The Guinness Partnership is a housing association and care provider founded in 1890 to improve people’s lives and create possibilities. What they’re here for hasn’t changed. They fulfil that social purpose by providing great homes and services to over 140,000 customers living in the 65,000 homes they own across England.

Of those 65,000 homes, more than 70% are let at social or affordable rent, while around 10,000 are owned or part-owned by the people who live in them. The Guinness Partnership also provides homes for older people and a range of care services, including care at home and extra care, supported and retirement living. They deliver approximately 10,000 hours of care each week.

They want to be one of the best service providers in the housing and care sectors, providing as many high-quality and affordable homes as possible to play a significant part in tackling the country’s housing crisis.  

And they want to be a strong and efficient business that does things well, one that people can trust and rely on – ensuring they protect their long and important history for future generations. Their social purpose means that any profit they make is re-invested in new and existing homes and improving services for their customers.

Housing associations’ work is essential, and there is an extraordinary demand for their homes and services. The Guinness Partnership want to do as much as possible to meet that demand and be here for as many people as possible. Everything they do is about their customers, communities, and colleagues.

They know none of this is possible without the 2,800 amazing colleagues who share a vision, have a real sense of purpose, and are committed to what they do. In a fast-changing, uncertain, and competitive external environment, what they do and how they do it is more important than ever, and it’s their people who ensure success.

We spoke to Head of Engagement & Diversity Annalisa Langton, who explained how The Guinness Partnership is making work better and what the future holds.

Why/how are you making work better?

We’re making work better because it’s an important aspect of people’s lives – not just because of the economics, but because people give their time and commitment to what they do. 

Where people choose to work, and the work they do is so often an expression of their values, as well as an opportunity to grow, develop, and be recognised for their contribution. We want people to be happy and feel rewarded – doing something that they feel matters.

The way many people work has changed dramatically over the last 18 months. The coronavirus pandemic has meant a shift to homeworking for many people, altering some aspects of the employment relationship.  

It means that we must ensure people feel connected and engaged and part of something more than ever – even when they don’t see each other in person every day. But of course, for many people, work over the last 18 months has been much the same as it always has been, but against a different backdrop – and colleagues who’ve carried on as usual in the field have done so in conditions that at times will have felt much riskier than in the past.

The reliance on front line workers during the pandemic has changed society’s understanding of their roles, and in making work better, we need to make sure that recognition isn’t lost as things return to normal. Most importantly, our role as an employer in promoting wellbeing has never been more significant. 

Our People and D&I Strategies are all about making work better – making sure Guinness is a Great Place to Work – and looking at every part of our people’s journey with us. They’re about:

• Being values-driven. Our organisation is all about people – customers, communities and colleagues. Our social purpose creates a clear set of values, complemented by our focus on our colleagues’ wellbeing, development and growth, and a sense of purpose, opportunity, and happiness in their work. Promoting inclusion and diversity, and being fair and transparent as an employer, are vital parts of that.
• Creating the best teams that people feel part of. We attract and appoint the very best people with the right attitude and values; recognising potential can be as important as experience. And we ensure all new starters have a warm welcome and feel part of the organisation from day one – we recently relaunched a new onboarding portal that gives colleagues insight into what they can expect once they start at Guinness. We make sure they have the networks and training they need from the start of their Guinness careers.
• Being an open organisation and listening to employee voices. We’re open and honest with our people; we listen to them and encourage them to share their ideas, challenge, and ask for help when needed. We provide colleagues with many routes to feedback to leadership through line managers and HR and through staff forums, anonymous surveys, and email addresses to feedback to management generally and on crucial issues (coronavirus, race and ethnicity).
• Engaging with and empowering people to shape our organisation. We empower our people to succeed and to contribute to shaping our future. Our colleagues shape our values and help set the agenda – and everyone understands our shared goals for success.
• Being a learning organisation, where our people fulfil their potential. We invest in our colleagues’ development, so our people are confident they have the skills and knowledge to succeed through the many development programmes and online learning opportunities we have available and our rigorous and supportive performance management process.

We want everyone who works at Guinness to be excited about the potential of the organisation and their potential as individuals — and to be ambitious for the organisation and themselves. It’s important to us that Guinness is a place people love working.

Why did you enter The Investors in People Awards 2021?

