About Miller Homes
Miller Homes is no stranger when it comes to building things that last. The UK homebuilder has spent decades creating homes and shaping communities with a clear people-first culture. And as the company has grown, that care and attention to detail has nurtured the long-term talent and leadership of its own people and their careers.
Since 1998, Miller Homes has been working with Investors in People to make sure it puts the same effort into building careers, as it does into building communities. Career development that once relied on informal support and well-deserved praise has, 28 years later, evolved into a consistent and well-defined Platinum-accredited people framework. Taking its great foundations to build a strong, reliable structure, that supports its people to do what they want to do.
- Industry: Construction
- Location: Scotland
- Organisation size: 1000-2499
Career development
What began as a close-knit, family-owned business has grown into a UK-wide organisation. One that recognises just how important its people are to it success. With support from Investors in People, the homebuilder has re-structured and prioritised its people’s development. From early talent to senior management, the company has gone from strength to strength to ensure its people have a place to develop their skills and talent.
Miller Homes’ core company values—people, pride, prosperity, and performance—act as the building blocks for nurturing that talent. They ensure everything it does is focused on getting the best out of its people, through aligning their strategy with the Investors in People ‘We Invest in People’ framework. Providing structured processes that keeps everything aligned to its roots.
“Using the adaptable nature of our frameworks, Miller Homes’ people and leaders have specific reference points to help them act in line with its company values. They know what’s expected of them, how they can live those values during projects and that they have the support to challenge behaviour that doesn’t.”
Christopher Cox, Investors in People Practitioner
Nurturing apprentices and young talent
Careers in the building industry often begin at an early stage, and that’s certainly true at Miller Homes. “Our Executive Managing Director for the Midlands and South joined the business as a Trainee in 2001, followed by our Teesside Regional Managing Director in 2002. Their progression is a testament to the strength of our development pathway and the long-term career opportunities we are proud to offer.”
The homebuilder knows it’s important to continue to attract young talent, especially when big projects require large workforces. Bringing in younger workers helps create and build better talent pools, especially when there is a lack of immediate talent available.
Supported by Investors in People, Miller Homes has been able to attract and hire more people under 25-years-old through enhanced recruitment processes, structured programmes and mentorship support.
Using the ‘We Invest in People’ framework, dedicated mentors and HR contacts are put in place to support new young starters. This makes it easier for them to ask questions and work through problems themselves. It’s been a big success.
“Since the launch of our centralised, group-controlled Early Talent scheme, 37% of our early talent cohort is female — a strong achievement within what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. We’re also proud to report a low dropout rate of just 4%, reflecting the effectiveness of our support, development, and engagement programmes.
Today, 5% of our total workforce is made up of early talent. We continually refresh this pipeline through structured annual recruitment to maintain this level and ensure a sustainable flow of emerging talent. This approach positions us strongly to build a more varied and diverse workforce for the future.”
Investors in People has supported the homebuilder to put realistic benchmarks in place to help it achieve these impressive numbers. Striving to improve year-on-year, it’s this accountability that sustains those remarkable statistics.
Better manager training
It’s not just people at the start of their careers that have benefitted from the Investors in People accreditation. It’s also those who develop into management roles.
These positions can be daunting, especially for those who have never managed other people before. But due to their focus on performance management and how they build capability in their people – as reflected in the Investors in People framework – Miller Homes has developed stronger management courses. Using the framework themes and outcomes for guidance, the company has created courses that, for example, help managers grow in confidence about discussing team performance – both positive and negative.
With this support from Investors in People, Miller Homes’ training is continually improving. What started as one single management course has now grown into five different levels of training – each reflecting specific indicators and themes of the Investors in People framework. These range from those stepping into their first management positions up to senior board director positions. All designed to help leaders as they progress through their careers and get the best out of them.
This training makes sure managers are equipped to deal not just with new workloads but also their new responsibilities. As found in Investors in People’s ‘The Broken Ladder’ whitepaper, better management support helps their new teams and the wider company grow and be more productive. The support Miller Homes has from Investors in People has ensured that new managers know what’s expected of them. Making sure their teams are supported to achieve their full potential, while at the same time helping managers continuously learn and improve.
Continuous improvement
It’s a way of working that has led to continuous success over the past 25 years. Just ask Tania Donnelly – Group HR Director at Miller Homes.
“We’re always looking at how we can improve. How we can make our people be the best version of themselves. Investors in People has helped us with so much and it’s been a close working relationship for the past 25 years. There’s no tension between what we want to do and how they suggest we do it. They support us when we want the extra help and push us when needed.
“It makes problem solving so much easier, especially as our values match with Investors in People. It feels like a round peg going into a round hole. They’ve helped us get to where we are now. And it’s how we’re in such a strong position to create better places – both externally and internally – where people prosper.”
Over the past quarter of a century, Miller Homes has gone from strength to strength. And with Investors in People’s support, its people know their future career paths are in safe hands.
#IIP25Years
Investors in People has been helping organisations create ideal working environments to get the best out of their people since 1991. In this series, we take a closer look at those who have been with us for over 25 years and celebrate some of their biggest achievements. All of which, quite rightly, has meant they’ve earned
