Engagement and recognition
Communication is an integral part of what we do and we dedicate resources to effective engagement with our people. We listen to our employees, respond to their feedback and communicate the actions we have taken. We also ensure that those who live our values and deliver exceptional performance are recognised and rewarded.
The challenge
We have always competed for talent but increasingly, we need to use different methods of communication to attract potential recruits, and to keep employees informed our our plans and achievements. More and more, our employees want to be actively involved in the decision-making and goal-setting processes of our business, and be offered a challenging and rewarding career path – and we need to respond accordingly.
Employee engagement
To give employees a regular opportunity to comment on a variety of business issues, we conduct a formal Employee Engagement Survey every year. The topics covered range from our performance to training and development, and from employees' understanding of our corporate objectives to their immediate team. The results allow us to measure how closely their views align with our vision and values, and form part of our corporate KPIs.
This year saw the highest scores in our annual Employee Engagement Survey. Around 79% of our employees responded, and their feedback suggests we are making progress. Two of the top scores recorded were how proud people feel to be a part of Land Securities (96%) and achieve their understanding of what the Group is trying to achieve in the current financial year (86%). One of the most significant increases of any score was the confidence people have that we will meet our objectives – up 22% to 89%. In addition:
- nearly 80% of people have had at least two performance reviews in the last year
- 86% have learning and development plans in place
- 86% have undertaken voluntary work in the community, up from 51% last year.
It has undoubtedly been a tough trading year, so naturally how people feel about salaries and bonuses, and career development, have lower scores. However, using such feedback, we will look at how we can make salary, benefits and bonuses as favourable as possible, and give our people greater exposure to different parts of the business to aid career development.
Case study
Shaping the future
Our vision – 'Shaping the future of property' – was developed through consultation and workshops with over 120 employees from around the Group during 2009 and launched at our annual Management Conference in October 2009. It highlights our intention to lead in everything we do and to set the standards for tomorrow.
We have developed a vision microsite where employees can view and download a range of information about our vision, and how we reached a consensus. This includes:
- photographs taken during the workshops
- the 'visual' minutes that were produced at the workshops
- the final visuals of the themes and the vision
- all the presentations
- the final vision booklet.
Other communication channels
Employee opinions can also be aired through more frequent channels, such as our Exchange Forum meetings. Twelve elected representatives from across the business sit on the Forum, and meet with the senior management team quarterly to discuss key business issues and consult on decisions that affect employees. During 2009/10, the topics discussed ranged from the introduction of a holiday purchase scheme to virtual desktops with the IT department and changes to catering facilities at head office.
Since our last survey in November 2009, we have implemented 'TeamTalk', a new management cascade briefing to explain the relevance of corporate results and announcements to each department across the Group. This initiative was formulated in consultation with members of the Exchange Forum and senior management in direct response to employee feedback.
To gauge employee satisfaction and help us to improve the information we receive from employees, we also:
- host quarterly lunches with Senior Directors at which all employees can attend
- hold formal Business Update presentations twice a year in our offices for people to meet and hear from senior management on the company's performance
- launched an improved intranet site dedicated to keeping people informed of our business' performance, progress and plans.
Our efforts to maintain a supportive and open working environment have been recognised with the Investors in People (IIP) accreditation, which we have held for three years. IIP is a national standard that measures how effectively employees are developed to deliver business results. In October 2009, we achieved reaccreditation and developed action plans to address two key areas for improvement: the planning and evaluation of learning and development, and the capabilities expected of our managerial staff.
Recognising excellence
Every day, around our business, people are not only getting on with the job, but adding something extra. We rely on such people – the sort of people who care what impact their behaviour has on others and who try to do things that little bit better – and acknowledge their achievements through our People into Action awards programme.
We have created a website (www.peopleintoaction.com) to promote the awards scheme – based on demonstrating our core values of integrity, respect for the individual, customer service, excellence and innovation together with Environment and CR categories – in an informative and fun way. We hope it will inspire others to adopt the sort of entrepreneurial behaviour shown by our recent winners, and encourage employees and managers to nominate their colleagues for future awards.
