Win a £50 voucher in our quiz on page 19
Your colleague magazine – December 2022
It’s a wrap! Our successful production relocating 39 residents, including Vera, into a blockbuster care home – page 8 A special present
Making your money go further
Electronic care planning replacing paper plans in our care homes – page 14
Colleague benefits, resources and support for your financial wellbeing – pages 10-12
HAVE YOU HEARD? Celebrating our care home winners Anchor colleagues collected eight winners’ trophies and four ‘highly-commended’ titles at this autumn’s Great British Care Awards regional finals. Our winning colleagues included the team at Godiva Lodge, Scott Taylor-Smith (Nelson Lodge), Deborah Buchanan (Trinity Lodge), Joanne Meredith and Katie Pickering (The Manor House, Harrogate), Kendra Mannion (Millbeck), Kevin Smith (Dawson Lodge), Sharon Harrison (The Manor House, Barnard Castle), and Victoria Longbottom (The Laureates). A great way to recognise colleagues right across our organisation is through our Anchor Colleague Awards – find out more on pages 16-17.
Let’s get together Four fantastic activity themes for all colleagues and residents to have some fun and achieve more together are coming up next year. They are Wellbeing, Growth, Going Green and Celebrate. No matter where you work, we’d love you to get involved and our first big activity is ‘Move into March’, where we’re aiming to cover the distance around the world together, through walking, dancing, cycling or any type of movement. We’ll also invite local communities to get involved to help spread the word about our great homes, retirement communities and careers. Look out for more information and activity packs on Workplace and our intranet The Bridge.
Welcome to the winter edition of arch from our guest editor
In my role as Procurement Category Manager, and in my home life, from carrots to furniture, electricals to window cleaning, I’m seeing record price increases everywhere. As a business we’re working hard to mitigate these rises for our residents, while supporting colleagues too – as you’ll see on pages 10-12. Energy is top of everyone’s agenda at the moment and we’re trying to secure the best possible price for our gas and electric to minimise the impact on our residents. Longer term, it makes introducing energy- efficient measures (page 20) and homes like Wharfeside (page 8) even more important. Along with the Procurement team, I’m visiting colleagues across our locations and homes, listening to what they and our residents need from
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Give your body a boost
COVID-19 may not be in the news much now but it, alongside flu, can be dangerous and sometimes deadly, especially for vulnerable people such as those who live with us. All colleagues in resident-facing social care are eligible for free vaccinations for flu and the COVID-19 booster.
So don’t delay, book your vaccination and booster today through your GP or the NHS Booking service – just scan the QR code with your smartphone. Please let your manager know once you’ve had your jab so they can update your myHR record.
our services. Listening and acting is something we can all do – and have been doing across the organisation through the latest Colleague Survey. Details of the next steps and action planning from the survey results are on pages 6-7. The next 12 months are set to be challenging but, as you’ll read in this issue, Anchor is taking steps to support both colleagues and residents. Rashid Bahadur, Procurement Category Manager (Facilities/Utilities) importance and value of older workers. We understand the benefits of a multigenerational workforce, for our organisation and our residents, and want to ensure all colleagues have access to opportunities within our organisation. By signing the pledge we’ve committed to meeting best practice in the recruitment, retention and support of colleagues in their 50s and 60s. Love living and working in later life We’ve recently signed up to the Age-friendly Employer Pledge with The Centre for Ageing Better, a nationwide programme for UK employers who recognise the
If you’d like to be a guest editor, please email us at: Arch@Anchor.org.uk
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MORE AND BETTER HOMES
Providing sector-leading customer experience
Our first ever Customer Experience Strategy for housing launches this month (December).
The strategy document covers how we want the people living in our housing to feel – and how we’ll get the basics right and give good customer service to achieve it. In short, it covers how we’re working to ensure all residents feel listened to and included by colleagues who are responsive to their needs, while displaying the Anchor values of being Accountable , Respectful , Courageous and Honest . Engaging with residents, including when we shared our Draft Service Offer earlier this year, identified four key priorities. The first of these is providing great landlord services, such as a simple application process and easy ways to pay rent and resolve any issues. The others are safe and well- maintained homes, services to enable independent living and an evolving service offer. The strategy sets out the detail of what we’ll offer in each of these four areas, as well as how we’ll achieve and measure progress. Executive Director - Housing Services Suki Jandu said: “I want all our residents to have a great experience whenever they interact with us. That’s also true for potential residents, and the different agencies we work with. “Lots of colleagues already work really hard to ensure residents have a positive experience. The systems and processes that have built up over the years can sometimes get in the way though.
