Employee Appreciation Day (7 March): Celebrating the hard work of staff at Forward
Every colleague within the organisation, whether they work in front-line or office-based roles, is part of the vibrant community that works to help thousands of people. Let’s take a breath here and say that again: we help THOUSANDS of people to change their lives, and the ripple effect of that through our daily actions as employees certainly makes the communities we serve a better place.
When I joined the organisation in 2014, we had around 200 colleagues. Today, we have more than 800, with the organisation growing by 77.17% during that time. I am so proud to have a dedicated team in HR that supports that growth, working quietly behind the scenes to ensure the wheels keep turning in a fair, consistent, and legally compliant way. I would like to take this moment to publicly acknowledge them as individuals and for the hard work they put in every single day.
The sheer volume of employee changes that occur throughout each day, week, month, and year requires the HR team to deliver. Most deliverables run seamlessly, and from the employee perspective, just seem to happen, such as getting paid. With over 800 colleagues, practically every team member is involved in the payroll process, from advising, updating our HR systems, drawing up letters and contracts, recruiting, and processing payments, my team have an incredible way of problem-solving and getting the job done as seamlessly as possible.
In our department, we are also always working on other projects that could add value to the organisation and those within it. This includes a growing catalogue of core training modules, with approximately 75 sessions delivered to onboarding colleagues at this current moment in time.
Without our brilliant team, we would not be able to deliver the essential services needed to help so many people and their families. We are proud to develop our workforce and can boast that over the last two years, 30.65% of our existing workforce have benefited from career development opportunities such as promotions, secondment, or acting up. We recognise that our colleagues work hard, and their work-life balance is important to us, meaning we proactively engage with flexible working requests and, over the last two years, have implemented Employee Wellbeing Days on top of annual leave entitlements. To date, 2471.5 days have been taken for a whole host of activities, be it going for a walk, reading a book, having a duvet day, or volunteering for a worthy cause. We are also proud to host our Regional Conferences Recognition Awards, where awards are presented to congratulate colleagues on specific achievements in the workplace.
As we continue to deliver our services in an ever-changing, challenging landscape, we will continue to seek new ways in which we can continue to celebrate and reward the staff at The Forward Trust.