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Hosted by sponsors Grant Thornton, Blake Morgan, HSBC and The Business Magazine, the Solent 250 dinner at Lainston House Hotel, Winchester was attended by 50 business leaders representing top unquoted private companies in our Solent 250 listing, which comprises a combined £16 billion turnover and employment for 85,000. Three guest speakers from Solent 250 companies provided their valuable insights into . . .


Values, culture and employee engagement SOLENT 250


With businesses facing the most candidate-short employment market for 20 years, Solent 250 guests heard that employers today need to look far beyond their salary levels to attract suitable talent – with great working environments, personal development, flexible and remote working, all becoming basic employee requirements.


Culture is the key


Going forward, the right company culture will be “the most important thing for attracting talent and making a business really successful”, stated Romana Abdin, CEO of Simplyhealth Group. But, with markets changing, creating and maintaining that winning culture would be difficult, with each company making its own journey.


Simplyhealth is already two years into its own journey, Abdin revealed, following its strategic decision to focus on ‘everyday healthcare'.


Simplyhealth had asked its workforce: “What type of company do you want to work in; what’s the culture we want to keep; what culture is stopping us from moving forwards?” From that it learned4444 that the company had become hierarchical, and “used to doing things the same way.”


Simplyhealth is now adapting its culture by harnessing the talent of its 1,200 employees, and building agility, innovation, communication, empowerment and engagement into its organisation.


“It’s as important to hang on to the things that make an organisation


great, as it is to be explicit about the things that need to change.


“However great your management strategy, it’s people who build or destroy relationships, develop products, serve customers. To shift a culture is hard, takes time, but by enabling and empowering our people we are making a difference.”


Values at the forefront


Lakesmere provides roofing and cladding for stunning landmark buildings, (eg London Olympics Aquatic Centre, Spinnaker Tower), but it also has standout company values, explained Matt Nicholson, MD (South).


Agreeing that culture is key, Nicholson suggested that accepted corporate values, underpinned by a team sprit, could lead to employee behaviours that create "a winning culture".


Ten years ago Lakesmere employees were encouraged to work by a set of core values: integrity, reliability, passion, professionalism, quality, innovation, people and community, and given an aim to become their industry’s contractor of first choice.


The values were included in Lakesmere’s recruitment and staff appraisal processes, but there was no top-down enforcement. “We simply put posters around the workplace, suggesting the behaviours we supported, and let things happen.”


Nicholson admitted being surprised at their positive impact, not least in performance, retention, recruitment, and customer recognition.


From left… David Murray, Romana Abdin, James Hawkeswood of Blake Morgan, Anthony Reed of HSBC, Stephen Mills 0f Grant Thornton, Mike Gawthorne, Matt Nicholson


If people like the values they will keep to them, and encourage others to do the same, he explained. “What drives our culture is living out what we actually believe in.”


In the past few years, Lakesmere has won a Queen’s Award and turnover has rocketed beyond £100 million. However, Nicholson warned against allowing growth and rapid recruitment to ‘dilute’ culture.


Know who you really are


CEO Mike Gawthorne revealed that Serocor was deliberately established as a group of independent recruitment-related specialists in order to meet the modern demands of a changing, talent-seeking marketplace.


Aspects such as social media interaction, persona mapping, and individual company cultures, are becoming more influential in today’s recruitment sector, not least with job candidates in short supply.


Serocor’s services now span recruitment solutions to talent management consultancy. “We are moving into a world that is far more transparent, becoming marketeers of B2E (Business to Employee).


“We need to know more about attitudes and behaviours than ever before, even though we may be recruiting for skills.


“Companies need to ensure they are what they think they are in the marketplace,” said Gawthorne, or risk the disillusionment of staff, new recruits or customers, plus negative social media comments. Today, what people say about a company really matters.


Authenticity and honesty, investment in employees and culture, practising what you preach, were all necessities said Gawthorne.


“However hard you try to mask or cover things up, today everything is transparent,”


With so many differing mindsets and connectivity options within modern workforces, another challenge is “getting that eclectic mix of communication styles right so that your culture stays alive.”


GT shares its future


Later, sponsoring partner Stephen Mills explained how Grant Thornton is embarking on its own new culture, by becoming the first major accountancy firm to move to a shared enterprise business model.


“Our intention is to embed a culture of collaboration through sharing ideas, responsibility and rewards.


“Shared enterprise is the logical next step in aligning our structure with our values.”


www.businessmag.co.uk


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – APRIL 2016


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