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If you&rsquo;re an employer, you&rsquo;re like to be familiar with the concept of Duty of Care. And while it&rsquo;s pretty obvious at face value what it entails (welfare, support, and good practice), it&rsquo;s essential for companies to fully understand their responsibilities, for practical, legal and employee engagement purposes.&nbsp;
Here we explore what the Duty of Care umbrella covers, and what it might mean for your organisation.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>What Is Duty Of Care?&nbsp;</h3>
The&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);" href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/employers.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HSE&nbsp;</a>sets out an employers responsibility on duty of care:
&ldquo;It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees and other people who might be affected by their business. Employers must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this.&nbsp;
This means making sure that workers and others are protected from anything that may cause harm, effectively controlling any risks to injury or health that could arise in the workplace."
Because the &lsquo;risks&rsquo; of employment will vary from industry to industry, this makes it difficult for some companies to know exactly where their legal responsibilities lie. But failing to understand exactly where responsibilities start and end can have serious implications for an organisation. Everything from&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/toxic-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">toxic work cultures</a> to hefty negligence claims can arise from simple mistakes or failure to act responsibly, so it&rsquo;s crucial that employers are clear on their Duty of Care obligations.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>How Do Employers Know What Their Duty of Care is?&nbsp;</h3>
When it comes to the welfare of employees and employee engagement, legislation should be the minimum standards, not the aim. However it helps to understand the legislation as a starting point. All the standard measures in place are outlined in the&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/l24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health and Safety at Work Act 1992</a>. This covers things like:
<ul>
<li>Creating a clear Duty of Care policy, when a company has 5 or more employees</li>
<li>Training relevant individuals on basic health and safety issues</li>
<li>Frequently updating training and health and safety guides</li>
<li>Managing and recording misconduct</li>
<li>Displaying certification</li>
<li>Keeping training records up to date</li>
<li>Giving employees the right tools to fulfill their responsibilities</li>
</ul>
But it isn&rsquo;t just&nbsp;physical safety that employers need to look after, they also have a Duty of Care to support their workers&rsquo; mental health too.&nbsp;
Many organisations are now going well beyond the minimum duties and creating a culture based around employee wellbeing, supporting both physical and mental health. This employee-first approach can reap the rewards of high engagement and a positive work culture; reduce absence from work,&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/the-cost-of-low-employee-engagement-" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">save on recruitment costs</a>, and encourage a more productive team.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>How To Look After Your Team&rsquo;s Mental Health</h3>
According to&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HSE</a>, as much as 40% of all work-related sickness in the UK is caused by stress. This stands witness to the equal importance of both mental and physical welfare in the workplace.&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;re an employer, you know that time off leads to decreased profits and productivity. And decreased profits adds stress on other team members who pick up the extra workload to meet targets. The cycle repeats and the stress can spread across the team and even the entire organisation. To put it simply, your efforts as an employer should focus more strongly on&nbsp;preventing&nbsp;stress than curing it.&nbsp;
Here are some of our top tips for looking after your team&rsquo;s mental health &amp; moving towards a &ldquo;wellbeing&rdquo; approach:
&nbsp;
<h4>Encourage Anonymous Feedback&nbsp;</h4>
If&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/how-to-spot-the-warning-signs-of-stress-in-your-team-and-what-you-can-do-to-help" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">your employees are stressed</a>, it&rsquo;s likely that at the heart of the issue is a lack of support from their manager or leader. Once this cycle has begun, it can also mean that they&rsquo;re less likely to share their feelings and concerns with the same leader or manager. Eventually, left unresolved, team members may crack.&nbsp;
For this reason,&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/how-can-employee-feedback-change-your-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">employee feedback</a> can be a company&rsquo;s greatest resource, but only if it&rsquo;s anonymous &ndash; aka, honest &ndash; and actioned. Anonymous employee engagement surveys will give you real-time insights into the state of your workforce&rsquo;s mental health, and offer suggestions about what could be improved.
Good data and insight can be predictive of issues that are forming, or help to uncover solutions to problems that have already surfaced.&nbsp;
By collaborating with a company like&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Space HR</a>, you can distribute expert-made employee engagement surveys via Whatsapp &ndash; surveys that have been specifically tailored to your organisation. The more you know about how your employees feel, the better able you are to fulfil your Duty of Care.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Ensure Your Leaders Have Received the Correct Training</h4>
Often employees are dissatisfied or stressed at work due to a breakdown in communication with leaders. Whether they feel generally unsupported, feel bullied, discriminated against, or placed under too much pressure to meet deadlines, leadership plays a massive role in your team&rsquo;s mental health.&nbsp;
Your anonymous employee engagement surveys, will provide you with critical insights into the general perception of your management teams. You can use the feedback to identify gaps in duty of care, teach them&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/want-to-become-a-fantastic-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the best practices of leadership</a>, and encourage them to&nbsp;<a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/the-7-habits-of-highly-engaging-leaders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lead by example</a>. Doing so will breed a positive workplace culture, and will make recruitment and regulation much easier going forward.&nbsp;
You may also want to invest in specialist support and training in this area. Managers and leaders armed with knowledge and confidence of how to support their teams and truly fulfil their duty of care, will have better outcomes than those who are under-invested in.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>Treat Your Duty of Care Policy as a Basic Standard, Not the Gold Standard</h4>
Your Duty of Care policy is the bare minimum you can do to keep your company out of court, but it doesn&rsquo;t automatically build employee engagement. To truly look after your employees&rsquo; physical and mental health, you must put other measures in place to show them you care, along with checking back regularly and often to ensure that it&rsquo;s working.
&nbsp;
The tips we&rsquo;ve listed here are ways of taking care of your workers and improving workplace engagement. For more information about how Ten Space could help you create a thriving work culture to go above and beyond your Duty of Care, <a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(16, 60, 192);" href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">get in touch</a>!&nbsp;

What is it and what does it mean for organisations?