“We’ve already talked about how the changes we’re making across our housing services are simplifying the way we work and making us more efficient – and that’s good for both colleagues and residents. This strategy will help ensure that positive experiences for residents are at the heart of our transformation.” The Customer Experience Strategy will inform the updated housing Service Offer which is being developed. Search ‘ Customer Experience Strategy ’ to find it on our intranet The Bridge.
Residents will feel...
Listened to and...
Included by colleagues who are...
Responsive to their needs and display our values to be...
Accountable
Respectful
Courageous
Honest
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Party time for Anchor
MORE INFLUENTIAL
A key part of our Business Plan is to be More Influential. Talking to influential people at events like this year’s Labour and Conservative Party Conferences, is one of the things Chief Executive Sarah Jones is doing to achieve that.
At the Labour Party Conference, Sarah spoke at a panel event alongside Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting. The event, organised by Anchor and the National Care Forum, focused on Labour’s proposals for a National Care Service and the role of the not-for-profit sector.
Sarah explained how we and other not-for-profits reinvest to continually improve services and used the opportunity to highlight the great work we’re doing to recruit and retain highly skilled and committed colleagues through our training and development programmes. At the Conservative Party Conference, Sarah and Mario Ambrosi, Director of Communications and Marketing, were at a roundtable’ event, organised by Anchor and the International Longevity Centre, on the future of the UK’s towns and cities in our ageing society. Speaking alongside former minister and Conservative peer, Lord Willetts, Sarah and Mario highlighted the crucial role of specialist older people’s housing in enabling active participation in their local communities.
While colleague and resident feedback about our rented housing Draft Service Offer is considered, the Be Me secondees are regularly sharing updates on Workplace about their role in the project. Executive Director - Housing Services Suki Jandu has shared an animation about why Be Me is needed and the benefits of modernising our housing service. Take a look in Housing Services Updates on Workplace or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
Our Be Me secondees - Willis Robertson, Claire Ellison, Danielle Makin, Jean Wood
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#LISTENINGANDACTING Star perform It was #OneSmallStep for colleagues to fill in this year’s space-themed Listening and Acting Colleague Survey but a giant leap in the numbers who completed it - all 6,757 of them!
Along with thousands of comments and votes from colleagues who took part in our Culture Crowd programme to map out our organisation’s culture, we’ve gained some really great insights into how Anchor can We’re listening… Diving into the results of the survey it’s encouraging that, while there’s always room to do more, we’re again outperforming the average organisation. The Employee Engagement Index (EEI) measures the extent to which colleagues are focused on achieving great things at work, would recommend us to others, and intend to stay. Our score of 81 per cent is up one percentage point compared to last year and four percentage points above the average of all organisations surveyed by our survey provider People Insight. Despite the many challenges in the wider world, our people continue to recognise the value of fulfilling and rewarding careers with us. Looking at our top-scoring questions it’s fantastic to see that colleagues understand the aims of Anchor, their role in achieving those aims and feel trusted to get on with their jobs. Some of the most positively- rated areas are the steps we’ve
improve in line with our Business Plan aims. Sarah Jones, Chief Executive said: “We saw some out of this world pictures from teams who embraced our theme. Thank you to everyone who shared their taken to be a more inclusive and diverse organisation. Colleagues also rated our training and development offer really highly. Both the Culture Crowd, which we ran over summer and early autumn, and the survey told us there’s work to do to help colleagues be more collaborative across directorates and ensure colleagues have the right tools and resources to do their jobs. All together, colleagues contributed more than 9,000 comments on what we’re doing well and where we can improve. The themes from the survey were very similar to those identified in the Culture Crowd. The areas that generated the most comments in the Culture Crowd were around the ‘Rules and Rewards’ and ‘Behaviours’ elements of culture. The most talked about topics were whether we could reward differently for the workloads and performance that people deliver, and how we support colleague wellbeing.
thoughts. It’s great that so many colleagues’ views are informing how we meet our Business Plan priorities. We’re working through this feedback, and we’re committed to taking action on what colleagues have told us.”
Editors’ note It’s good to know
Anchor are willing, and want, to hear from colleagues and are prepared to act upon their feedback. That shows the value of sharing your voice at every opportunity.
