British Society for Rheumatology secures 2023 Workplace Culture Award – Smaller Employers

The shift in culture achieved by the British Society for Rheumatology wowed our judges, who named it the winner of the Personnel Today Awards 2023 Workplace Culture Award – Smaller Employers, which is sponsored by HSBC UK.

With challenges around recruitment, retention, reward and workloads, the society embarked on its first ever strategy for people and culture in collaboration with its staff. It has trialled a 4.5-day week, moved to continuous performance management and senior managers have been trained in capacity planning. Here we look at its entry and those of the other shortlisted organisations.

WINNER

British Society for Rheumatology

The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) is a membership organisation that brings together expertise from across the rheumatology profession.

In early 2022 it was struggling with staff retention and vacancies were taking on average three months to fill. A third of staff said they felt workloads were unmanageable and 68% did not feel fairly rewarded in terms of salary. This led to it creating its first ever people and culture strategy.

Restrictions on the hours employees worked were removed, and it has recently concluded a trial of a 4.5-day work week. To ensure employees could take advantage of this it had to address capacity issues, which meant moving to a continuous performance management approach and co-creating a values behaviour framework with staff.

Now, teams do not plan to work at more than 80% capacity. This gives employees the chance to take on new projects, while also helping to prevent staff from feeling overwhelmed. Senior managers are given training on capacity planning to support this.

BSR is now seen as a values-led workplace. Employee satisfaction has grown from 77% to 97% in the 12 months to the end of March 2023, and 96% of staff now say they have more ownership over their objectives. Sickness absence has reduced and scores for work-life balance and workload management have improved significantly.

RUNNERS-UP

Beyondly

Beyondly, a B Corp environmental consultancy, recognises that employees want more from their jobs and are increasingly seeking out employers that have a positive impact on the world around them.

In 2022 it rebranded from its former identity, Comply Direct. Understanding that a successful rebrand required full buy-in from its employees, volunteers across job levels and departments were brought together to help with the project. Exercises were carried out to better understand what employees felt the brand should look and feel like and to ensure the employee voice was accounted for in all decisions.

A six-month project was undertaken to examine the lifecycle of a Beyondly employee, considering where it could better support staff. It identified life events ranging from learning to drive and buying a first home, to short- and long-term illness, pregnancy, gender transitioning, and retirement.

The Talent and Culture team have introduced new initiatives and policies including life leave, interest free loans, and a more structured mentoring scheme. All policies are considered gender-neutral and family-friendly.

Since the rebrand and launch of the new policies, Beyondly has seen an 11% reduction in employee turnover. A recent satisfaction survey saw 97% of respondents state they were proud to work for Beyondly and 97% reported trusting the organisation’s leaders. Testimonials from employees included: “Best company I have ever worked for!” and “The direct support I receive is great and I feel my performance is well managed, with encouragement to succeed!”

KellyDeli

KellyDeli is a fast-growing Asian food company that operates a global franchise model. With people dispersed over 13 countries it faced the challenge of keeping people connected and aligned to its values. Engagement had also suffered, with an eNPS score of -33 in 2019 and staff turnover at 35%.

To learn more about employee sentiment, it conducted a listening exercise to learn what people loved about KellyDeli’s culture and how it might keep culture front and centre as it grew the business. The CEO and CHRO established an executive level culture and values committee, which meets monthly to ensure culture is constantly being considered and discussed at the top.

A network of local culture champions has also been established in each country. They help disseminate messages and consult colleagues about important issues, passing feedback on to the culture committee, and also deliver values training to staff in their locality.

KellyDeli has introduced ‘Truly Together’ days to encourage people to connect and in 2022 it held its first in-person staff conference in Barcelona, which offered strategy updates, competitions and a values session. The final results of its My Big Idea competition, where people were encouraged to suggest new products and business improvements, were also presented.The overall winning new product idea, from London franchisee Kohei Matsumoto, has been rolled out and he chose to spend his prize money on a party for his team.

The company’s eNPS score has since improved from -33 to +25. Sales and headcount have both increased as the business has grown, and 16 ideas have been implemented as a result of the My Big Idea competition.

Perfetti Van Melle

The company behind brands including Mentos, Fruit-tella, Chupa Chups and Smint, Perfetti Van Melle employs 19,000 people globally, but has only 50 staff in the UK. This, it says, means it is a small organisation that acts with the ambition of a big company.

A DEI people audit revealed that the firm has an “open culture charactertised by a willingness to listen”. Perfetti Van Melle employees were found to be 23% more likely to feel comfortable having conversations about D&I compared with other organisations the DEI consultancy was working with.

It operates a hybrid working model, but staff are also able to work different hours in the summer and winter, depending on their needs. A monthly recognition awards programme is in place and twice-yearly away days are offered to support team bonding.

It offers a competitive benefits package, including enhanced parental leave and a menopause policy where staff are encouraged to engage in discussion about menopause in a respectful and supportive manner. Mental health and wellbeing is taken seriously, and despite its size the company has a network of mental health first aiders who are on hand to support their peers. Employees and their families also have access to a confidential emotional, practical and financial helpline.

One employee said: “Perfetti Van Melle UK has a very strong moral code. It is open and transparent with its colleagues and creates a strong sense of trust in the business, where people feel both that they have a voice that is listened to, but also that it is very much encouraged to be heard.”

Silver Cloud HR

HR and payroll technology specialist Silver Cloud HR adopted a homeworking-first approach long before the pandemic, which has allowed it to attract a diverse workforce including parents of young children and people with disabilities across the UK, Europe and Mauritius.

CEO Helen Armstrong meets all new starters within 48 hours to share the company’s vision for its culture and how important they are for protecting and developing it. The company goes to great lengths to avoid a ‘top-down’ approach to building culture, and each week it hosts a company-wide coffee break where colleagues can catch up with each other, celebrate special occasions, or listen to a guest talk. A team of ‘culture clubbers’ meet regularly to discuss ideas for social events or wellbeing initiatives.

Although most of the organisation works from home, it recognised that employees in Mauritius prefer to work in a different way. Taking on board their request for a shared workspace, it opened an office in Moka. It also has a long-standing relationship with a local orphanage where staff in Mauritius volunteer their time and the company provides Christmas presents and Easter eggs.

It promotes flexibility from day one and recently launched flexible holidays to allow staff to take days off that are important to them.

Silver Cloud HR’s most recent eNPS score was 73, and 94% of employees say they love coming to work at the company. It has been ranked 4th in the UK’s Best Workplace for Wellbeing list, certified by Great Place to Work.

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