Duty of Care

This is a story about a people manager that works in your business. Let's call this person "Alex" for the purposes of this story.
Alex (delete as appropriate):
a)&nbsp;has worked in your business forever
b)&nbsp;is a close friend of your partner
c)&nbsp;is the key contact for your biggest client
d)&nbsp;knows where the bodies are buried
e)&nbsp;started in a lower role, showed promise and drifted in new roles as the company grew
&nbsp;
Once upon a time Alex was doing well, so you gave them a team. They didn&rsquo;t get off to a great start, but you were busy at the time, and didn&rsquo;t have the time to deal with it. Before you knew it, many years had passed. If you're being honest, Alex probably gets worse each year now.
Because Alex doesn't model great behaviour they don't have a great recruitment success rate. This leads to a high number of people leaving or being made to leave in probation. It wastes a lot of time and is costs the business a lot of money. But not everyone is great at recruitment, so no action needed.
There are no real shining stars in the team, no one manages to make it out of Alex's team once they are in it. Alex has no idea how to create a great environment for working and for talent to thrive, they just seem to muddle along.&nbsp;Sickness levels do seem to be a bit higher in that team too, but it isn&rsquo;t that much worse than other teams, so no action needed.
&nbsp;
Alex likes banter.&nbsp;You&rsquo;ve heard a couple of things second hand, but again you&rsquo;re too busy to do anything about it, they aren&rsquo;t a screaming problem at the moment. No grievance received, so no action needed.
Alex's customer stats are ok. The clients Alex manages are stable, but Alex doesn't really achieve any up-sell or create any new opportunities from their client base. But they haven&rsquo;t lost any clients, so no action needed.
Alex's name has come up a couple of times in exit interviews, but you&rsquo;ve never had a grievance about them from leavers and not everyone can get along, so no action needed.
Others in the leadership team are visibility frustrated working with Alex.&nbsp;There&rsquo;s tension but that&rsquo;s normal in a senior team under pressure right? Sadly one of your highest potential leaders has decided to leave. You don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a link though, so no action needed.
&nbsp;
<h4>But now its crunch time - the business is growing up.</h4>
Now you&rsquo;re having to make some different and difficult decisions about the future of the business. You need your leadership team on board to help push this change through. But Alex messed up the message and now you&rsquo;ve had a load of emails directly from employees to deal with. Classic Alex cock up, but not the end of the world, so no action needed.
&nbsp;
<h4>Remember, Alex (delete as appropriate):</h4>
a)&nbsp;has worked in your business for 1 million years
b)&nbsp;has been there since the beginning
c)&nbsp;is a close friend of your partner
d)&nbsp;is the key contact for your biggest client
e)&nbsp;knows where the bodies are buried (delete as appropriate)
f)&nbsp;started in a lower role, showed promise and got promoted a few times
... so it isn&rsquo;t that bad. Deal with it later.
How does this make you feel as the owner of a business, or as an effective leader in the business?
The impact of a poor leader in your business can be really damaging. Other employees may see Alex's mediocrity or poor approach being acceptable in your business. If you settle for this level of mediocrity, you&rsquo;ll have to settle for mediocre outcomes.
&nbsp;
<h3>So what should you do?</h3>
You need to confront this head on. And you need to do it now. There are to many amber warnings going on here and ultimately your business might not be suffering, but it probably isn't realising its true potential either.
Here&rsquo;s some ideas of how to get this started:
<ul>
<li>Firstly you need to make it clear to Alex that it isn&rsquo;t acceptable anymore</li>
<li>Gather your facts and prepare for a challenging conversation</li>
<li>Invite Alex to your meeting, do it properly, so they know it&rsquo;s not just a quick catch up</li>
<li>Have an exploratory conversation with them. What&rsquo;s going on? How can you support? How can you turn it around? What do they need?</li>
<li>Put in place your agreed support actions - do not forget or skip this part</li>
<li>Set clear expectations and timescales for review. Be fair, be supportive, be clear.</li>
<li>Be brave about moving from informal to formal processes if you aren&rsquo;t seeing the change you need. Don&rsquo;t cruise at this stage either</li>
<li>Make great notes &amp; keep great records</li>
</ul>
Here&rsquo;s that line again, in case you still need convincing, if you settle for mediocre leadership, you&rsquo;ll have to settle for mediocre outcomes.
Take this out of the &ldquo;too hard&rdquo; box and demonstrate that you&rsquo;re also a great leader by tackling this and not accepting this level of mediocrity.
&nbsp;
If you need help raising the game of your leadership team,Ten Space can help. <a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(219, 62, 98);" href="mailto:victoria@spacehr.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">victoria@tenspace.co.uk</a>

A story about "Alex" - A manager in your business?

Does one bad manager matter?

The traditional working week of 9-5, 5 days a week seems to be hard wired into our society. Most workers build their days, weeks and years around this working pattern. But for many people, it just doesn't align with their life outside of work.
Many are juggling a near impossible balance of work and life outside of work, which makes it incredible difficult to be fully engaged in their job.&nbsp;
Caring responsibilities play a large part in this juggling act:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2019">5 million people</a>&nbsp;in the UK are juggling caring responsibilities with work - that's 1 in 7 of the workforce.</li>
<li>Almost 3 in 10 mothers (28.5%) with a child aged 14 years and under said they had reduced their working hours due childcare reasons.</li>
<li>The proportion of parents who faced an obstacle fulfilling responsibilities decreased as the age of the child increased; from&nbsp;34.9%&nbsp;of parents whose youngest child was aged between 0 and 4 years to&nbsp;20.4%&nbsp;of parents with a child aged 11 to 14 years.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Reviewing mental health statistics makes it really clear where employees are struggling and where the engagement gaps may be.
A recent Mental Health Foundation survey found:
<ul>
<li>One third&nbsp;of respondents feel unhappy or very unhappy about the time they devote to work</li>
<li>More than&nbsp;40%&nbsp;of employees are neglecting other aspects of their life because of work, which may increase their vulnerability to mental health problems&nbsp;</li>
<li>When working long hours more than a quarter of employees feel depressed (27%), one third feel anxious (34%), and more than half feel irritable (58%)</li>
<li>The more hours you spend at work, the more hours outside of work you are likely to spend thinking or worrying about it</li>
<li>As a person's weekly hours increase, so do their feelings of unhappiness</li>
<li>Many more women report unhappiness than men (42% of women&nbsp;compared with&nbsp;29% of men), which is probably a consequence of competing life roles and more pressure to 'juggle'</li>
<li>Nearly&nbsp;two thirds&nbsp;of employees have experienced a negative effect on their personal life, including lack of personal development, physical and mental health problems, and poor relationships and poor home life.</li>
</ul>
These findings make for pretty depressing reading. So what can you do as a business to change things for the better?
&nbsp;
If your business can accommodate it, moving away from the traditional working week and offering more flexible ways of working can offer solutions to the challenges above. In return, you'll build long lasting employee engagement and create competitive advantage.
Offering flexible working options opens up new, often more diverse talent pools too as well as giving employees a greater reason to stay in your business.
If your business can accommodate it, we recommend that you build flexible working into your processes when creating or replacing roles.
Try and consider;
<ul>
<li>Can this role be part time?</li>
<li>Can this role be a job share?</li>
<li>Does this role need to be 9-5?</li>
<li>Does this job need to be 5 days per week?</li>
<li>Can it be compressed hours?</li>
<li>Can it be term time only?</li>
<li>Can it be remote?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
The principals and the benefits of a flexible working approach, reach across all of the 4 pillars of the Ten Space engagement model. If you'd like to talk some more about our model, approach and how flexible working could offer you competitive advantage, you can email our founder: Victoria@tenspace.co.uk&nbsp;

Shunning the 9-5 can create competitive advantage

Can flexible working improve engagement?

