“The best company I’ve ever worked for”

Brick-Tie have just been re-accredited for Investors in people. This follows a thorough in-depth audit undertaken in January this year.  Here’s an excerpt from the IIP report on Brick-Tie!

Assessment Findings (Investors In People)

The findings of this assessment are presented below for consideration by the leadership team.

General Findings.

Brick Tie Ltd (the Company) is an organisation built on customer focussed and people-centric principles that have been defined and widely communicated by the management team to all those involved in delivering the services.  As a result there is a very clear sense as to the nature of the services offered and the requirements of people delivering those services on a day-to-day basis.  Equally, through highly effective approaches to staff engagement and communication there is strong ownership of quality assurance and continuous improvement.  This people-centric culture sees a very positive commitment from the staff within Brick Tie to both the Company and the customers and stakeholders it serves.

 

Coaching and mentoring form a key part of the learning that takes place for staff within the Company and people cited many and various examples of how they had shared knowledge and information with colleagues, almost on a daily basis. Weekly staff and regular 1:1 meetings, along with feedback from stakeholders/customers all provide a rich source of information that is then cascaded down through the business in order to help inform improvements.

 

Appraisals takes place on an annual basis, while the weekly all-staff meetings help to discuss performance in the round to good effect, identifying any issues or concerns and discussing how practices and approaches can be improved.  These opportunities for discussion are also proving effective when it comes to reviewing and identifying any personal development needs and people indicated that they feel there is a good culture of continuous learning and that personal development is encouraged by the management team.

Growth within the business has seen employee numbers rise from 11 to 14 people over the last couple of years and all those interviewed were clear that the plans for the future of Brick Tie are centred on a steady rate of growth in financial turn over terms. This increase in staff numbers has also allowed the MD to start to move back from a principal surveyor role and progression routes have now started to open up.  Several of those interviewed commented that the whole ‘feel’ of the Company had become more positive year on year. All round, people commented that they now find Brick Tie to be “the best company I’ve ever worked for”.

Areas To Be Considered as ‘Strengths’

From this Investors in people review, the following can be considered as strengths of Brick Tie Ltd.

• Part of the culture of the Company has its foundations in a very strong ethos of engagement with people at all levels. Many people commented in highly positive terms on how they had contributed ideas and suggestions for improvements, both for themselves and for colleagues.“The weekly meetings are really good for keeping you up to date with things, looking at any problems and for doing a bit of staff training, especially where there have any changes”.  (Staff)“Communications here now are great and a lot better than they were say even 12 months ago. They listen more in the office  and we can rely on them to do things quickly and to get them right; that makes our jobs so much easier”. (Staff)

This collegiate approach to doing business has also enabled people to feel a good sense of trust when it comes to taking decisions appropriate to their roles.

“You know what you can make decisions about and what you need to check out first with the office. By the same token, even if the decision is yours to make, you know you can always give them a ring and you’ll get the support you need”. (Staff)

This trust is reciprocal in nature and all those interviewed cited a high level of trust in the senior management and leadership team when it comes to leading and directing the work and future of the Company.

• In keeping with this culture, the leadership team are clearly and overtly committed to supporting the learning & personal development of all members of staff within Brick Tie Ltd. All staff are able to provide examples of both training associated with their job function and personal development that will help them to achieve their own aspirational goals, for example at higher levels, or within other aspects of their specialist areas. This personal approach to people development commences at the very start of employment, with the induction process. Staff commented that they did not feel ‘thrown in at the deep end’, that the sessions they had with the office staff had been well managed and informative ad that the website had provided them with useful links with which to further explore the Company. Worthy of particular note were the very positive comments regarding the personal approaches taken by the MD, with useful blogs and videos being posted and even visits by the MD to the homes of new starters to help them get started.      

The open and positive approach to leadership and management has also had a good effect on the sense of value and worth that people feel around the Company.  Regular and positive feedback, praise and thanks were cited by staff as conducive to their sense of ‘being appreciated’ and the encouragement to undertake additional responsibilities is seen as further recognition of their capabilities and builds on their sense of being appreciated by the management team. People are also able to describe how they have been rewarded for “going the extra mile”, for example by providing bonuses for work on particularly large of complicated projects. Such is the culture of the Company that people all now bring their own examples of how they have demonstrated ‘going the extra mile’ with customers to each staff meeting.

End….

The above report also contained lots of goals we can include for the future – don’t think that we are finished improving our service and work environment… that job never ends!