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mance
All systems go: Rented North West C Area Managers
… and taking action! Taking action is the most important part and continues all year round, and we’ve made loads of changes already. It’s exciting to see Electronic Care Planning is coming soon for care homes (page 14) and you can meet some of the latest graduates from our myFUTURE career development programme on page 15. You can find out more about our commitment to pay the Real Living Wage on page 12. Our 2022 overall action plan is coming soon. This will combine themes from the Culture Crowd and the survey. Managers will work with teams to look at local issues - speak to your manager about how you can get involved.
Anchornauts Jodie Moorhouse, Stephanie Morris, Craig Oliver and Victoria Longbottom at The Laureates Colleagues at The Ridings care home, Banbury
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MORE AND BETTER HOMES
Relatives and over 20 additional colleagues helped Teal Beck colleagues and residents make the move to Wharfeside
A triumph of logistical planning saw residents and colleagues move from one care home to another in just one day. Residents move into eco-friendly care home
They moved from Teal Beck House in Otley, West Yorkshire – an aging building constructed more than 30 years ago - to Wharfeside care home. Located less than half- a-mile away, it’s a 66-bedroom purpose-built home with state-of- the-art facilities. Coordinating the move along with Director of Care Services Linda Green and District Manager Mishel Ingle was Home Manager Louise Bulcock.
“A huge amount of planning has gone into preparing colleagues, residents and their families for this move – and it’s felt like the only thing we didn’t do was synchronise watches!” said Louise. “But it’s all been worth it, the residents love their new home and were talking about its features for weeks leading up to the move. A big thank you to my team for all their hard work in getting us ready.” Resident Sybil Shepherd said: “I was very keen to see what the new home would look like. It’s a new start and it’s nice to have everything up to date.” Plans are being drawn-up to convert Teal Beck House into housing for older people – adding to our neighbouring Teal Beck Court homeownership properties.
Going green Wharfeside’s energy-efficient features make it one of the most environmentally-friendly care homes in the UK: • More than 80 per cent of the three-storey building’s roof is covered in around 400 solar panels • An onsite power bank the size of a cargo container retains any spare energy produced from renewable sources and feeds it back into the care home at times of peak demand • Ground source heat pump technology provides hot water and underfloor heating, and air-cooling in warmer months.
u l
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Listening all year round
We listen and act on feedback from colleagues all year round through surveys and Workplace. Another way we listen is through our Colleague Engagement Forum. With members representing teams across Anchor, it’s a great way to involve people in projects and new initiatives. This year, the group has been involved in lots of projects. These included the launch of ONE Plan - our plan for improvements across People, Process and Technology, testing the new People Hub - the new home for everything people-related on our intranet and the Care Services intranet pages, reviewing the manager communication guide, feedback on our Being Well colleague wellbeing offer and coming up with great ideas for our intergalactic #OneSmallStep survey campaign. Each quarter, the team also meets
involved in the projects that matter to colleagues. We also get the opportunity to influence decisions earlier in the process before things are launched.” We’re currently looking for colleagues to represent Care Services, Property and Governance teams on the forum. If you’re interested or would like more information, please email InternalCommunications@ Anchor.org.uk
with a member of the Executive Committee to ask questions and hear business updates. Liz Marriott, Administrator at Prior Bank in Sheffield said: “It’s great to be involved in the Colleague Engagement Forum. It gives me the opportunity to ask questions and get
A big welcome to the Anchor family
Our care home numbers have grown substantially – with the addition of 11 residential care homes. The deal to acquire the Halcyon Care Homes in the Midlands and South and East of England is part of our Business Plan aim to create more and better homes where people love living in later life. As well as the 11 purpose-built
buildings, over 500 colleagues have joined us. Rob Martin, Managing Director - Care Services, said: “A big welcome to the Anchor family for all those colleagues. I’m looking forward to learning from each other on how we continue to provide the best possible person-centred care.” The number of care homes we operate will increase to 128 when
four new homes are completed. Three are due in spring 2023: Skelton Court, Cleveland; The Mill House, Skipton; Malmesbury in Wiltshire. The Manor House, Roundhay, Leeds is due for completion in summer 2024. We’ll be advertising roles for these homes, so why not recommend a friend to work there through our Refer a Friend scheme (see page 13)?
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SUPPORTING COLLEAGUES Helping you ma money go furth One of the perks of working for Anchor is the wide range of money-saving benefits available to colleagues. And these savings have never been more important.
