The past couple of weeks at LOROL have been busy ones. I’ve now been here just under six months and one of my projects I’m most proud of is Long Service. The company is just over two years old and didn’t have a formal long service process in place. I worked with the Exec team, HR and the unions to put together a plan of action to thank employees for their service to the rail industry. We all know the benefits in terms of employee engagement that an action like that generates, however I believe it also helps instil a sense of pride. A total of 206 employees had their long service backdated from when the company formed in November 2007 until the end of this financial year.
That means we recognised a fifth of our workforce. Not a small task as I’m sure you can appreciate, but an important one. Employees with 5,10 and 15 years were given certificates and vouchers and those with exactly 20,25,30,35,40,45 and even 50(!) years’ service were invited to a Long Service dinner as well as having certificates and vouchers. I’ve mentioned Sarah and Aurore here before; my team who were heavily involved in helping me scope out this process and particularly organise the event. They did a fantastic job and on 21 January we held the dinner at the London Transport Museum (pictured). This was a particularly fitting venue as we were surrounded by the history of trains, buses etc and it was fantastic to see so many smiling faces and to hear the stories of the railway from days gone past and hear why people dedicate their careers to this industry.
Work-wise for me at the moment I’ve nearly finished media training my Executive team. I met Verity Lowe from MS&L a few months back at the PR Week ’29 under 29′ photo shoot and commissioned her for the task. Last week we put two thirds of the Exec team through their paces, I was impressed with MS&L and would definitely recommend them for training. Verity, Paul and Adam had obviously taken time to get to know our company and this for me resulted in a really beneficial couple of days and I know the final session will go well too.
Today is the start of my month-long annual employee survey. I’m determined to encourage as many employees as possible to complete it so the feedback reflects as much of the company as possible. Last year’s feedback showed communication was one of the key areas that needed work, which was the driver behind my role being created. I’m hoping to see that people feel more informed as I’ve put different communication channels in place, which my own audits show are getting to the frontline. Will be very interested to see the feedback.
My thanks to Csaba for sending me his weekly diary, I’m always interested to know how other people approach their roles and am enjoying hearing about life as a communicator in Hungary. I’ve asked Aurore to write a post for my blog as she has now returned to France to continue to study communication and I hope to be able to publish it soon.
What are your views on employee surveys? Do you think they are relevant? What is your ideal response rate? Let me know your views.
