Work to engage staff honoured
Apr 1 2009 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette
UTILITY company Northumbrian Water has been crowned for making employee engagement among its 2,100 staff a top priority.
It received the CIPD Employee Engagement Award at an awards dinner at the Gateshead Hilton Hotel, organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development’s North-east branch.
The award recognises businesses which value their workforce and those which have gone the extra mile in human resources and development.
Northumbrian Water won partly on the basis of an exercise led by directors and senior managers between October and December 2008, where company employees helped to create departmental action plans focussing on how the company could improve in all areas of working life.
All employees also contributed to the development of the People Plan, a five year human resources strategy.
Diane Morton, director of human resources, said: “We were delighted to win the CIPD Employee Engagement Award. It is a privilege for those of us in the HR profession to see our work recognised by our professional Institute but also for all the people who were involved in this exercise in our business.
“It is recognition of the hard work and commitment that has gone into achieving greater engagement, involvement and participation.
“The exercise has not only demonstrated to everyone that there is tremendous benefit in involving everyone in improving our business and our working lives, but it also generated some great ideas which will be implemented at a local and national level.”
Among its other employee engagement brainwaves is the Just an Hour scheme, where all employees can spend up to 15 hours a year supporting community and environmental projects, and a Skills Awards evening to celebrate individual achievement of academic and vocational qualifications.
Northumbrian Water was also recently crowned Utility Company of the Year at the Utility Week Awards and it is ranked the multi-utilities sector national leader in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index - the UK’s leading benchmark of responsible business practice.
It achieved a platinum rating and Impact on Society Big Tick for work done in the marketplace, workplace, environment and community. The water company’s northern customer centre also recently won North East Customer Centre of the Year.