Blue Light Card Want an easy way to get discounts on the spot? Then the Blue Light Card is for you. It offers discounts for the emergency services, NHS, social care sector workforce (like Anchor colleagues) and armed forces,
Salary Finance We work with Salary Finance to give you access to financial products such as salary loans, salary advances and
providing members with discounts online and on the high street.
saving directly from your salary. They also provide tools and tips to help you understand your money better.
My Shopping Discounts
With everything from supermarket shopping to home insurance, pet food to toys, My Shopping Discounts offers a range of ways to save online and on the high street. And you can often use these discounts together with your Blue Light Card and save twice!
Editors’ note With two young children myself, I find the Blue Light Card and My Shopping Discounts really helpful. It’s good that Anchor have a real awareness of and appreciate the challenges colleagues are currently facing and offer financial benefits like these and the latest pay award - see page 12.
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ake your her
Need to talk to someone? The Colleague Advice Line
The free, independent and completely confidential Colleague Advice Line is there for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call them on 0800 316 9337 . You also have access to the Health Assured website and My Healthy Advantage app for informative articles and videos on a variety of subjects. The Colleague Advice Line is staffed by a range of highly experienced consultants, including counsellors, psychotherapists, solicitors and financial experts to offer a friendly ear and help you deal with events and issues in your everyday work and personal life. MoneyHelper It helps to feel in control of your finances and know where to seek help and support should you need it. MoneyHelper, at www.MoneyHelper.org.uk , is there to make your money and pension choices clearer, putting you in control with free impartial guidance. They can also recommend further, trusted support if you need it. Be Wise Be Wise offers free and confidential services and practical help to colleagues and housing residents. They can offer advice and assistance with welfare rights entitlement and claims, energy efficiency advice and advocacy, budgeting and general money saving hints and tips. They can also signpost you for help with debt, future planning, consumer issues and other local services (where available). For more information, call 0800 023 4477 or email MoneyWise@Anchor.org.uk
Refer a friend
If you know someone who’d be great working at Anchor, you could earn up to £250 for recommending them through our Refer a Friend scheme - see page 13 for details.
Energy Support Loans With rising energy prices having a significant impact on many households, we’ve introduced a scheme providing access to interest-free loans to support colleagues.
We’ve run out of room here but we’ve squeezed more of your colleague benefits on the address sheet posted with this magazine. And details of all of these benefits and more are online at www.AnchorBeingWell.co.uk or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
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SUPPORTING COLLEAGUES Pay award gets the thumbs up
The financial boost followed the news Anchor had become a Living Wage Foundation Accredited Employer committed to paying the Real Living Wage each year - which from 1 April 2023 sees all our roles paid at £10.90 or above an hour, or £11.95 an hour for roles in London. And with cost of living concerns very much at the forefront of colleagues’ minds, the pay announcement – with wage and salary increases across all roles from April – also included a one- off £500 payment, split over two months, to all colleagues on fixed- hour contracts. Chief Executive Sarah Jones said: “This is a considerable pay uplift which sets us apart from many of our competitors in the sector, and follows on from last year when we ‘Very much appreciated in hard times!’ That was the theme of hundreds of positive colleague comments which greeted the announcement of our 2023/24 pay award.
From left: Team Leader Emma Shepherd, Mill View care home; Marina Ageyeva from the Living Wage Foundation, and Kate Smith Executive Director Business Services
became the first large provider of care and housing to pay all our colleagues at or above the Living Wage Foundation’s rate. “We’re investing in our workforce and acknowledging and valuing the contribution of Anchor colleagues who have worked with dedication and commitment over the past year to provide great services to the people who live with us. Team Leader Louise Barnard, from Ashcroft Care Home, was one of a number of care colleagues who took part in the Living Wage Foundation accreditation celebration at our Bradford office. Louise said: “I love working at Anchor and supporting our residents. I’m proud to work in social care and making a
difference, so to work for a company which recognises and rewards the importance of my work by committing to paying the Real Living Wage means a lot to me, especially given the increasing costs of living.”
Celebrating our accreditation in Bradford with colleagues and the Mayor of Bradford
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REFER A FRIEND
It’s never been easier to Refer a Friend Improvements have made behind the scenes to our Refer a Friend scheme, meaning it’s even easier to refer someone to work here and quicker to receive up to £250 for doing so.
