Chocolate Treats For All Gives Care Staff A Golden Glow

Care sector staff who told Investors in People inspectors how much they ‘love coming to work’ have even more reason to be happy after being rewarded by their employers – with chocolate!

Comments from staff were instrumental in the Regard Group, the UK’s third largest private care provider in its sector, retaining the coveted Investors in People Gold status.

Staff across the whole organisation were randomly selected for interview by the inspector and encouraged to be open and frank about their views on how they felt Regard meets the Investors in People standard.

Less than half of organisations nationwide succeed in retaining the Gold status when they are reassessed.

To celebrate, everyone who works for Regard received a golden envelope with ‘Gold’ chocolates.

There were also a number of randomly-placed lucky golden tickets which entitled the members of staff who found them to a Virgin Experience voucher.

This created much excitement and a real sense of fun across the organisation nationwide as part of the celebrations to recognise the Investors in People gold re-accreditation.

Regard has a dedicated staff of more than 2,600 and all of them, from maintenance staff to regional directors to support workers had an equal chance of finding a golden ticket.

Carole Edmond, CEO of the Regard Group, said: “We were delighted to retain the Investors in People Gold Award and to learn that almost all our staff who were interviewed talked about high levels of job satisfaction and how interesting, challenging and inspiring they find their work.

“We thought it was only right that we said ‘thank you’ and gave a little something back to staff, so we organised the Find a Golden Ticket event, sending out envelopes with the chocolates and generating some excitement and anticipation as people opened them to see if they had a lucky golden ticket inside.”

Carole also delivered a podcast to all staff to thank them for their contribution to retaining the highly-coveted and respected gold Investors in People status.

Despite successfully retraining the gold accreditation, Carole said the Regard Group will not be resting on any laurels and remains fully committed to a process of continuous improvement.

She said: “We have evaluated the reports and feedback, and as a result, are determined to continue to create the conditions where our staff can enjoy their work.

“We will continue to create career pathways, to empower staff to grow and develop and we will keep focusing on the health and wellbeing of staff, enabling them to fulfill their potential.

“The Investors in People inspectors said they had noted our staff’s ‘deep-seated commitment’ to the people they support, and staff’s expressed conviction that Regard delivers truly person-centred support, which was extremely satisfying and heartening to hear.

“We need to ensure we continue to encourage that kind of culture as it means our staff will have the skills, motivation and desire to provide the very best levels of care to the people we support.”

Regard has a dedicated staff of over 2,600 people on 167 sites across the UK, caring for more than 1,300 people with learning disabilities, mental health needs and acquired brain injuries through specialist residential services, supported living services, outreach support and day resource centres (OWL), all focussed on positive outcomes.

‘Investors in People’ is a business improvement tool administered by UK Commission for Employment and Skills and supported by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

For further information see www.regard.co.uk