EF News
We asked - you answered!
As part of our Big Question feature, we asked four Forum members: how do you facilitate a positive work environment that attracts and retains talent?
Nicki Clark, UMi
At UMi we believe that businesses are powered by people, and so to achieve our ambitions that’s where much of our energies have been invested. It has taken many years to create the sense of ownership and passion that successful family businesses harness. Today our team need no encouragement to go the extra mile, to always look for ways to improve our services and build an environment where hard work and talent thrives. Reaching a point where you don’t need to rely on traditional leadership and management constructs to do that, and the whole team does it for themselves, is liberating and enlightening in equal measure. In 2010 the icing the cake was when we became a wholly employee owned business, everyone in our 130+ strong team with an equal stake. A model that’s not right for all but definitely worthy of consideration
John Hudson, Hudson Group
Throughout the pandemic, we recruited 13 new employees. To maintain our positive culture online as effectively as we do in the office, we communicated with employees regularly, informing the team when milestones had been hit, giving special mentions and celebrating the success as a group. During lockdown, we have been preparing the office for our team’s return, making improvements to ensure a positive workspace. We added a Hudson Library to help employees progress in their roles and also share interests in fiction. We created a Wellbeing Room, allowing our employees to connect in downtime and bond with their new teammates. We are also looking forward to continuing our Hudson traditions such as celebrating birthdays with personalised cakes, team lunches and utilising daily team huddles to praise success and solve problems.
Gill Burgess, r//evolution
This is a great question & an area we've been focusing on recently... We've invested in a Happiness and Success Coach. She works with each member of the team on an individual basis. This started as a way to help the team through the challenges of lockdown, but it's been so successful that we're making it a permanent feature of r//evolution life. One team member has said: "The time I spend with Natalie makes such a difference to how I feel at work. It's great to have someone to guide you through areas you'd like to develop in. It's strengthening the team and helping me add more value to the business too." Personal Development Plans really help attract & retain talent too. They tie together business goals and individual's ambitions. It means we can focus on nurturing the team's skills in a way that works for us all.
Steven Rawlingson, Samuel Knight International Facilitating a positive working environment should start at the top with senior managers and spread through your company. If you want to create a positive winning culture then positive energy should be at the core of your foundations. Over the years Samuel Knight has faced many challenges including a global pandemic but for all of this you’ll never see myself as the CEO or any of our leadership team for that matter give off negative vibes. Positivity runs through Samuel Knight every day and our staff thrive off that, People want to work in a happy, positive rewarding environment ! why wouldn’t they !… If you can lead with a full heart, a positive mind and a gracious soul you’ll attract and retain your staff. Remember there’s no secret formula to facilitating a positive working environment however some key tips I would give.. Create the right foundations, build a positive leadership team, listen to your staff, get with the times and create a fun, loving working environment and reward staff as best you can and you’ll hire and retain the best.