It’s very humbling to be shortlisted for four IiP Awards this year. The feedback we receive from our colleagues all year round helps us understand what they think we’re doing well (and where we could do better), and this informed our decision to enter four award categories this year.  

We knew we had some great examples to share of the progress we’re making at Guinness – our people are proud of what we’re doing and are excited about the external validation and recognition. All our successes at Guinness are shared successes – our people love it when we’re shortlisted for awards – and they love it, even more, when we win! 

Are there any goals or challenges you hope an award will help you achieve or solve?

We recognise how important it is for existing colleagues or those considering joining an organisation to understand whether there is an alignment of values.  And it speaks volumes when Investors in People recognise an organisation.

The recruitment market is competitive, and we want the best people to join the team at Guinness because we want the best for our customers, existing colleagues, and our organisation. Our IiP accreditation helps us attract great candidates but being nominated for IiP awards adds something extra special.

Tell us what distinguishes you from other companies in the category you’re shortlisted in.

We know all the organisations shortlisted in the IiP Award categories are doing great work.  What’s different about us – and we stress different, not better – is our sector and organisational heritage.  

The housing and care sectors have always had a strong focus on Social Responsibility and D&I –and we’re enormously proud to be part of all the positive things being achieved by our sector. But, of course, many of these good outcomes for our customers come from collaboration within our sector and partnership with other sectors.

One thing that makes The Guinness Partnership unique is our heritage – we’ve been around for over 130 years and have been making a difference in people’s lives for decades. We’ve stayed true to the mission of our founder since 1890 – whilst continually modernising and innovating for the future along the way.

We recognise we are today’s custodians of the organisation and the importance of the decisions we make now are part of the legacy we leave for future generations. We must make tough decisions about how best to use every pound we receive – because every pound we make is reinvested and can change people’s lives. This is why investing in our people is one of our highest priorities – because it’s through our people we change lives.

Last year we won the IIP 2020 award for Diversity & Inclusion, which inspired us to aim even higher and do more. It is amazing recognition of our commitment to D&I that we have been shortlisted for the award this year.

What does being shortlisted mean to everyone at your company?

It means so much to us!  Our colleagues are so proud of what we do at Guinness and work so hard to make a difference in people’s lives. Being shortlisted for these awards is a massive recognition of the hard work of every colleague at Guinness (as well as the teams directly involved in the submissions). It made everyone’s week when we found out we had been shortlisted for four awards.

What would it mean to win?

It would mean the world to us!  It’s key to our vision to be a Great Place to Work, and recognition from such a high-profile organisation as Investors in People is truly special.

How would you use being the recipient of this award to influence others?

We had the honour of winning three IiP Awards in 2020 – one of those was the D&I Award.  Winning this award gave us a unique platform to share our learning with others, including through IiP Showcase events.  

Our work means we want to make positive societal changes, and no organisation can do this alone. We’d love to continue sharing our story with others – as well as learning from them. 

By being shortlisted in the Social Responsibility category, we hope to increase awareness of some of the social issues we address in our day-to-day work. For example, the toolkit we developed to help frontline colleagues identify and tackle domestic abuse was designed for the housing and maintenance sector. However, it’s a great resource for anyone who works with the public, and it’s available free on our website to anyone who thinks it could be beneficial.

What can we expect to see from your organisation in the next 12 months? (And beyond!)

We’re looking forward to the future. There is always more to do to deliver our vision, be the best organisation we can be, and keep making work better.

We’ve got some exciting plans to continue building on our D&I journey. One of those things is the current training we’re delivering to all colleagues on Race Fluency – so our colleagues have increased confidence to have conversations about race and ethnicity in the organisation. Our Anti-Racism work is just one part of our work on inclusion – but an important part.

We’ll be doing more and more in our communities through our social investment work – and building more new homes to provide even more people with a place they can put down roots and feel proud to live.

And of course, we’re always doing new things to keep developing our colleagues – just this week saw the launch of a new development programme – in conjunction with others in our sector and Imperial College London – to help develop talent in the housing sector.

Overall, we’ll keep focusing on our customers and our colleagues — so that our customers are proud to be Guinness customers and so that Guinness is an organisation that our people love being part of. 

What advice would you give to anyone applying for The Investors in People Awards 2022?

Hearing the news that you’ve been shortlisted is one of those incredibly proud and emotional moments in your working life – so go for it and make a submission. And speak from the heart when you do!