The online referral process is the only way to refer a friend from 1 January but it’s now easy for everyone to use, as Recruitment Manager David Shaw explains: “There’s a simple log-in colleagues without an Anchor email address can use to access our jobs website, helping them share links to our vacancies with their friends. “They’ll then get automatic notifications as their friend’s application progresses, so will know when the initial £100 is paid to them when their friend starts, and the further £150 when they’ve been with us three months.” With £44,400 in Refer a Friend payments made to colleagues from January to October this year, it certainly pays to have friends. “The benefit for Anchor is not only do we get great people referred to us, but colleagues are making
our recruitment more efficient, as paid or sponsored advertising or links to attract applications are more expensive - so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.” Amar Khan, Onboarding Advisor, used Refer a Friend, and plans to do so again. “It was really quick and simple to use. I’d seen a few vacancies we had available, and was able to send them to a couple of friends who I thought would be great for the job. “The payments actually came in perfect time for my son’s birthday party, so I was able to buy him various different things and still treat myself. “Would I use it again? Yes, the process from start to finish was fantastic. I think it’s great to be able to refer a friend and get rewarded at the same time.”
At Anchor, we know what it takes to work in care, to work in housing, to work for a not-for-profit, to build a community where people love living in later life. That’s why there’s no-one better placed to recommend us as a place to work than our very own colleagues. Our Refer a Friend scheme enables existing Anchor colleagues to share job vacancies with their friends, family or neighbours and gain a cash reward of up to £250*. Refer a Friend and earn £250!
1
Go to Job Vacancies on The Bridge home page or go online to apply.anchor.org.uk/ internal_careers/vacancies
2
Find a job you think your friend would be great for and send to them via the email to a friend button
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Your friend applies for the vacancy and names you as the referrer
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If your friend is successful, you’ll get £100 when your friend starts
And you’ll get another £150 when your friend has been with us for three months
5
Scan to view vacancies
You can refer friends to work in any department or location… and what’s more, there’s no limit on how many referrals you can make.
If you’re not logged into The Bridge, you can still access via these log ins: Username: internal Password: careers
Display until: January 2023
*Terms and conditions apply. Amounts paid are subject to tax and National Insurance. See anchorbeingwell.co.uk/refer-a-friend for details
Refer a Friend user Amar, with son Ben
David Shaw
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MORE EFFICIENT
Care plans go digital A long-awaited revolution in the way our care homes work begins next year - with the introduction of electronic care planning.
A number of our care homes have been testing the technology since 2018 to understand how it works and its effectiveness in reducing the time taken to compile and update every resident’s personal care plan. And with positive results, the green light to roll-out the technology to all care homes was given earlier this year and included in our ONE Plan programme of technology and related activities. A new software provider – Person Centred Software (PCS) – has been appointed following a rigorous tender process overseen by a range of care colleagues in various roles across the country.
Plans have now been drawn up to introduce the technology to groups of homes at a time, together with comprehensive training and support, beginning very early in the new year. Director of Care Quality Cath Holmes said: “It’s really exciting to see that we’ll soon be introducing electronic care planning in all our homes. “This is a multi-million pound investment to replace paper-based processes, and a real example of how we’re listening and acting on colleague feedback – as comments about the need for electronic care planning are frequently mentioned in the Colleague Survey.”
“The existing paper plans are time- consuming to produce and update. By replacing them with a digital system, carers can spend more time supporting residents, and we’ll also improve the accuracy of the information captured, by carers being able to input it at the time care is provided.” There are also environmental benefits too: In the 12 months to April 2022, 2.4 million sheets of paper containing blank care plans were ordered and delivered to our care homes – all of which needs considerable storage space once completed.
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Thinking about
in 2023?
If you’d like to develop your leadership career, take a look at our myFUTURE talent programme. It’s designed for colleagues already in a leadership role and looking to make that next move (in six months to a year) where opportunities arise. The programme’s helping many colleagues achieve their ambitions, as Leadership Specialist Nicola Moran explains: “Having seen five colleagues take on a senior role after their myFUTURE experience, and with a talent pool ready and waiting for future opportunities, we’ll soon welcome our fourth overall intake of colleagues. We’ll be helping them build their skills and preparing them in readiness for future opportunities to step up to senior roles.
