Summer office visits.
Justin Spencer and Emma Flintham
In June and July, we visited most of our UK offices to help us understand more about you all, how you’re feeling, and what life looks like where you’re based. These visits gave us an amazing opportunity to ask you questions, listen to your feedback and connect with one another.
As part of each visit, we held a couple of semi-structured group conversations with a diverse range of employees, as well as having informal chats – either on the in the office space, in the kitchen area, or during lunch. The purpose was to hear particularly (but by no means exclusively) from early and mid-career colleagues with whom we might ordinarily have a bit less contact.
We heard lots of positive things, and we enjoyed seeing and hearing more about the culture of each office. Naturally, we also received feedback about areas where we need to improve. We will be looking at these areas, alongside the feedback you have provided in the Engagement Survey and will communicate our response and actions in September.
For now, we’d like to share some of the key positive themes we’ve identified.
Brilliant people, great projects.
Through our conversations, it was made clear that what makes people happiest is working with talented people who are good at what they do. So many of you said that the people you work with are generous with their time and want to help colleagues however and wherever possible.
We heard multiple times that our flexible working policy (including 9DF) is of huge value, as well as the feeling of autonomy and trust to manage your own workload.
Many agreed that one of the best things about working here is the diversity of challenging and meaningful projects we work upon. The high technical standards we aim to uphold are highly valued by you. An example of this was how Leeds have set up monthly technical forums to share knowledge, whilst their refreshed approach to line management was also seen as a positive change. Manchester told us about the increased integration across their teams and the feeling of entrepreneurial spirit and growth.
Unique experiences.
We really enjoyed hearing about the different activities each office does that makes it unique. In Plymouth, you sometimes take a lunchtime dip in the sea, while in Cambridge you might take a walking meeting around the Botanical Gardens, in Birmingham you have quizzes, and in Bristol you have Sketch Club.
We also heard some great examples of creative approaches to team socials, including Oxford’s thriving book club and cheese and wine-tasting, Edinburgh’s lunchtime walks, and Bournemouth and Reading’s team-building event to make prosthetic hands for underprivileged kids. Cardiff is also making the most of their new city-centre location to instigate new habits such as hot-desking with TCE colleagues and sampling the goodies offered in the nearby indoor market.
These examples bring to life the individuality of each location – which is something very special. We may choose different rituals and activities, but the aim is the same; to provide ways of connecting.
Little, big things.
We saw the vital importance of the people who go out of their way to make it their job to create a positive, connected and enjoyable atmosphere in the office. This can be a key differentiator in whether the office feels a friendly, inclusive place where people want to come together. These small things you do have a big impact on making our offices a better place to work.
Thank you very much to everyone who gave their time and shared their thoughts and feelings so honestly.