7 minute read
Our Story
GOOD FOR OUR PEOPLE
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We are people centric and everything we do is aligned to the desire to do good for our people, bring our purpose and values alive for all, and have fun along the way.”
Carol Atkins
Head of People and Culture
IN FY21:
Employee Engagement Score
Change to Attrition
–
Focus on engagement and cultural change
c.90% of our people were paid the real living wage and we are striving for 100%
+
People systems
Printed paper
Living our values
Our new reward and recognition scheme highlights people who are really ‘living our values’. The six winners each month are entered for one of our prestigious Employee of the Year awards.
We expanded the behavioural competency framework, aligning it to the value and purpose driven behaviours we feel passionate about. It’s all about doing the right thing, getting things done and making things better!
The People team had great fun trialling our new volunteering program, spending a very windy day cleaning our local beach. The volunteering programme will be offered to everyone in Q2 2022.
Engagement with our People
Our people engagement survey in April 2021 was followed by listening groups where 200 people from all over the business took part. Action plans were created based on this feedback to continue the journey of making things better.
Wob Points arrived giving our people the chance to recognise one another for great work. Wob Points, can be spent online, or donated to plant trees, as part of our commitment to reduce Wob’s carbon footprint.
We changed to hybrid working to give our people an improved work-life balance. And we improved our wellbeing package, giving access to our Employee Assistance Programme and support for mental health initiatives.
Employee ratings have improved from 3.0 to 4.1 on Glassdoor as a result of better employee engagement.
Our lives are full of moments of learning, from experiences, to mistakes, to expertly run internal training courses! The more of these moments we grasp, the more we can grow and improve.”
Greg Funnell
• Government Kickstart Scheme
Providing work placements for young people identified as ‘at risk’ of long term unemployment. • Ex-offenders programme
Actively considering people for employment after they leave prison. We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to start again. • Partnering with Local Councils
Providing employment opportunities for refugees. • Relaunching our People Referral Scheme
Referrals have become the main source of hire; 46% for the Coventry Warehouse.
Engagement increase of 3.3%
58% 61.3%
FY2020 FY2021
ENGAGEMENT SCORE
Our promise to each other…
We will nurture your talent
We will give you the tools to grow and develop We will create new opportunities for you, if you are interested We will celebrate your successes but never stop striving for better
Inclusiveness for all
We want everyone to be themselves in an environment that values individuality We live by our values We treat each other fairly and with respect. Always
We will own the story together
We will bring our best everyday We will look out for one another and help keep each other safe at work We will all strive to be role models We will all play a part in reducing our carbon footprint
Engagement & Excitement
We work as one towards a shared goal, giving you opportunities to give feedback and listening to your suggestions We will communicate with you more frequently with information that is relevant to you We have fun! Everything’s better when we’re happy – and we aim to make work fun and rewarding
Supporting our people
We added lots of safety measures during the Covid 19 pandemic as part of our continued efforts to safeguard our people.
And we expanded our People Team with the addition of a Talent Acquisition Manager, Talent Development Manager and a People Systems Manager.
Wob has much to be proud of in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am immensely proud of the way everyone has pulled together to keep each other safe and healthy, and we will continue to do this throughout the lifespan of the pandemic.”
Rick Patten
Head of Health, Safety and Facilities
INTERNAL PROMOTIONS
Diana Ungureanu
I have been in quite a few teams during my time at Wob but one thing remained constant – the support. Having the experience of other managerial jobs, I can firmly say that Wob proves time and time again to be a nurturing environment that promotes and recognizes the value of its people, that encourages ideas and doesn’t shy away from taking risks to pave the way for a new and better future. I am proud to say that I am part of the Wob team, and together we write a new chapter in the company’s history.
Edwin Thomas
I love the multi-faceted nature of my role, the daily ability to learn something new, and the chance to get stuck into different areas and challenges of the business. I am grateful for all of the opportunities I have been given with my time at Wob, but am most grateful for the people I work with. Across departments, people at Wob have a genuine passion for the company, its ethos and each other.
Mike Jeffrey
There’s a common theme throughout my time at Wob… People. The incredible minds, the support, and the friends I made along the way, I owe it all to them, almost everyone here at Wob has played a part in my progression both professionally and personally.
Developing our Teams
We have a strong belief in learning at Wob, and help our people develop wherever we can. The past year we have financially supported external qualifications, apprenticeships, leadership coaching and training courses. And next year we will be launching a new Leadership Training Framework with access to a catalogue of ondemand training.
Attrition / retention data
Voluntary attrition has reduced even further, now down to 22.30%.
Onboarding
We are passionate about what we do at Wob and are keen for our people to feel this as soon as they join. This year we introduced a new starter checklist and welcome day, to make sure our people get off to the best start.
ALL DEVELOPMENT
Average hours a month 2,376
Approximately 4 hours
per head per month
We ran the following internal courses/training:
ATTENDEES: 22
COURSE: Resilience
ATTENDEES: 23
COURSE: Mental health
ATTENDEES: 30
COURSE: Values chats
ATTENDEES: 28
COURSE: Studied towards apprenticeships/ NVQS
External courses:
ATTENDEES:
21
COURSE:
Professional Qualifications, workshops and online learning We pay close attention to our Gender Pay Gap, and are proud to once again say that World Of Books Ltd has a 0% median pay gap and woman earn an average of 2% above men. We also saw an uplift in both men and women receiving bonuses. 97% of women (up from 85%) and 85% of men (up from 74.7%) were able to benefit from one this year. We are now focused on improving the score for World of Books Group Ltd which includes our Leadership Team. Our board now has three female members from our investors, Livingbridge. Away from the figures, we have recently launched a project team for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). The project team have been fortunate to speak to some external experts, who have supported our aims for the initial stage of the project. This will include increasing awareness of EDI, and setting up listening groups who can help to drive our support in this area to all of our people.
Introducing
hybrid working
where we can Glassdoor Score
Average Tenure 3.1 years
https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/ Employer/QxKxNnoy/2020
We hire with the aim of diversifying and enhancing our culture to strengthen the growth mindset we are so proud of. Our talent is our driving force towards becoming a global leader in re-commerce through innovation and technology.”
Emma Newnham
Talent Acquisition Manager