“We open myFUTURE for colleague nominations twice a year. So, when the timing’s right for the individual, they don’t have long to wait before
Five colleagues who recently celebrated completing the programme recently shared their experience. Search for ‘ #myFUTURE ’ on Workplace to find out what they thought of it.
they can submit their nomination. We then tailor the programme to those colleagues’ needs and their individual goals, and throughout the programme, they receive one-to-one guidance, support and encouragement. “If you’re in a leadership role, you’re committed and self-driven towards progressing your career and enhancing your leadership skills, the first step towards your myFUTURE journey is having an in-depth conversation with your line manager.”
Search ‘ myFUTURE ’ on The Bridge for more information about the programme
From the left: Michelle Stansfield, Nicola Moran, Allen Norman, Jaimie Dorward, Katie Nelson, Rebecca Vaughan, David Jefferson and Kate Smith
We’re encouraging colleagues to join our MyLearning Community Workplace group, where you’ll find details of the latest courses, learning opportunities and updates, advice and tips. Search ‘ MyLearning ’ on Workplace or scanthe QR code with your smartphone to visit and join the group. Looking for more opportunities to learn and grow?
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CELEBRATING SUCCESS Recognising our award winners Once again, we’ve had many colleagues nominated for our Anchor Colleague Awards for going above and beyond. Here’s a recent selection from the 75 winners we’ve had this year:
Daniel Moss, Chef Manager from Devonshire House, Suffolk, was nominated by Kristy Smith “Dan’s care, passion and input into supporting hydration to reduce risk during our hot weather, and thoughtfulness with the new menu, have been inspiring. Dan doesn’t realise just how important he is in supporting the home and myself. I feel blessed to have Dan by my side as we shape Devonshire into a person-centred hub.”
Joanne Macintyre, Leadership Specialist was nominated by Michelle Stansfield. “Joanne showed dedication, innovation, and invested time to develop a new Change Management Development Programme. She worked with a range of individuals to design and deliver new material, developed within a short timeframe, which will evolve with feedback. I would like to thank Jo for her imagination, research, and commitment to open and honest feedback so that we continually meet the needs of participants.”
Arlete Smith, Scheme Manager at Westwood Court, Leek was nominated by Bernadette Wason. “Arlete had a long and eventful day at her buddy’s location after dealing with a situation of theft from a vulnerable couple. Then there was an issue with the main entrance door and a part had to be sourced meaning the door would remain unsecure. After liaising with Anchor On Call to arrange for out-of-hours security, she left after midnight but returned to work early in the morning to continue to chase up the repair and source ongoing security.”
A great way to say thank you Nominating a colleague demonstrating our ARCH values is a great way to recognise their efforts. And, if they win, they’ll get £50 of Love2Shop vouchers and, for care colleagues, the chance of external recognition too – find out more on page 17.
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CELEBRATING SUCCESS
Fantastic work deserves wide recognition
That’s the message encouraging more care colleagues to nominate their fellow team members for our Anchor Colleague Awards, so their achievements are shared across our organisation on Workplace.
So far in 2022, we’ve received 457 individual nominations for care colleagues, a considerable increase on 2021’s figure. And while it sounds a lot, care colleagues are underrepresented in Colleague Award nominations despite being the largest group in our workforce. That’s why we’re looking to boost care nominations, so everyone’s achievements are represented and shared across our organisation on Workplace. All Care Services nominations are now put to a panel of judges made up of senior care managers, who then select that month’s winners. And it’s from these Colleague Awards winners and runners-up that we’ll select who to put forward for external awards in 2023, such as the popular Great British Care Awards. Rather than locations having to submit their own nominations, making the submissions from our already-successful Colleague Awards nominees will save care locations time in completing award entries – and ensure there’s a better chance of bringing home trophies on the night! You can make a nomination for any colleagues by going to Workplace and searching on ‘ Colleague Awards .’
The winner takes it all… We’ve had many successes over the year, and now’s a good time to reflect on our achievements before we move into 2023. All thanks to colleagues’ hard work and dedication throughout 2022, as well as being shortlisted for 12 external awards, we achieved several wins: • RSPCA – Gold PawPrint Award, for the fourth year running • 2022 Institute of Internal Communications Awards - Best Not-For-Profit Team • 2022 Institute of Internal Communications Awards - Best Magazine • 2022 Marketing Week Awards – Brand Innovation • Regional 2022 Great British Care Awards (GBCA) - details of our winners are on page 2.
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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Recognising and difference and he
Editors’ note As a former embRACE
network co-chair myself, I see the value of our networks and opportunities to have open and honest conversations with colleagues from different backgrounds.
