Creating lasting cultural change
It is two years since we launched our employer brand ‘Our Princes – Our People’, an important step towards deep and lasting cultural change in our business.
While we still have much work to do, much good progress has been made.
The six pillars of ‘Our Princes – Our People’ – Our Health & Wellbeing, Our Values, Our Journey, Our Performance, Our Community and Our Rewards – provide the framework against which we can continually challenge ourselves and the wider business.
There have been many milestone moments across the various pillars during the last couple of years, many of which are highlighted in the newly published Colleague Update.
If I had to pick out a few, they would include some of the real achievements in Health & Wellbeing and Inclusion & Diversity.
One that is particularly close to my heart is the progress that has been made in mental health awareness. From a small pilot project, we now have over 70 mental health first aiders in our organisation, and I know from the feedback I have received the difference they are making to many colleagues’ wellbeing.
Similarly, over 100 colleagues have volunteered to join our I&D Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) driving much greater awareness in the areas of LGBT+, Accessibility, Social Mobility, Gender Diversity, Multicultural and Age Diversity.
Events such as the keynote talk by Rikki Arundel, a non-binary trans person, during LGBT History Month, along with activities during PRIDE Month and National Coming Out Day were examples of real cultural change.
Another huge success story has been Pathways, our Learning & Development platform. There have now been more than 60,000 visits to the portal since its launch in January 2021.
Other significant milestones included the launch of our new Menopause Policy in the UK and the review and relaunch of our family-friendly policies for UK colleagues, better aligning with what is available overseas and supporting a stronger work-life balance.
Winning Employer of the Year at the Grocer’s Gold Awards at the end of last year demonstrated that we are on the right path. We would love to go further, faster, but we must be pragmatic in the face of the ongoing challenging business conditions.
We also recognise that many of the activities undertaken to date have been UK-centric, but the intention is to continue scaling the Our Princes – Our People programme so that it is truly embedded across the Group.
We will also continue to re-evaluate by listening to colleagues to ensure that all initiatives are linked to the wider requirements of the business and our colleague community.
As a business, we are committed to listening, learning, adapting and striving to make Princes a fantastic place to work. A place where everyone matters and can make a difference and where colleagues feel inspired and engaged to achieve great things.
I hope you enjoy reading our Colleague Update and, as ever, we would value your feedback. You can email asktheboard@princes.co.uk
Together We Will Achieve More.
You can read the Colleague Update here.
By Joe Dent, Chief People Officer
