Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 16.01.2023 
I am delighted to have been asked to judge the UK Company Culture Awards. It will be an honour to review the current best working practices and policies in the UK, and I am looking forward to being able to celebrate the subsequent wonderful winners!
What I am looking for from entries are initiatives that have people at their centre: initiatives that truly benefit the people they have been designed for, based on what they feel is important and what they want, not just what their employer thinks they want.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the success of these initiatives are monitored and if developments have been implemented as a result of the monitoring: What has worked? What hasn’t worked? And what could work if we approach it slightly differently?
Often when implementing such initiatives, we find that there are happy and not so happy by-products. A hot topic since covid has been hybrid working. A hybrid working policy could positively impact upon attraction and retention. A poorly executed and managed policy could see team members isolated or reluctant to return to the office, leading to a disengaged work force. Have entrants encountered such issues, and if so, what have they done about it?
Most of all, I’d like to see fun! We spend most of our lives at work so it needs to be enjoyable, not just activities and policies, but the actual working environment all adds to an exciting employee value proposition. An inviting working environment is a reflection of company values and beliefs: If you are expecting colleagues to work in a cold and damp office, with no natural light, no space to move away from their desk, and using sub-optimal technology, you cannot expect a sunny disposition and an above and beyond mentality.
Good culture and working practices are not rocket science, they just involve collaboration and two-way communication. So, what are you waiting for? Tell me everything!
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