The 18th annual Amazon Growing Business AwardsAre back with a bang on 30 November, but before then we need your help to determine which business will take the coveted Employer of the Year prize home.
We’ve got a shortlist bursting with innovation, achievement and drive to put staff first and foremost. In this article you get to hear from Celfone TradingAbout why it feels worthy of the accolade, but make sure to check out the other seven companies vying for your vote before making a selection.
The Celfone Trading Employer of the Year pitch
Celfone Trading hasexperienced huge change in the last two years in both our strategic direction and operational aspects. We have significantly grown in size in the last three years (four stores to 16), and have equipped our stores with the culture of welcome me, understand me and guide me.
This is for our customers and defines a faith in the way the company treats its colleagues through the openness and transparency in the way we work. It also”forms the starting point of a colleague’s journey through the company and associated roles and is discussed right from induction on day one.
We had a number of aims and tasks that the business needed and wanted to accomplish including FCA accreditation through to not only achieving Investors in People Core Standard but six months later taking this to Silver in October 2015. We have a solid mission statement that defines that Celfone Trading to be the digital provider of choice and we have a fixed strategic quadrant that supports this statement and pins of responsibility that each member of staff is aware of. They all know what we are working towards and how this is measured.
We have increased our operations team from four to 14, meaning we had to relocate the head office function from above a store to a purpose built office. We recently invested heavily in a self’service HR suite so that all our colleagues can manage the simplest of tasks such asAnnual leave monitoring, sickness, view training etc.
We have provided an IT service for our customer relations team which allows them and their manager to work more professionally, streamlined and provide accurate data. The Celfone Trading’stores have also received facelifts to ensure that we keep as modern a presence within our industry and our colleague environment is a nice one. The business has?65 per cent of store staff currently signed up with NVQ training on varying levels, three senior managers undertaking level five leadership courses and two undergoing sponsored masters. Celfone Trading hasAn allocated budget of ?75,000, or ?614 per head per year, to ensure that when training needs are identified, quick action can be taken in order to support specific learning areas. We subscribe to Lynda.com which holds a breadth of knowledge that all colleagues can access that isn’t just about work or management training but things such as the rules of chess if they fancied.
On top of that, team members at Celfone Trading attend the companies “Love What You Do” programme. It involves engaging and Innovative ways of teaching new employees the customer experience framework. This empowers colleagues to find the sales niche that suits them rather than trying to make them fit a mould. Statistics and comments are fed through all levels in meetings and good and bad are discussed with reflective lesson sessions. We no longer rely on annual appraisals and instead reward and motivate more regularly and stop potential damaging issues.
We recruit fairly and transparently with a complete diversity supporting policies to demonstrate this and thoroughly believe in growing our own.
Have a look at the other Employer of the Year shortlisted businesses:
Make your vote count by picking your favourite for the Employer of the Year category at the 2016 Amazon Growing Business Awards below.