Enhancing employee productivity, retention and satisfaction is vital to creating a happier workforce. One of the best ways to do this is through effective use of the right <a href="../../../../../../blogs/what-is-employee-engagement-/">Employee Engagement</a> Platform.
A good employee engagement platform will gather feedback from your teams.
A great employee engagement platform will give you the <a href="../../../../../../blogs/making-the-most-of-your-engagement-data/">data, insight and feedback</a> you need to enact real change in your organisation.
<h3 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h3>
<h3 dir="ltr">5 Main Benefits of an Employee Engagement Platform</h3>
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/KSQeJeHXmvEE6rfK3Y9CW-B2-7S_x0yq-llDDsk-Frx1UnWn5k7Gtdem5jiWHbJhb4fZDGU7TzPTJ5klg9ecTsf8T50WJZwY4ffOn3AWWDipOsdtBD-HB5fNu3KmxfMF0T6miOxM2xcJFtaFWzW_YVI" width="602" height="401">
<h4 dir="ltr">Anonymity:</h4>
<h4 dir="ltr">💡<a href="https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/employee-engagement/improve-quality-quantity-employee-feedback-make-anonymous/">74% of employees</a> said they&rsquo;d be willing to give more feedback if they were truly anonymous.</h4>
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VFovaUll7AEXMzSm_du4HSGyRqZWDOfNGCoi7733kAsnJi2dF5F2kFNdYNjKNSFy3MbplfcOwqDycVP_n57qOEhwp5DQcH9DNWMnHhDZ83_wFhcSx8pKplqy3kEPJDQyo-GoUnUSdRLXdbXiQoL5jM4" width="224" height="224">
If you want to get the best feedback, making sure that your employees know that what they share won't be traced back to them personally is crucial. If they don't feel safe to share their feedback, they may not be as open and honest.&nbsp;
Trust is incredibly easy to lose and much harder to build back. If breached, employees may even choose not to offer their thoughts at all.&nbsp;
Using a <a href="../../../../../../blogs/sorry-boss-theres-something-you-should-know-please-dont-fire-me/">third-party platform</a> adds an extra layer of trust. Employees are more likely to trust the confidentiality and impartiality of an external party, with a specialist tool rather than an internal system.&nbsp; 
<h4 dir="ltr">Instant Insights:</h4>
<h4 dir="ltr">💡 90% of business professionals prioritise&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/why-data-and-analytics-are-key-to-digital-transformation">data &amp; analytics</a> for successful digital transformation.</h4>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z9IrlR-a1bBZZ4ZNI68YH8ugGVG2a8ipLhpyHfg7jazDfoNn4U8Gbs96N9TlfuBAs8R2J2s4_2_YVpYywpIBQrWvP0WAphajAl5J0Yf6WGKvycQC5INazxN1p2sZskVHMHK6fXM4YQBR6OZD2J0vHnA" width="220" height="220">
The instant insights provided by the Ten Space platform enables organisations to quickly identify trends, patterns and areas of improvement. You can watch your results coming in on our dashboard as your survey is happening.&nbsp;
Instead of spending hours or even days crunching numbers and organising data, HR and management teams can focus on analysing and interpreting the insights to make <a href="../../../../../../blogs/making-the-most-of-your-engagement-data/">data-driven decisions</a>.&nbsp;
The accessibility of instant insights promotes agility and responsiveness. That means you can show your teams that you are serious about using their feedback to create change and take action.&nbsp;
Carrying out surveys on a regular basis, means you have an continual flow of up to date and highly-relevant employee feedback to shape decision making and manage risk.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
<h4 dir="ltr">Accessibility:</h4>
💡 <a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/engaging-frontline-staff/">1/3 of frontline workers</a> feel disconnected from their colleagues in HQ and <a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/engaging-frontline-staff/">4 in 10 employees</a> feel their management is out of touch.&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BEyUpqP2in2DNJ7tgktbL4ErcBWM4WB8OKutGud8HMu5hVCmNaRzsQ2njHxhgzDVIF-GWET0XoTcuKk9LRArlygs5AxtIyvajzluqeGrgZUuIqtLuTqK-ORm7U3_1qovU3O6veNMzH90Y5xfpmQp69k" width="213" height="212">
Whether employees prefer WhatsApp, SMS or email, having a multi-channel approach ensures that you can reach everyone in the organisation.
For <a href="../../../../../../blogs/remote-hybrid-working-bridging-the-gap/">remote teams</a>, having a platform that promotes inclusivity makes it easier for all employees to stay informed, provide feedback, and actively participate in the engagement initiatives of the organisation.
<h4 dir="ltr">Support:</h4>
💡 <a href="https://blog.clearcompany.com/5-surprising-employee-development-statistics-you-dont-know">38% of employees</a> don&rsquo;t feel their manager knows them well enough to understand their full potential.
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/B2__HbKQngYOFC_VZ0wjQsK3W81u2H4LLSKit7qi-uIC_e9agd5xk1TX0UIXSCy9zB20UZEu1RKZ0BAYzZLzafLYQFcIeFgAQnrgKCGULBHUXbbzsk8Y1FxIhc8LyDOsCyCwgJpXZ5ZOKN9qNlr7axc" width="214" height="214">
Employee Engagement Platforms offer guidance and tools to help organisations formulate <a href="../../../../../../blogs/employee-engagement-starting-your-survey-process/">effective survey questions</a> and design the best processes, ensuring that relevant and meaningful data is collected.
The best questions are those written with the aid of a third-party viewpoint. An expert, outside perspective can be extremely helpful to leadership and HR teams. We&rsquo;ll help you get to the heart of any issues you want to explore. We&rsquo;ll also help to keep your questions neutral so they aren&rsquo;t written in a way that would influence the replies, so you can be confident about the insight and feedback you&rsquo;ve captured.
<h4 dir="ltr">Segmentation:</h4>
💡 <a href="https://hr.personio.de/hubfs/EN_Downloads/202104_HRStudy_UKI.pdf">38%</a> of employees planned to quit their job in the next six months to a year.&nbsp;
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/cnisFQJyWlDtHQUcIl4Pq9xN8MKYnpv83XXRm3YrFF4O36YuEok8jfC6xLLv7WaqkkxK2EdRAj4laPQln-3oGLb6KwLtw50G-n71iHjLDQn1VXROGBWCc0GfX7jG6LbpH3HKPkMeWpZOP3VA_Lz0zvA" width="223" height="223">
A <a href="../../../../../../blogs/10-ways-that-our-feedback-platform-is-benefiting-businesses/">great Employee Engagement Platform</a> allows organisations to categorise and analyse data based on various criteria such as department, location, or demographics.
By segmenting the data from engagement surveys, you can uncover valuable insights specific to different employee groups. You can find where your problems are coming from and create targeted actions.
We&rsquo;ll help you with segmentation of your data as part of the set-up process, to ensure you get the most out of each and every survey.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3 dir="ltr">Getting Started with an Employee Engagement Platform</h3>
A successful organisation knows how to encourage team engagement and satisfaction at work. Utilise anonymous employee engagement surveys to collect honest and open feedback. Regular employee feedback and insights are vital tools to take action and build a fantastic workplace.
At Ten Space, we help organisations understand what is driving, or holding back engagement in their teams. We do this through frequent, bespoke engagement surveys, designed to get to the heart of culture and engagement.
Start your journey to high engagement with us by <a href="../../../../../../contact/">getting in touch</a>. Or check out how we&rsquo;ve helped others create incredible workplaces in our <a href="../../../../../../case-studies/">case studies</a>.

Discover how to enhance productivity, create a positive work culture and strengthen employee experience & retention

