Colleagues gave their views on working at Ideal Standard and heard directly from Managing Director Stephen Ewer in the first new “circle” meeting recently.
Held at Armitage, the session covered topics put forward by team members from Business Support, following an introduction from Stephen which covered our plans for 2019 and our position in relation to competitors such as Geberit and Roca.
It was attended by Megan Radburn, Emily O’Donnell, Beth Pagett, Emily Butler, Terri Walker, Dayna Hall and Ellen Burtoft, along with Stephen, HR Director Jon Edge and Marketing Projects Manager Mat Croshaw.
Issues raised included the lack of sufficient lighting in the large Armitage car park, the need for resurfacing and marked bays, and the need for better toilets, especially given the industry we are in.
Delays in vacancy filling and issues with product availability, and the problems caused by these were also covered.
There were discussions on the process mapping project, which has been looking at processes within business support over recent months, as well as questions about the introduction of a CRM system and employee rewards and recognition.
Attendees were pleased that a new London showroom will be opening soon and also about the creation of a Product Trainer role – filled by Chris Pearson – and asked for training in competitor products too.
Stephen said: “This was a really good start to our circle meetings and gave me some excellent insight into how our colleagues feel about working at Ideal Standard, what they think is good and what could be better.
“What came across very clearly was how much the group care about what they do and the pride they feel in working for the company, which was great to see."
He added: "It was interesting to hear examples of how colleagues are affected as individuals by some of the issues we are facing and this will help the senior team as we set out our priorities going forward.
"We will keep colleagues informed of developments in the topics raised in this meeting and with other issues through The Bubble and our other internal communication channels."
Circle meetings have been introduced as a forum for enabling colleagues across the business to talk to senior managers about working for Ideal Standard and to ask them questions about issues which matter to them.
They are part of a continued drive to improve internal communications with the aim of helping people across the business to understand what is important within other teams and how we are performing overall.
Other elements of this drive include the reinstatement of the monthly communications call and the introduction of The Bubble newsletter.
Circle meetings will now take place every two months. If you would like to be involved in a future meeting, register your interest by emailing idealnewsuk@idealstandard.com