People aren't left to sink or swim at independent property consultancy NB Real Estate. Staff are taught to sail on yachts on the Solent during regular team-building outings, exercises that have forged a workforce where people go out of their way to help each other. Employees give a positive score of 77% for this question, and also report a strong sense of family in their teams (74%). An 80% score shows staff find their teams fun to work with. An annual social budget of £150,000 means colleagues have plenty of opportunities to get together outside the office. Regular team-building workshops foster close working relationships. Teams are made up of about eight workmates and people say that colleagues really care for each other (81%). Leadership courses help managers learn how to support employees. Staff think their manager talks openly and honestly to them (77%), cares about their job satisfaction (72%) and helps them to fulfil their potential (69%). The human resources department gives on-the-job training to line managers, particularly those new to the role. Staff say that managers are excellent role models (69%) and they share important information with their team (74%). An in-house development programme, NB Genius, offers staff courses and master classes to learn the skills they need. Psychometric exercises help employees understand the personalities of colleagues and become more aware of their own behaviour, improving communication and relationships. Staff believe the experience they gain at the company is valuable for their future (78%), and say there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow at NB Real Estate (65%). People need only look to the senior managers for proof—five of the team of seven joined the firm at the beginning of their career. Employees say that senior managers live the values of the organisation (72%). Michael Hatt has been chief executive for seven years and the workforce has a great deal of faith in him (75%) and feels inspired by his leadership (69%). Senior managers do a lot of listening as well as telling (65%). This helps people feel they can make a difference in the organisation (76%). A top 15 score of 77% also shows that staff members believe the organisation does its bit to protect the environment, borne out by its achievement of the ISO 14001 international environment standard.