Benefits of an Employee Engagement Platform

Employee Value Proposition (EVP) - what does your organisation stand for &amp; why is it unique?
We hosted a webinar on EVP in November. Check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/fChhH7hlhHg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recording here</a>. Plus if you want some help in getting started with your EVP, you can find our Action Plan Builder at the bottom of this blog.
A strong EVP will help retain top performers and attract the best external talent.&nbsp;
Your organisation is distinctive because of its values, culture, and benefits. Your EVP is what sets you apart from the competition, even if you make the same goods or offer the same services.
Your EVP should have a combination of rewards and benefits that employees are given in return for performing well at work.
A compelling EVP includes:
<ul>
<li>Compensation</li>
<li>Work-life balance</li>
<li>Stability</li>
<li>Respect</li>
<li>Location</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>Importance of a Great EVP</h3>
These initiatives can boost productivity, raise earnings, give workers a better working environment, and lower staff turnover.
By delivering on your EVP you can decrease employee turnover by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/employee-engagement-performance/employee-value-proposition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly 70%</a>.&nbsp;
Here are some strong examples of Employee Value Propositions:
&nbsp;
<h4>1.HubSpot</h4>
&lsquo;Your best work starts here&rsquo;, according to HubSpot's EVP. Their benefits page supports that claim. The main goal of HubSpot's EVP is to &ldquo;help you be the best 'you' that you can be" by striking a balance between work and personal obligations.
It&rsquo;s open about its priorities and offers a document of more than 100 pages called the "HubSpot Culture Code" that describes in detail how this culture is put into practise.
&nbsp;
<h4>2.Nike</h4>
"Win as a team" is one of Nike's EVP headlines. Nike's culture places a strong emphasis on achieving athletic innovation with a team mindset.
Its "team mindset" is consistent in how it handles benefits and compensation.
&nbsp;
<h4>3.Gartner</h4>
The five pillars of Gartner's EVP are:&nbsp;challenging work; talented people; limitless growth; community impact; and big rewards. The company's EVP encourages employees to "live well - in all parts of your life."
&nbsp;
<h3>Review your current EVP</h3>
Examining what you currently have in place is an excellent way to start when reviewing your EVP. Try to look at some of these things with objectivity and think about how your present or future employees could perceive them:
<ul>
<li>Employee engagement, employee voice and culture</li>
<li>Benefits and package</li>
<li>Vision, mission, values and goals&nbsp;</li>
<li>Career development and investment in personal development&nbsp;</li>
<li>Social media and online presence&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
You may already be developing an action plan to strengthen your EVP. If you want to dig a little deeper with your evaluation, take into account the following:
&nbsp;
<h4>1. Using the right tools</h4>
Learn what makes working for your company special, and why current employees choose to stay. You can use existing perceptions to improve your EVP once you've identified them.
Conduct an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/employee-engagement---starting-your-survey-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anonymous employee engagement</a> survey to learn what matters to your team, what motivates them, and why they stick with your company.&nbsp;The information you collate should reach all aspects of your organisation.
Consider more factors than just benefits and compensation when conducting this research. Determine the rewards and intangible experiences that employees cherish.&nbsp;
To make sure you're asking your employees the correct questions and gaining a clear picture of how they see your organisation, we use our four engagement pillars:
These pillars are:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/5-steps-to-a-highly-engaged-team---part-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wellbeing</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/5-steps-to-a-highly-engaged-team---part-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fulfilment</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/5-steps-to-a-highly-engaged-team---part-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leadership</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/5-steps-to-a-highly-engaged-team---part-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Connection</a></li>
</ul>
At Ten Space, we&rsquo;ll also help you to use your employee feedback to create social media content, to take your culture online.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Book a demo here</a> to begin your path to a maximised EVP.
Our employee feedback surveys frequently address the important topic of recognition, with many employees reporting a mismatch between their expectations and their actual experiences. According to&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/11-employee-feedback-statistics#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20receiving,efforts%20were%20being%20better%20recognized." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">69% of workers</a>, employees would work harder if their efforts were valued more, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/space-hr-feedback-500-mar22---topic-recognition--employee-engagement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our own research</a> supports this claim.
Recognition, which is free, reflects and reinforces your company culture. It increases engagement and performance while giving your employees a sense of value.
According to "The State of Employee Appreciation," businesses who give individual or team recognition saw a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zippia.com/advice/employee-recognition-statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14% increase</a> in performance.
For 3 key points to getting recognition right in your team,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs/3-keys-points-to-getting-recognition-right-in-your-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">check out our blog</a>.
&nbsp;
<h4>2. Communicate the message</h4>
When you&rsquo;ve completed your research, collate the data. Your employees' top core values and distinguishing characteristics will be easy for you to identify.&nbsp;
Think of these as the superpowers of your company!
These superpowers will enable us to create a statement that summarises your EVP.
Your writing should be clear and concise. It should be clear what matters most to your staff members, why they stay, and what your company does that is exceptional in your industry.
Find innovative and pertinent ways to explain your EVP to the audience you are attempting to attract after it has been defined.
Here are a few ideas:
<ul>
<li>Hiring Channels&nbsp;- Employer websites, advertisements, and the interview process. Prospective employees can assess whether they would be a good fit for your company.</li>
<li>Branding, PR &amp; Marketing -&nbsp;These strategies will aid in creating a favourable impression of your organisation among the passive labour market.</li>
<li>Bringing it to life -&nbsp;If you claim to support work-life balance or ongoing development&nbsp; but do not offer training, career advancement, study leave, or flexible working hours, your workplace's reality falls short of your promise.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h4>3. Refining</h4>
Measure the effectiveness of your EVP frequently, and keep it evolving to meet the needs of your people and the market now and in the future.
You should:
<ul>
<li>Keep an eye on candidate applications and employee retention rates because they can provide excellent cues as to when you should make changes or take action.</li>
<li>Make sure current employees are consulted at all stages of their employment with you, not only after the first 12 months. Continue to pay attention to them.</li>
<li>Conduct frequent employee engagement surveys to stay current on what matters to your teams and where you are succeeding and failing.</li>
</ul>
Every year, review your EVP. If necessary, change your employment proposition to make sure it is relevant and embodied in your employee&rsquo;s day-to-day experience. When necessary, restructure your EVP to more accurately reflect employee expectations.
Success comes from your team's alignment with the organisation's EVP. A highly engaged team is still only one step away.
&nbsp;
<h3>EVP Action Plan Builder</h3>
As promised we&rsquo;ve attached our EVP Action Plan Builder which can help you turn your Employee Value Proposition into an attraction &amp; retention tool.
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12LwAb_oKcCUTB7p5CEj0ieP5Uth4PKgV/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download Now</a>
&nbsp;
Ten Space can help you to review your EVP. Contact us directly to see how we can help you at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:enquiries@tenspace.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">enquiries@tenspace.co.uk</a>. For more info on how you can create an incredible workplace, check out our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tenspace.co.uk/blogs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blogs</a>.&nbsp;

Turn your Employee Value Proposition into an attraction & retention tool

Attract & Retain with your EVP

Resignations can be painful when they come as a surprise. Often you might find that a few people hand their notices in together. This has made us wonder&hellip; are resignations contagious?&nbsp;
We&rsquo;ve taken a deep dive into the drivers of resignations in order to answer the question: Are resignations contagious?
&nbsp;
<h3>&lsquo;Spate&rsquo; or Coincidence?</h3>
A recent&nbsp;<a href="https://hr.personio.de/hubfs/EN_Downloads/202104_HRStudy_UKI.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey&nbsp;</a>found that 38% of respondents planned to quit their job in the next six months to a year. More people are setting off to pursue their dream jobs, or are quitting working life altogether to spend more time with their families.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrdive.com/news/most-employees-would-grade-their-jobs-a-b-/553087/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50%</a>&nbsp;of employees say that they&rsquo;d sacrifice their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/the-great-resignation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">salary for a job they enjoyed more.</a>
When deciding whether or not to change jobs, employees don&rsquo;t just take into account their own career development, pay and benefits. They take note of how their colleagues feel about the team culture. When one employee leaves, it signals to others that it may be time to weigh up their options. This has been named &ldquo;turnover contagion&rdquo;.
The strength of turnover contagion depends on which employees leave, and the kind of circumstances they leave under. So, especially in today&rsquo;s uncertain labour market, it&rsquo;s critical to be focusing on employee engagement &amp; retention, to avoid being left captaining a ship without a crew.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>When are people most likely to resign?</h3>
Understanding why an employee has chosen to leave their position is undeniably valuable information. Knowing&nbsp;when an employee is most likely to quit can be equally helpful.&nbsp;
Research by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-03-04-gartner-hr-research-finds-sixty-eight-percent-of-employees-would-consider-leaving-their-employer-for-an-organization-that-takes-a-stronger-stance-on-societal-and-cultural-issues" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner</a>&nbsp;has revealed there are key moments in an employee's life that are likely to spur them into resigning. Identifying these moments in advance can help an organisation preemptively act to retain its talent.
&nbsp;
<h4>1. Work Anniversaries</h4>
Work anniversaries are significant milestones in a person's career, but they often aren't met with the enthusiasm that they should be. This can prompt an employee to consider what direction they'd like to take their career in.&nbsp;
Gartner&rsquo;s data&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2016/09/why-people-quit-their-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shows</a>&nbsp;that job-hunting activity rises by 6% around the anniversary of when someone first joins a company. It increases by 9% on the anniversary of when they first assumed their current position.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
2. Social Events &amp; Networking
Job hunting spikes by&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2016/09/why-people-quit-their-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">16%</a> after major social gatherings and networking.&nbsp;
Hearing peers discuss their careers can be the catalyst for an employee to take stock of their own progress and goals. Often, the connections that their peers have can help employees obtain their new roles. So you might want to keep a close eye on any employees who are attending a school reunion!&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h4>3. Birthdays</h4>
Birthdays are a time when people reflect on their lives and jobs. They prompt a&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2016/09/why-people-quit-their-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">12%</a> rise in job hunting around this period. It seems that the big 40th and 50th birthday milestones are especially inspiring in this aspect.
Any event that can cause an employee to reflect on their career can be a career risk trigger. Whether this turns into an actuality depends on the employee&rsquo;s personal circumstances, engagement, job fulfilment and career progression.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>How do you overcome the risk?</h3>
It&rsquo;s not really practical (or ethical!) to ask employees to limit their social engagements to reduce your resignation risks!&nbsp;
So the best way to combat the risks, is to make sure that your employees are highly engaged. So the consideration of leaving your organisation isn&rsquo;t a factor for them whether they&rsquo;re nearing a big birthday or not.&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s a model we use at Ten Space, to break down engagement and provide areas of focus to limit resignation risks:
<ul>
<li>Connection -&nbsp;Ensuring that your team are bought into your vision, know key goals and how they can contribute. Sharing your organisations &ldquo;why&rdquo;, mission statement and values can provide powerful ways for your team to super charge your team. A huge area here is communication and employee voice. Ensuring employees feel informed, have a voice and influence on the organisation.</li>
<li>Leadership&nbsp;- Employees are looking to their leaders to keep them informed, updated, supported &amp; inspired. Ensuring leaders are maximising individual and team performance, are fair and provide great recognition are also key elements for relationships between people managers and their teams.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Fulfilment&nbsp;- Employees want to feel personally fulfilled by the work that they do. This can come from challenging and interesting work, great work-life balance, career development and a sense of pride in the work they are doing and the organisation they are working for.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Wellbeing - Employees need to feel safe, secure and supported in the workplace. This can be about job security, feeling that the organisation truly cares about them, or feeling a true sense of belonging in an inclusive culture.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Employee feedback is the critical element to employee engagement, understanding how teams are feeling about all of the above factors, so that you can celebrate strengths and close gaps is key.&nbsp;
We believe in regular, anonymous feedback, to really get to the heart of what is happening in a workplace. It can help identify resignation risks before they take hold, or to understand further how to prevent more of the same.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Get in touch with us</a>&nbsp;to see how can help.