Colleagues attending our first in-person Colleague Networks Conference in Birmingham for National Inclusion Week
It’s been a busy few months for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) activity, as we’ve shared resources and information to celebrate National Inclusion Week, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Awareness Month, Black History Month, ‘Movember’, World Menopause Day and Transgender Day of Remembrance. It’s all available on Workplace if you haven’t taken a look yet. Looking ahead, between January and March we’ll be focusing on LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and others) History
Month, International Women’s Day and Transgender Day of Visibility. #CountMeIn by updating your diversity data Everyone’s circumstances can change over time so we’re asking all colleagues to review and update their diversity data on myHR-ESS. Accurate diversity data will enable us to develop our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, helping us to value and celebrate the diversity within our organisation.
Use #CountMeIn in our Everyone Is Welcome group on Workplace when you’ve updated it. Whether you’re hybrid working, work at a location, care home, or are office-based, you’ll hold or attend meetings with colleagues. Our ‘Inclusive Meetings Guide’ is a useful resource to help you plan and hold meetings which allow everyone to feel included and teams can use as a break-out activity. Search for ‘ meeting ’ on The Bridge.
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d celebrating eritage
We’re continuing to support our colleague networks as their membership has almost doubled since September 2021. These networks work with different areas of the business as they become more involved with organisation-wide matters across Anchor. They’ve shared their feedback with our Chief Executive Sarah Jones, on how Anchor can be a more inclusive and diverse place to work. Interested in our networks? Please get in touch with Teagan.Robinson@Anchor. org.uk or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
Personal pronoun badges were introduced as part of June’s Pride celebrations. You can now order yours to wear on your lanyard or workwear using the Ask Office Support portal. To find out more about and helpful guidance on personal pronouns, go to www. AnchorBeingWell.co.uk/EDI The badges are one of the things our new Equality, Diversity, Inclusion Officer, Henry Fairnington has been impressed with since joining: “My personal pronouns are he/they and one of the best EDI resources I’ve seen since joining is the pronoun guidance, which I found very informative. “It’s great to join an organisation where EDI feels integrated and, having had an opportunity to meet and start working with colleagues from our EDI networks, I’m now looking forward to meeting more colleagues and residents in the coming months.”
n
Enter the arch competition for free! Select the correct answer to the question below for a chance to win £50 in Love2Shop vouchers in our arch competition. Where can you find more information about money- saving and other colleague benefits? a) Using Google b) At www.Anchor.org.uk c) At www.AnchorBeingWell.co.uk To enter for free, email your answer to Arch@Anchor.org.uk , or enter online by scanning the QR code with your smartphone or searching ‘ arch ’ on The Bridge. Or, post your completed form in a stamped envelope to arch competition, Anchor, 2 Godwin Street, Bradford BD1 2ST
Name: Job title and location:
Phone number: Email: Answer: Closing date: 28 February 2023 Congratulations! To the winner of our previous competition, Care Assistant Sarah Roberts from Moore Place Care Home, Esher, who correctly answered 11 as the number of times #ListeningAndActing appeared in the August issue of arch .
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MORE EFFICIENT Investing for a greener future Being as sustainable as we can is hugely important to us as an organisation, and increasingly so, as the cost of living – and cost of energy – is rising.
We reported on the progress of our environmental, social and governance sustainability in our recent annual Sustainability Report. It included an update on our actions to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for our existing properties, such as our programme of Cavity Wall Insulation funded by E.ON that’s already insulated nearly 8,000 residents’ homes. Grant-funded opportunities like this make the most of ‘fabric-first’ opportunities for reducing energy use, such as ‘fabric’ measures like insulation and windows. Our new developments now also include solar panels and our new Wharfeside care home has been built to be carbon-neutral and is a great example of just how energy- efficient our homes can be – see page 8.
We’re also developing plans to reduce our climate footprint further. Liz Davenport, our Property Sustainability Director, has been working on the development of our new Sustainability Strategy. “When it launches in 2023, the strategy will set out how we’ll contribute further to the net-zero carbon 2050 agenda, by setting ourselves challenging targets to deliver energy and water savings and increase biodiversity, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” “We know colleagues and residents are keen to help too, so work’s underway to run pilots across 2023 for electric vehicle charging at a number of our housing locations. Introducing charging points at thousands of
locations poses many challenges and these pilots will really help inform how we approach any wider introduction. We’re also bidding for funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. If successful, we’ll pilot new approaches to retrofitting a range of energy efficiency measures at some of our locations over the next two years.”
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