Company culture and reputation are important because they affect everything, from sales and marketing to client relations and recruitment. Having great people is an essential part of running a B2B PR agency, which is why at Definition, we spend a lot of time on our people strategy. We know that we need to keep the great people we already have, to attract the best clients, and vice versa. PR is a competitive field, and PR pros have plenty of choice in where to work, so we do our best to keep our people happy – and to keep them at Definition.

One of the main ways to do that is to gather in-depth, specific data on where we are succeeding and where we can improve. That’s why we turned to the Great Place to Work® UK (GPTW UK) Best Workplaces™ survey. This year, we submitted for the second time – and while we eagerly await the results, we’re taking the time to reflect on the process and what we’ve learned from previous years.

Encouraging two-way dialogue

The best way to find out what people want is to ask them. We run monthly ‘start, stop, continue’ surveys with our team, where they get to tell us (anonymously) what they would like Definition to start, stop and continue doing.

In addition, a while ago, we made a long list of current and potential future benefits that we could offer and compared them to other equivalent size companies. Once we finalised our list, we ran a workshop with the entire team to discuss what people valued. Sure enough, our team told us what they wanted – and generally, it wasn’t too much to ask.

The next step was completing the GPTW Best Workplaces™ survey and analysing the results.

Completing the GPTW UK Trust Index© survey and Culture Audit© assessment

The survey works as an analysis tool, a platform for recognition of your efforts, and it helps to attract new talent. The process starts with the Trust Index© survey with employees. It measures the level of trust and engagement within the organisation, considering factors such as values and ethics, leadership effectiveness, inclusivity, wellbeing, and innovation.

Next is the Culture Audit© assessment, which is an extremely detailed piece of work based on our policies, processes and results. The combined results of these assessments determined our success and ranking as a 2019 Best Workplace™.

The work paid off, as we ranked sixth in the UK’s Best Workplaces™ 2019 small business category. We are also grateful that we were recognised as a ‘Best Workplace™ for Women,’ and we have received the ‘Excellence in Wellbeing’ accreditation for two years running.

Using the process to make changes

They say that anything worth having doesn’t come easy, and in this case, we tend to agree – the award entry is detailed and takes some time. But it’s worth it: not only do you (hopefully) get an award, but you also gather insights about your company that you might not have done otherwise.

After you receive your results, GPTW UK provides a detailed employee engagement report that highlights key areas of strength and areas for improvement. Upon getting ours, we split the whole company into three teams to look at where we did well, where results appeared inconsistent, and where we fell short. Each group discussed the results and contributed their ideas for achieving and maintaining a high score, and we collated the feedback to inform our action planning.

The work didn’t stop once we got our award. We’ve continued taking on further CSR and engagement initiatives and we are always working to improve. We’re proud to put our employees first and honestly believe this is the key to our success as a B2B PR agency.

For more information on GPTW UK, check out this case study, and watch this space for our 2020 results!