We’ve taken a deep dive into the drivers of resignations in order to answer the question: Are resignations contagious?

Are your resignations going viral?

The flexible workforce and the gig economy is on the rise. In fact it's estimated that the number of freelance workers has increased by 25% since 2009. Thanks to the pandemic and economic crash, this is set to continue rising at an increasing rate.
Some businesses are finding they need to reduce headcount, or migrate towards a more flexible employment model to reduce their salary exposure. Others are innovative or fast paced businesses and need niche or hard to find skill sets, as such they outsource. Both are looking more and more towards contractors, freelancer and gig workers.
From a workers viewpoint, many thrown into unemployment have made the brave leap to become self-employed, some through ambition and some through lack of other options. Others are taking the opportunities that come their way and know they can maximise their value in the market place by being in control.
Whether you employ people directly or in a gig-worker manner, employee engagement can benefit your wider workforce too. Temporary, contract, and freelance workers are not robots and want to feel a connection to your business and your goals. They want to be recognised, challenged, inspired and looked after. If they are enjoying the work then they'll be delivering their best performance.
So whilst you need to make sure the lines of employment aren't blurred, there are some great engagement practices that make good sense for everyone in your business. Gig workers aren't with you for long (that's kind of the point) but you can make that time count.
&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Share the vision and where you're heading. Everyone wants to believe in what they're working on. So sell them the dream! Make sure they know where they fit in and why their time and expertise is adding value to your business at that point in time.</li>
<li>Keep them updated, they might not be on your internal communication email round robin, or on the Slack group, but consider what they might need to know that would help them be more a part of the business or the team.</li>
<li>Value their expertise and make them feel appreciated for the contribution they make - just because you are paying their invoice, doesn't mean you can't provide great recognition</li>
<li>Provide great leadership, remove blocks, inspire them. Help them to do their best possible work whilst they are with you and leave a lasting impression of your leadership with them</li>
<li>Make them feel part of the wider team, make them feel included and valued. You can create a great blended team without having the same type of employment relationship with everyone</li>
<li>Provide them with challenges and provide development opportunities for them to grow with you, make it a memorable assignment and keep their interest high</li>
<li>Give them certainty if you can - know they'll be with you for 6 months? Great! Is it only 6 weeks? Tell them! Treat them fairly and transparently.</li>
<li>Pay them on time! 🙂</li>
</ol>
&nbsp;
If you have seen that your workforce is changing shape to include more freelancers and contracts, now is a great time to make sure you are building an engagement plan for your whole workforce, not just your employees.
If you'd like Ten Space to help with your plans, just ask! <a style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(219, 62, 98);" href="mailto:victoria@spacehr.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">victoria@tenspace.co.uk</a>

