Sentinel Housing support all of their people to grow and develop personally and professionally. The company offer a blended approach to L&D, recognising that everyone has a preferred learning style and if they can tap into that the L&D will be more effective. One great example of how the company have supported employee development is a restructure of their front line operations to create a tier of team leaders and to appoint all posts from internal candidates. This came about from staff consultation. Many comments were made that the company's hierarchical structure was too flat so there were limited opportunities for upward career development. Sentinel Housing took this feedback seriously and subsequently restructured their neighbourhood and customer services teams to create 7 team leader roles. The company appointed all posts internally and set up a L&D programme for all to attend. They also developed team leader competencies and a reward structure that gave incremental salary increases as competencies were reached. This has had a hugely motivational effect on the organisation. Firstly it demonstrated that Sentinel Housing do take feedback seriously and it showed that they value their staff and are prepared to invest in them. So the heightened morale extended beyond the individuals who directly benefitted from the restructure. And now some of those people feature in the company's succession plans to be future managers of their business.

The Sentinel Housing trades team (around 30 people) take part in an incentive scheme which is paid out quarterly. It looks at a number of different areas but is linked to the company values and also what is important to their customers. It is important to Sentinel Housing that they put the customer at the heart of what they do and as their trades team are working with our customer's day in and day out. Feedback and compliments are taken very seriously and the team are rewarded for receiving compliments. This also is linked to the ACE customer service model which looks at an Awesome Customer Experience. Sentinel Housing boast a competitive salary, excellent annual leave entitlement, flexible working opportunities, childcare vouchers, a personal development allowance for staff, free car parking on site, an employee assistance programme giving access to professional advice and counselling, free eye tests and a contribution towards glasses, life insurance for employees and reduced health insurance rates for family members, amongst other benefits.

Sentinel Housing have a variety of learning & development programmes that support their managers at different stages of their development. This includes formal training, mentoring and coaching and toolbox talks. All newly appointed team leaders and middle managers attend management skills training run by the Corporate Coach Group. This ensures that the company have a consistent approach across all management disciplines. Further training is given to meet individual need. Individual L&D plans are developed and agreed between manager and individual taking into consideration current level of skill and career ambition. Sentinel Housing group also provide training to help us meet our corporate ambitions and strategies. This year the company focused on coaching to improve staff empowerment. For staff to be truly empowered they need to be capable and confident. Coaching reinforces learning and is the best way to build confidence so our staff will take decisions at the lowest level. Monthly toolbox talks are run by the company HR Team. They are a useful refresher for the management skills used less frequently; absence management, capability management, disciplinary & grievance, selection interviewing etc. Sentinel Housing Group senior managers are currently on a leadership programme with Ashridge Business School – ‘Leading the Difference'. The company are identifying the leadership style they need to keep their business highly successful against an external environment that is very challenging for housing associations.