pandemic, Bibby introduced specific training on how to manage colleagues remotely. An Aspiring Manager programme offers colleagues an opportunity to learn basic managerial skills, performance management and supporting wellbeing.
Female members of the sales team hosted a successful session to promote diversity and inclusion, focusing on the challenges faced in some areas of the business. Similar sessions are planned for departments perceived to be male-dominated, such as IT and finance, to encourage more women to apply.
Bibby believes attracting, retaining and developing its people is the key to continuing success. A coaching programme, led by the executive committee, is dedicated to continuous improvement of all employees, developing teams that are highly-focused to achieve results.
Leaders became reliant on video calls during the pandemic, but made sure to not just chat or write emails to employees, but to engage in weekly socials, consistent team meetings and quick calls to discuss an issue or concern. The company believes in the lead-by-example approach.
Bark offers secondments to all its departments. The aim is to make sure there is a smooth transition from one role to another and that everyone is happy with the transition. A variety of internal or external training is available to encourage staff to increase their skills.
Weekly one-to-ones take place with all employees and there are also weekly team-building events, along with six-week and quarterly town hall meetings, which have been moved online. There are also online socials.
Every year we take on young people from local schools and colleges and either fund their qualifications directly or place them on an apprenticeship levy-funded scheme. At any time, approximately 10% of the workforce is being assisted through a qualification by Baily Garner.
Staff are regularly encouraged by management to switch off from work, go for walks and engage in virtual social events whenever possible. Employees are also encouraged to make calls to colleagues they have not spoken to for a while and to continue to listen to and support colleagues.
Everyone is allocated two paid days a year to volunteer or get involved in a community project and staff have been encouraged use these days for remote activities where possible during lockdown. The firm also donated the £15,000 it would have spent on the annual client Christmas party to charity.
Looking for more information on our solutions? Let us know how we can help and the right member of our team will be in touch shortly.