8 ways to super-charge and engage, contractors and freelancers

What comes first - A high performing team or a highly engaged team? We&rsquo;re clear that there is a link between these two desirable team states. Once you have one, you&rsquo;ll also have the other.
We conducted our own<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/space-hr-feedback-500-jan22---topic-high-performing-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/space-hr-feedback-500-jan22---topic-high-performing-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey</a> and asked the question:
On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high). To what extent do you agree with the statement- &ldquo;high employee engagement and high performing teams are linked&rdquo;?
Our average score from our panel was 9.2. This indicates that high employee engagement and high performing teams are closely linked.
To create a high performing team, you&rsquo;ll need to start with employee engagement.
&nbsp;
<h3>Employee engagement</h3>
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/employee-engagement---why-consistency-is-critical" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employee engagement</a> is about your employees bringing their best selves to work and doing their best work when they get there.
Focus on key aspects of employee engagement to create high performing teams. These fuel higher engagement and incredible work cultures.
Once you&rsquo;ve got a high performing team, it&rsquo;ll improve engagement further. Then you&rsquo;re on an upward trajectory, which can gain incredible pace if you get it right.
<a href="https://insync.com.au/insights/impact-of-employee-engagement-on-profitability/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research</a> shows that employees can do great things when they engage. The company is more likely to exceed the industry average in one-year revenue growth.
Where do you begin? Great team engagement and performance starts with individuals themselves being engaged. This builds up to focus on the team. But when it comes to focusing a team on high performance, there are some elements that need to be in place.
&nbsp;
Here we take a look at what we&rsquo;ve observed through our employee feedback surveys:
<h4>1. Ability for employees to be themselves around each other</h4>
This is the most fundamental part of creating a high performing and engaged team. Teams need to feel safe in the workplace and safe with each other. Psychological safety is a huge element of a high performing team.
<a href="https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google</a> found that the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychologically safe workplaces. Psychologically safe workplaces promote healthier, more productive and more inclusive workforces. They provide an environment where innovation can thrive and people can perform at their best.
Teams will naturally come up against conflict and challenging situations. The feeling that they are able to navigate it in a healthy way is important.
Diversity, inclusion and belonging are extremely important in the workplace. Employees want to feel they can bring their whole selves to work so they can be their best when they get there. They need a place of feeling safe to be able to do their best work.
Environments that encourage diversity &amp; inclusivity practices promote trust and employee engagement among employees. Research shows that<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3979855/how-hcm-technologies-can-scale-inclusion-in-the-workplac" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;inclusive teams</a> perform up to 30% better in high-diversity environments.
When diversity and inclusion exist, employers give themselves a greater chance of gaining access to a larger talent pool. This ensures they can hire employees with the skills, experience, and knowledge needed to build high-performing teams. Employee performance<a href="https://www.achievers.com/blog/diverse-teams-at-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;in diverse organisations is 12% higher</a>&nbsp;than in companies with no inclusivity efforts.
&nbsp;
<h4>2. Clear direction of travel</h4>
If you don&rsquo;t have clarity on the direction of travel, the team can drift. It doesn&rsquo;t mean that they aren&rsquo;t still working hard, but it could mean a lot of wasted time, effort and money.
We asked a panel of leaders which factors they thought had the highest impact when it came to the<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/space-hr-feedback-500-jan22---topic-high-performing-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;engagement of high performing teams.</a> 32% said connection &amp; the communication of goals, vision, mission and values was the most important factor. 32% said personal fulfilment such as reward, work-life balance and career development.
It&rsquo;s also important to make sure that teams are clear on how the work they are doing fits into the bigger picture. That&rsquo;s when they&rsquo;ll get a sense of pride and satisfaction from what they are delivering.
&nbsp;
<h4>3. Communication matters</h4>
Communication is one of the most common topics that comes up in our engagement surveys as being lacking. It&rsquo;s the single biggest &ldquo;ask&rdquo; we see teams asking their leaders to work on.
From business, to team, to individual feedback - engaged employees like to understand what is going on in the business and how it impacts on them.
High performing teams like communication to go both ways. They need to feel like they have a voice and an influence on their work and working environment too. That&rsquo;s where the<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">power of anonymous engagement surveys can really help.</a>
<a href="https://rh-us.mediaroom.com/2013-10-22-Survey-Human-Resources-Managers-Cite-Lack-of-Communication-as-Main-Source-of-Low-Employee-Morale" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Accountemps</a> research shows the number one cause for low morale is poor communication. Sharing important updates with employees, recognising their achievements and ensuring people collaborate is essential for successful internal communication.
Communication is a critical part of employee engagement. It promotes better performance, employee retention and wellbeing. Employees are more likely to engage and contribute when there&rsquo;s an open organisational culture.
Good communication enables employees to stay connected to their workplace and understand their organisation&rsquo;s purpose &amp; strategy. It allows them to identify with its values and develop a sense of belonging by understanding how they contribute to its wider purpose.
&nbsp;
<h4>4. Great performance management</h4>
This isn&rsquo;t about tackling poor performers, it&rsquo;s about creating healthy performance cultures.
Poor performance needs tackling swiftly and fairly. Nothing creates resentment and toxicity in a team like letting poor performance fester.
A survey shows low performers can have<a href="http://eaglehillconsulting.com/opinions/low-performers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="http://eaglehillconsulting.com/opinions/low-performers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">significantly negative effects</a> on an organisation. Below are a few excerpts from the survey respondents:
<ul>
<li>68% say low performers lower workplace morale</li>
<li>44% say low performers increase the work burden on high performers</li>
<li>54% say low performers contribute to a lack of initiative and motivation, resulting in a work culture where mediocrity is accepted</li>
</ul>
When low performers are identified, how should they be handled? Immediately firing them may not be the best solution as leaders owe every employee the opportunity to succeed.
&nbsp;
Morale can be lacking for many reasons:
<ul>
<li>Lack of direction or alignment&nbsp;</li>
<li>Lack of feedback</li>
<li>Confusion/fear about the work environment.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Clarify what success looks like for those employees. Give them a chance to perform and engage by delivering these things regularly.
It&rsquo;s also about great performers feeling recognised and appreciated for their contribution.
Much of this sits with leaders. They need to handle performance fairly and create great working environments for their teams to thrive. Building trust and respect in teams is important for high engagement and performance.
It can be a useful exercise to check in that performance culture is where it needs to be. You can address any issues that might be preventing high performance from developing.
&nbsp;
<h4>5. Fulfilling roles</h4>
High performing teams are made up of high performing individuals. Individuals want to be challenged and have a sense of autonomy &amp; control over the work that they do and how they do it.
<a href="https://www.spacehr.co.uk/blogs/can-flexible-working-improve-engagement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flexible and hybrid working&nbsp;</a>is so often talked about. It's having such a big impact on engagement - employees can have great control over how they do their work.
The traditional working week of 9-5, 5 days a week seems to be hard wired into our society. Most workers build their days, weeks and years around this working pattern. But for many people, it doesn't align with their life outside of work.
Many juggle a near impossible balance of work and life outside of work. This makes it difficult to be fully engaged in their job.<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">5 million people</a> in the UK are juggling caring responsibilities with work - that's 1 in 7 of the workforce.
According to a<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent survey</a>:
<ul>
<li>When working long hours more than a quarter of employees feel depressed (27%), one third feel anxious (34%), and more than half feel irritable (58%).</li>
</ul>
Moving away from the traditional working week and offering more flexible ways of working can offer solutions to these challenges. In return, you'll build long lasting employee engagement and create competitive advantage.
Flexible working options open up new, often more diverse talent pools. It also gives employees a greater reason to stay in your business. When this sense of challenge and autonomy is blended together into a team environment, it creates a fantastic team culture and generates high performance.
&nbsp;
Having a high performing team is necessary for your business to succeed. Employee feedback surveys are a great way to find out how you can improve in ways that will benefit your team. To find out more about how Ten Space can help you create high performing teams, visit our website<a href="http://www.spacehr.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;</a><a href="http://www.spacehr.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.tenspace.co.uk</a>.&nbsp;

What comes first - A high performing team or a highly engaged team?

5 tips on creating a high performing team

So you're a month into 2021 and hopefully you've been working hard on engaging your team from the plan you created in our last blog (see: Step 4 - Action Your Plan).
But how do you measure your success?
Employee engagement can be a success outcome on its own (a "lag" measure). A happy and engaged team should be considered a great success for a business. But it can also be a "lead" measure too - it can be used as an indicator for other success measures in your business.
This week, we're going to explore this in more detail.
&nbsp;
<h3>Survey Your Staff</h3>
Regardless of whether you are using engagement as a lag or a lead measure, a great tracking tool is a survey. There are loads of ways to do this from emails, to building a form or using a survey platform. There aren't many survey tools designed especially for the Employee Engagement space.
A platform will position engagement with your team, track your success and identify areas of focus.&nbsp;If you want our expert advice on this, drop&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;" href="mailto:victoria@spacehr.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">victoria@tenspace.co.uk</a> an email.
Most engagement survey platforms will give you a score of engagement after a survey - this can be used as your lag measure. Your engagement score can be tracked over time and you can see the impact that your activities are having on your overall engagement score.
Bake this measure into your success measures as a business. Sit it right alongside profit and sales and give it the importance that it deserves. This helps build a mindset of "engagement everywhere".
You can also use engagement as a lead measure too, to establish a link between engagement and business performance. Does an increase in engagement lead to an increase in sales in the following months, what do the trends tell you?
Establishing a cause and effect for your business can really keep the focus on engagement high in your business.
Here's some ideas on outputs of great employee engagement you might want to track so you can enjoy your success:
<ul>
<li>Absenteeism</li>
<li>Sales</li>
<li>Revenue</li>
<li>Profitability</li>
<li>Employee retention</li>
<li>Customer retention</li>
<li>Customer NPS scores</li>
<li>Productivity / efficiency / output</li>
<li>Time to hire</li>
<li>Internal talent moves</li>
<li>Diversity</li>
<li>Retention of top talent</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>Don't get too stuck on the numbers</h3>
Whilst measuring success is helpful, don't get too caught up in the numbers and start to miss the point. Employee engagement is a mindset, it's a way of working and operating. If you find that you've got caught up in your engagement scores and you've stopped thinking about how it feels to work in your business then take a big step back from your reports!
&nbsp;
<h3>Engagement every day</h3>
To drive success, employee engagement needs to be part of the fabric of your business. Here's some ways to do this:
<ul>
<li>Ask for engagement updates in your business updates. The quickest way to demonstrate that engagement matters is by asking about it. If you're calling your Sales Director, don't just ask about their sales figures, ask about employee engagement and what they've done to improve things</li>
<li>Making a change, big or small? Ask yourself / your team what the impact will be on engagement, if it's negative, how can you lessen it or counteract it?</li>
<li>Add engagement questions into your every-day conversations with your team, ask "how are you?" and really mean it.</li>
<li>Make a focus on employee engagement a non-negotiable with your people leaders, poor engagement = poor performance</li>
<li>Recruit people into your team who are going to make a positive contribution to engagement in your business - treat them as a culture contributor who will have an impact, so make sure it's going to be a positive one</li>
<li>Publicly talk about employee engagement and how much it means to you, be THAT person on social media who talks about how proud they are of their team.</li>
</ul>
 
&nbsp;
Ten Space can really help you make a difference in employee engagement levels. Whether your looking for some personal coaching to make you an engagement hero, you're starting from scratch or you're looking for an extra 10% of engagement, we'd love to be part of your success: victoria@tenspace.co.uk

5 Steps to a Highly Engaged Team - Part 5

How BEAM Fieldwork increased their survey completion rate to 94% by creating action plans using feedback  gathered by Ten Space

Case Study

Following a successful HR career, Victoria saw the opportunity to build a pragmatic product for HR teams to fall in love with. Her mission to ‘create incredible workplaces through highly engaged teams’, is underpinned by the technology and service delivered by the Ten Space team. 

