Value staff as people and your business will gain

Comment Lorraine Usher

Last month, a small social landlord in Dumfries and Galloway, which isn’t exactly a household name, was named charity employer of the year at a major national awards event for the second year running.

According to the judges, our success was down to placing our employees at the heart of everything we do.

Loreburn Housing Association may be a charity but it is also a business, and companies and not-for-profit organisations alike need to be innovative if they want to recruit and retain the best people. I believe you can’t have a successful organisation without happy, productive employees who are fulfilling their potential.

The secret to achieving this lies in creating a culture where people feel trusted, listened to and appreciated. If they feel this way, they’re more likely to be committed to the vision and goals of the business.

I’ve tried to create a culture at Loreburn where everyone has a voice. When I joined three years ago, it was an underperforming organisation which had been under the scrutiny of the housing regulator for two years. Since then we have reviewed our vision, values and key objectives and introduced a major transformational change programme.

This has led to a remarkable turnaround, which has seen us gain triple Investors in People Gold accreditation while greatly improving our performance and customer satisfaction levels.

I encouraged everyone to speak to me with their ideas and surveyed the entire workforce for improvement suggestions. When the business remodelled, 87 per cent of these proposals were implemented and we now have an employee consultation group representing staff from across the business to bring fresh ideas.

The proudest moments of my career have undoubtedly been when I have helped other people to grow and achieve success. For example, the young people who join our modern apprenticeal ship programme often lack confidence, so watching them blossom and move into permanent roles with new skills and experience is extremely rewarding.

Everyone at Loreburn has a personal development plan and we offer a ‘Future Leaders’ programme to everyone below managerial level with aspirations to move into a more senior role.

As a woman in an all-female leadership team – which sadly is still an unusu- phenomenon – it is especially wonderful to watch the young women here build their self-belief and apply for promotions or roles with new challenges. Watching their progress makes me feel I have come full circle, from the time early in my own career as my director, Alison Coupe, encouraged me to challenge myself when I quite easily could have ended up as an underachieving young mum.

I have a job that I love but I am a strong believer in promoting a healthy work-life balance and employee wellbeing. We offer flexible working hours, career breaks, enhanced maternity and paternity pay, and the opportunity to work from home as required. We intend to build on this even further as we move towards agile working. Our flexibility also ensures that parents and carers are not forced to choose between their work and a balanced family life.

I hope our health and wellbeing benefits, which include private healthcare, free fitness trackers, a lunchtime walking group, a relaxation room and occupational health support, send a clear message to our employees that we value them as people, not just as workers.

If I could offer advice to business leaders wishing to bring their employees along with them on a journey of transformation, it would be this: listen to, trust and appreciate your people and treat them as individuals. When you have a team that is happy and challenged at work, your organisation won’t just win awards, it will flourish.

Lorraine Usher is chief executive of Loreburn Housing Association.