IIP Awards 21 – Best People Team: Elliot Group

Written by Investors In People

IIP Awards 21 – Best People Team: Elliot Group

New for 2021, we’re celebrating the people team that’s made a big impact in the last year, and what a year it’s been.

The winner of the first-ever People Team award is Elliott Group. We caught up with them to find out how they plan to use the award to fulfil their ambitions in 2022.

Why do you think you won the award, and how did you exceed the judges’ expectations?

After two years of relentless business change (including a complete change to our executive leadership team) and, like many other businesses across the world, dealing with the unprecedented impact of the COVID pandemic; we believed the time was right for a proactive, planned and holistic approach to reviewing our people proposition.  

We decided on a programme of initiatives that focussed on employee engagement, career progression and personal development, wellbeing and recognition; and were based on feedback from our Employee Engagement Survey and focus groups involving colleagues from all levels within the organisation. 

Each initiative had an “owner” from the HR team, who worked with internal stakeholders at all levels within the business to develop and deliver the projects. Success measures were identified, and progress was reviewed, tracked, and reported monthly, emphasising complete transparency across the business. 

To deliver a programme of initiatives of this magnitude during uncertain times, we had to rely heavily on each other to share knowledge, provide support and be agile in our approach to project activity versus “business as usual” deliverables. We have always done this, and our achievements and success are evidence of teamwork at its best.

Attrition is an area where things were not going well, and we have feedback that our action plan, which drove significant improvement in this area which showed how we handle the things which aren’t going well was a differentiator.

The winning moment. Where were you? Who was there? What was the reaction?

As our team is spread across the UK and working mainly from home, we watched the ceremony from the comfort of our own homes. The announcement prompted a barrage of text and WhatsApp messages and phone calls between the team, which expressed incredulity and huge excitement – the video here is a good example of our reactions! 

We were all still buzzing from the news the following day and are now looking forward to celebrating in style at our next team meeting on 9th December.

How do you and your people feel about winning the award? 

After the initial excitement and amazement, the overwhelming feeling was of pride – not just of the HR Team, but also of our Senior Leaders who supported us 100%; and of our colleagues in all areas and levels across the business who were hugely engaged in driving the positive changes.  

We have had so many congratulatory messages from the wider Group and employees across the Elliott business at all levels. We can build on this engagement and success to demonstrate that we are truly a “people-centric” organisation. As for the HR Team, this Award has reinforced our enthusiasm and confidence to make Elliott an even better place to work for everyone. 

Who would you like to thank?

This would be a huge list if we included everyone, as it was genuinely a team effort. As an HR Team, we would like to express particular thanks to:-

  • John Campbell, Modulaire UK Managing Director – for reinforcing (and personally demonstrating) the importance of supporting our programme, for the benefit of our colleagues and the business.
  • All of the volunteers from across the Elliott business who supported us as Engagement Champions and Mental Health First Aiders.

What impact will winning this award have on your organisation?

The impact this award will have is huge. As a result of this programme, people are now at the top of each Senior Executive Leadership Meeting agenda. We now know that we are on the right track and, during 2022 and beyond, will continue to embed and improve the initiatives we have introduced.  

HR Team Objectives and Plan are already being implemented to achieve this. Our HR Strategy has been refined, based on the opportunities we have had as an outcome of the initiatives, to engage with our leaders and other colleagues. This award reinforces evidence that we genuinely care about our people, and we will build on this to achieve Gold Level accreditation in 2022.

John Campbell, Modulaire UK Managing Director, said: “This is a fantastic result for both the HR team and the UK organisation. It demonstrates how much the business has progressed over the last couple of years and recognises the amazing work and focus undertaken by the company in relation to implementing real and positive changes to support all our colleagues in Elliott.”

If you could pass your secrets to success onto future entrants in your category, what would they be? 

The key secrets to our success this year are:-

  • Challenge yourself and each other to be the best you can be, and support the team to achieve their personal goals and targets
  • Anything is possible if you work together as a team – don’t be afraid to ask for help
  • Listen to and involve all stakeholders at all levels in the business
  • Define clearly what success looks like, and measure progress against this
  • If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to make changes
  • Communicate – and when you think you’ve communicated enough, communicate some more!

How can you become the best organisation you can be? 

Most of our winners are Investors in People Accredited, which means they hold one of our prestigious accreditations, which will be in wellbeing, people management or apprentices

Their commitment to continuous improvement ensures they’re always improving work for their people and have a better chance of winning one of our awards. 

About Investors in People

Investors in People have been working with a huge range of big and small organisations from Public Sectors, SMEs, Charities, PLCs and anything in between for over 30 years. We have accredited more than 50,000 organisations and our  accreditation is recognised in 66 countries around the world, making it the global benchmark when it comes to people management. So we know we speak your language and can offer the specific kind of support and guidance your organisation needs.

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14th Nov 2023 | Old Billingsgate, London

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