CEO / Founder

Ten Space is a team of experts in employee engagement, experience and technology. Our powerful survey platform and service helps HR teams build winning businesses.

<div>Right from the start our goal was always very clear. We wanted to help businesses be the best versions of themselves.So we combined technology, support and resources for HR professionals and business leaders to gain incredible insight.We’ve built a product that’s really easy to build into your current framework and delivers feedback from day one.</div>

Our platform is designed to help you understand the real problems in your business - fast!

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Take our survey platform for a test drive and see what it can do for you and your business.

See how B-Secur used their 81% completion rate to inform engagement policies and strategies through Ten Space.

Featured Case Study

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Take our platform for a test drive and see what it can do for you and your business. Our team are here to answer all your questions.

Employee engagement is crucial for accountancy firms as it directly impacts productivity, client satisfaction and firm reputation. Engaged employees are more likely to go the extra mile to understand client needs, provide tailored solutions and build long-term relationships. High levels of engagement reduce turnover rates, saving recruitment costs and preserving institutional knowledge.
                

Measure employee engagement in accountancy firms through regular surveys assessing factors like job satisfaction, work-life balance and alignment with firm values. Include questions on communication effectiveness, career development opportunities and recognition. Analyse survey results to identify areas for improvement and gauge overall engagement levels.

 A great employee engagement platform will give you the data, insight and feedback you need to enact real change in your organisation. Using a third-party platform adds an extra layer of trust. By segmenting the data from engagement surveys, you can uncover valuable insights specific to different employee groups. You can find where your problems are coming from and create targeted actions.

How it works

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">What is Employee Engagement?</h3>To put it in its simplest form: Employee engagement is the level of commitment, enthusiasm and dedication employees have towards their work and the organisation. Enhanced employee engagement reveals itself in employees reaching their full potential and delivering exceptional performance at work.</div>

Measuring employee engagement in your legal firm can be achieved through regular employee surveys. This first step is critical in gathering data that will help you make decisions. Ideally you should be surveying your business every month so you can quickly observe any drops in engagement and affect a plan quickly to resolve issues. Regular surveys provide the data you need to build a strategic engagement plan based on real information, not gut feeling.


Using an ‘engagement specific’ survey platform will help you gather data faster, more securely and more accurately. The right platform will also make it easier for people to submit their responses in a way that’s easy for them. You’ll be able to compare results over time to analyse trends. By segmenting the data from engagement surveys, you can uncover valuable insights specific to different employee groups. You can find where your problems are coming from and create targeted actions.

Once you’ve done your first survey, things will become instantly clearer. You’ll start to see the hotpots in your company by a variety of segmentation criteria such as team, location, gender, role and tenure. Open-ended feedback will often help provide a solution to the challenges you’re seeing. We’re always amazed how much insight a first survey provides to our customers from a high level right into the detail. Measuring consistent data-points over time will help gain a deep understanding of how to build your strategic plan.


Build your employee engagement strategy

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">High engagement means higher performance</h3>Employee engagement is a critical activity for professional services firms. Retaining your high performing people will help you build a high performing legal practice. 

But if you don’t have a way to measure engagement and understand when engagement is dropping, you run the risk of losing your top performers and a potential domino effect of top talent.</div>

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learn more about employee experience &amp; retention

An easy-to-use platform to helps you capture employee feedback simply, safely and securely.

Survey using Email, WhatsApp and SMS. Easily reach your deskless mobile and remote workers with surveys so everyone can share their ideas and feedback.

Reporting that delivers instant actionable insights, whilst offering rich detailed analysis.

The insights you need to prioritise, make decisions and track your impact. The data you need to help your team thrive.

<h5 class="heading mt-4 aos-init" data-aos="fade-down" data-aos-delay="40"> Take employee feedback to the next level</h5>If you're already gathering employee feedback but want to do more, we can show you how.

<div>The Ten Space survey platform does the hard work for you, reducing months of data collection and analysis into minutes.</div>

<div>Our survey platform delivers feedback surveys to gather responses back quickly for super-quick analysis and faster action.</div>

<div>Employee surveys, that allow you, your HR team and your leaders to focus on what they do best - building engagement and creating change.</div>

Search our Knowledge for answers to the things you need to know.                

Choose the plan that suits you

<ul><li>Access for up to 250 team members</li><li>Bi-monthly engagement surveys</li><li>Industry specific questions</li><li>Real-time results and analytics</li><li>Result segmentation, tracking &amp; comparisons</li><li>Suggested actions from experts</li><li><a href="/employee-engagement-model/">The Ten Space employee engagement model</a></li></ul>

<div class="text-center"><a>Find out more about advantage</a></div>

Fast and powerful engagement surveys

advantage

<ul><li>For all sizes of organisation</li><li>Advanced AI analytics</li><li>Build your own surveys</li><li>Distribution via email, WhatsApp &amp; SMS</li><li>Customisable data segmentation</li><li>Targeted surveys based on segmentation</li><li>Customised dashboards</li><li>Track key parts of the employee journey</li><li>Permissions based reports</li><li>Dedicated engagement managers to help you get the best results</li></ul>

For larger teams with dedicated requirements

enterprise

Build question sets unique to your business to get to the heart of the problem.

Set surveys to deliver when you want, to whoever you want, where you want.

Your business is comprised of lots of different teams that work in different ways.

Our platform is customisable to fit the needs of every part of your organisation.

Backed by artificial intelligence, our real-time dashboards give you the data you need to make informed decisions and take action quickly.

Simple, clear, easy to understand dashboards for faster desicion making.

Tag and segment data easily to identify areas of concern.

Get ahead by viewing results as they come in.

Confidently identify hidden meanings and discover trends.

Agile businesses need a flexible and inclusive approach.Ten Space gathers employee feedback via Whatsapp, SMS &amp; Email surveys so your people can respond on their terms.This leads to higher participation and a more inclusive experience, capturing the data from all your people, easily.

The Ten Space survey platform provides a data-driven approach for HR professionals to easily design, gather and analyse high-quality feedback. 

Listen to HR Director's Cut - insight into your dilemmas, conundrums and questions

Engage your team to deliver the future of your business today. From only £3 per employee per month. Whether you're starting your employee engagement journey or taking your people strategy to the next level, we can help.

Capture and utilise diversity data to enhance your culture. Capture diversity data in an efficient and safe way. Explore diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in your organisation. Ten Space supports your DEIB strategy. We can help you capture diversity data from your team in an efficent way to enhance your people data.

Elevate engagement. Retain talent. Supercharge performance. An engaged workforce helps businesses achieve so much more. The Ten Space survey platform captures the insights you need to understand employee engagement &amp; culture across your organisation. Take action &amp; drive change.

Create exceptional employee experiences. Optimise engagement. Supercharge your EVP. Let us take you on a journey.... Explore the experiences of your employees. Ten Space can help you to explore the journeys your employees take as they join your organisation, all the way through to when they leave.

Accelerate the performance of your teams to drive business performance. Explore what is driving, or holding back, your teams from delivering high-performance. We can help you explore high-performance in your organisation. Using our performance-focused surveys, we can help you uncover what is holding a team back from achieving their full potential.

Our monthly subscription fee includes our intuitive survey platform and wrap around service.

Ten Space fully supports your Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) strategy in the workplace. We offer comprehensive solutions to help you efficiently capture diversity data from your team, thereby enriching your people data. Additionally, our platform enables you to explore the topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within your workplace culture, providing valuable data and insights to inform and enhance your DEIB strategy.