Case study
People into Action award winners
January 2010 saw some extraordinary people stepping into the spotlight at the People into Action awards reception and dinner.
- Respect for the individual – Lloyd Wright, Centre Manager, Fremlin Walk: Lloyd instigated English language courses for cleaning and security staff, run in association with the local education service. The four staff who attended classes and passed examinations are now more confident and able to offer a higher level of customer service.
- Excellence – Tracy Bottomley, Centre Administrator, Corby shopping centre: When Centre management was given eight days' notice to terminate the market in the town centre, Tracy took over. Despite no previous experience, she ran the market, drew up licences and collected rent from traders without losing a single day's trading. Rent has risen ten-fold to over £70,000 a year.
- Customer service – Mark Streatfield, Residential Managing Agent, Chartsedge: Mark liaises with incoming owner-occupiers of the 123 residential apartments at Princesshay in Exeter, ensuring that each apartment is handed over to our sales agents in a marketable condition. Mark has dealt with floods, boiler failures and suspected gas leaks, yet remained calm and approachable. Cielo Cadona received a special award for her extraordinary efforts to keep Harbour Exchange Square open and accessible during London's snow storms.
- Integrity – Steve Hall, Security Officer, Ultimate: In October, while on patrol, Steve received a call about a woman on the estate who had her bag stolen. Steve allowed her to use his mobile phone to cancel her bank cards and gave her £50 of his own money to enable her to get the train home.
- Innovation – Peter Cook, Centre Director, White Rose: To provide a consistently high standard of customer service, all staff have received 'On Brand' training and are updated on all aspects of the centre's activities through a new Knowledge Hub. The scheme is now being considered for wider application across the company.
- Team – Finance Team: In addition to their normal roles, the team led by Neil Eady was recognised for their hard work behind the scenes on a number of big corporate projects.
- Environment – Dave Downes and Phil Gantschuk, White Rose: By devising, designing and implementing a rainwater harvesting system, they salvaged, at no cost, an unwanted 3,000-litre tank from a retailer and designed a gravity-fed supply of water, saving 55,000 gallons per year.
- Corporate Responsibility – Daniel Pickard, Centre Director, Corby: Dan has a police-supported campaign that has helped to reduce anti-social crime by 40% (see separate case study below).
Case study
Daniel Pickard, People into Action 'Corporate Responsibility' award winner
Daniel Pickard, the Centre Director at Corby shopping centre, has supported a police-led campaign to encourage local youths not to commit anti-social behaviour. Starting 18 months ago, Daniel embarked on the project with Groundworks North Northants and Northamptonshire Police, working at night alongside youth workers to steer teenagers away from public nuisance, criminal damage, alcohol and drugs.
His colleagues in the Corby anti-social behaviour team have since won the 'Ongoing Contribution' category of the People into Action awards, having opened a temporary shop for the youths to run. Through the project, they learn how a shop works and also about the effect their behaviour can have on local shops and other businesses. Prior to opening the shop, the youths were trained in basic stock control, cash handling, merchandising and customer service, and helped out with the shop-fitting and decorating.
As a result of this ongoing project, anti-social crime in Corby town centre fell by 47% in the first year, and has fallen a further 13% during 2010. A number of the youths involved in running the shop have also declared an interest in retail and sales careers. The success of this multi-agency scheme was also recognised by the Home Office Tilley awards, progressing through to the national finals after winning the Midland regional stage of the competition. Dan was also presented with an award by Groundworks UK and the Police in recognition of his positive and influential work with the youths of Corby.
Daniel is keen for his colleagues to get involved in the People into Action awards. "Colleagues should get involved because Land Securities cares about its people and does take notice of the good work we do. Every day, people go 'above and beyond', but many of them are too modest. We need to shout about our achievements."
Case studies
Survey hits the mark
Did you know... that our overall level of employee engagement, as demonstrated through the Employee Engagement Survey, out-performed the benchmark set by HR consultants Expert Training Systems (ETS)? We scored 3.10 overall while the ETS benchmark was set at 3.08. Any score of 3.0 or higher is classified as 'excellent'.
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79%
employee response rate to annual survey