Ten Space equips companies with the necessary resources, tools, knowledge and information to create the ultimate diverse and inclusive workforce. Our platform offers analytics and insights that enable organisations to develop and implement effective DEIB programs. From setting goals on equality to attracting diverse candidates during the hiring process, we provide solutions that address gender, race, ethnicity, and other dimensions of diversity.

Leveraging our data capture platform, we ensure that the process of collecting DEIB data is efficient, safe, and secure. Our platform is designed to capture data in a clean and organised manner, ready for your analysis and utilisation.

With our DEIB focused surveys, we enable you to capture the essential data and gain insights that support your DEIB strategy. We can explore general engagement across different demographics, or we can specifically focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as central themes, allowing you to delve deeper into this critical area of culture.

As a trusted third-party platform that captures feedback anonymously, we provide a safe space for your employees to share their experiences and provide valuable feedback. This anonymity fosters an environment of authenticity and trust, enabling you to build an accurate and comprehensive picture of the insights you need to drive your DEIB initiatives.

We understand that your DEIB strategy is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. That's why we help you regularly capture feedback and insights, allowing you to track your progress over time. By monitoring and analysing this data, you can demonstrate the impact and return on investment of your DEIB efforts, ensuring continuous improvement and advancement.

An engaged workforce helps organisations achieve their goals. Ten Space captures the valuable insights you need to build a positive culture through high employee engagement. Your people managers and leaders can easily identify and address those critical issues preventing high engagement and build a culture that everyone buys into.

Ten Space empowers organisations to unlock the full potential of their employee engagement strategy. By utilising our platform, people managers and leaders can leverage their knowledge, experience and approach to drive positive change throughout the workplace. Effective communication, addressing challenges and fostering a supportive culture are integral aspects of our platform, enabling you to build a thriving organisation that values its employees. With Ten Space, you have the necessary insights and data to prove the impact of your employee engagement strategy and continuously improve the employee experience.

"Ten Space help HR teams identify and resolve retention hotspots quickly. The data helps you improve every stage of the employee journey including hiring, onboarding, probation, reviews and exit interviews to continuously improve the employee experience and reduce retention risks"

<div><h3 class="heading pb-4">What is the Employee Engagement model?</h3>Some believe engagement is solely about having happy employees, but engagement goes beyond this. Enhanced employee engagement reveals itself when your employees reach their full potential and deliver exceptional performance at work.At Ten Space we use a simple model. It helps you explore engagement in your organisation. It shows you where you already excel and where you need to focus to improve.</div>

When your employees feel connected to the mission of the company, their engagement improves significantly. They find meaning and purpose in their work, knowing that their efforts contribute to something larger than themselves. They become more invested in the success of your organisation, leading to higher productivity, increased job satisfaction and a stronger sense of belonging within the team.

A great leader inspires and motivates their team members, earning their trust and respect. They provide clear direction, guidance, and support, allowing employees to perform their best and reach their full potential. A great leader creates a sense of empowerment, job satisfaction and loyalty among the team, leading to enhanced employee engagement and overall success.

 Employee engagement improves when your employees feel fulfilled in their role. When individuals find their work meaningful and aligned with their values, they are motivated to invest their time and energy into their work, going above and beyond to achieve goals. This positive mindset and attitude contribute to increased productivity, stronger teamwork and a happier work environment, ultimately enhancing overall employee engagement.

The highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychologically safe workplaces. Psychologically safe workplaces promote healthier, more productive and more inclusive workforces. They also provide the environment in which innovation can thrive and people can perform at their best.

Ten Space is the platform to gather regular employee feedback. Every month, your employees are able to offer the feedback and insight you need to create positive change throughout your organisation.

The Ten Space engagement model underpins the data. It ensures a consistent approach to capturing feedback that can be measured over time. Our platform helps you build the perfect question set to understand the real issues preventing high engagement. 

 Ten Space does all the hard work, saving you days of admin. Questions are sent via email, WhatsApp or SMS and responses are gathered back in the platform. No matter where your employees are or how they work, there is always an easy way for them to provide their feedback. 

See responses as they're being submitted. Our dashboards display real-time information for you and your managers to access valuable insights at any time. This allows you to spend less time collating data and more time taking the actions that matter to build higher engagement.  

The Ten Space way

Retaining your best people is all about understanding the individual and collective journeys they're on. Ten Space allows you to predict retention issues before they occur and prevent your top talent from leaving.  

The Ten Space survey platform allows leaders to seamlessly follow their employees' journeys within the organisation, gaining invaluable insights into their professional growth and development. The platform provides a unique ability to monitor employee sentiment through live data streams from surveys, enabling leaders to make informed decisions to enhance workplace satisfaction.

All of your employees are on a journey. Even before they work for you, they're building an impression of your organisation through the hiring process. Common experiences for all employees may include hiring, onboarding, probation, promotion and exit. Ten Space allows you to unpack the employee experience at each stage of the journey, helping you improve the experience for future employees. 

Ten Space provides a highly customised in-depth feedback loop to understand which parts of your HR initiatives and processes could be causing retention issues. Our platform sends our feedback surveys at critical times to gather sentiment and understand feeling. At every step, you'll gain a true understanding of how employees really feel and what retention risks exist.

Ten Space makes the process of collecting feedback really easy. Our platform allows you to build and launch custom feedback loops that can analyse specific journeys being experienced in all parts of the organisation. You can customise your questions to gain a deep understanding of employee experiences. And our AI summaries make it easy to analyse retention hotspots at all times.

At any time, your HR team can log into Ten Space and view our feedback dashboards. Our customer success team will hold regular reviews and insights sessions with you, so you feel fully supported. We'll help you to get the most out of the insights you've captured and support you in taking the next steps to further enhance employee satisfaction. 

The Ten Space way

Ten Space assists you in exploring high-performance within your organisation. Leveraging our performance-focused surveys, we enable you to achieve your goals and unlock the full potential of your teams. Our platform helps you identify the unique qualities that make a team exceptional, empowering you to replicate and build upon their success. Analysing performance culture team by team in organisations where performance matters.

Ten Space equips you with everything you need to drive team performance and achieve success. By leveraging our platform, you can assess and enhance the culture, communication, management, individual commitment, projects and processes that contribute to team effectiveness. Through comprehensive performance evaluation metrics and insights, you gain a deeper understanding of your teams and can make informed decisions to drive improvement and productivity.

Utilising our performance-based question sets we’ll help you understand how to assess performance in organisation. We guide you by asking the right questions to extract the necessary insights on performance evaluation for teams. Whether your team operates in creative, technical, administrative, or sales-focused areas, we tailor the process to fit your team's specific requirements.

We assist you in segmenting your team data, enabling you to gain in-depth performance insights and understand the trends that impact team effectiveness. Our intuitive dashboard helps you quickly identify key insights from your results, allowing you to focus on actionable steps and next moves.

Harnessing the power of Ten Space as a trusted third-party anonymous platform, we provide a safe space for employees to share any challenges, barriers, or catalysts that affect their performance. This way, we foster a climate of openness, encouraging individuals to provide candid feedback that can uncover valuable insights.

We can help you integrate communication and training needs analysis into your surveys, allowing you to gather ideas and solutions directly from your team members. By capturing this information, you gain a clear understanding of work expectations and where your team would like you to focus your efforts to improve performance culture. There are no limitations or holding back when it comes to taking action.

Capture and utilise diversity data to enhance your culture.

Insights to understand the engagement and culture across your organisation

Identify and resolve retention hotspots in your organisation

Capture and utilise diversity data in an efficient and safe way to enhance your culture.  

Capture the insights you need to understand employee engagement &amp; culture across your organisation.

Create exceptional employee experiences. Optimise engagement. Supercharge your EVP.

Accelerate the performance of your teams to drive business performance

Build a high performing business powered by high performing teams

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