It's always personal

Whether a company succeeds or fails, innovates or stagnates, improves or falls behind its competitors, it’s not just business – it’s personal. My HR background helps keep me focused on this reality, which every effective manager understands: business is always about the people.

At a strategic level, the SUEZ commitment to the triple bottom line means we measure our performance in terms of what we achieve for people as well as the planet and profit. Our strategy for becoming a people-centric learning organisation is implemented through a range of company policies – from health and safety to learning and development, and from talent acquisition and management to equity for all and a comprehensive employee assistance programme. And we enhance and bolster this approach through many initiatives ranging from our diversity and inclusion networks to days off for volunteering in the community.

The challenge, which grows with organisational size, is to ensure that everyone at every level knows and feels that this commitment is personal ?to them and their professional development and wellbeing. Constant and consistent communication is crucial, but also fresh attempts to reach out to employees and encourage them to engage with what we’re offering.

People Week

That’s what People Week was all about. A global SUEZ initiative, it was both new for 2024 and a development building on themed weeks in previous years covering topics such as mobility, training, and engagement. From 14 – 18 October, daily campaign events focused on these and other aspects of our people priorities with the aim of informing, motivating and empowering colleagues to take control of their careers.

Group Chairman and CEO Sabrina Soussan introduced the week’s programme in a short video message to employees in all SUEZ business units around the world. Her message was clear, urging colleagues to discover and embrace the opportunities available to help them grow, develop their skills, and support the causes they care about.

The best people to showcase those opportunities are the colleagues who have already seized them and are living the SUEZ values in their daily jobs. Our sustainability champions, for example, are among our most persuasive advocates for the sense of purpose to be found in our activities to promote sustainability and generate social value in the communities we serve. They can explain in a relatable way the connection between personal growth and the company’s triple bottom line approach that underpins everything we do.

Our regional learning and development teams were hugely central to People Week. Hosting a series of ‘marketplaces’, our regional trainers were on hand at these pop-up ‘shops’ on SUEZ sites around the country to chat with colleagues and outline the opportunities that best match each person’s individual interests and needs.

Inspiring possibilities

One of these marketplaces was held in Liverpool on Tuesday 8 October to coincide with our annual Women’s Network conference. This year’s theme was #InspirePossibilities – a call to action spread beyond the conference hall through a video of inspirational stories by women who have forged successful careers in SUEZ. Covering themes such as secondments and confidence-building, the video’s aim was to show female colleagues some of the ways we can help them advance in their careers while supporting them to maintain a healthy work/life balance. The conference was attended by nearly 90 women from across SUEZ UK and included inspirational women speakers as well as a learning activity developed fully in-house borne from the principles in Paul McGee’s book, S.U.M.O, ‘The Straight-Talking Guide to Succeeding in Life’.

An equivalent to that #InspirePossibilities video targeting male employees was launched on the following day. Hearing someone you can relate to share their career journey is one of the most powerful ways to get a fellow employee to stop and think, “I could do that”. We hope that the personal stories of colleagues who have progressed from frontline roles to managerial and director levels will inspire more to follow.

Career mobility may mean moving from manual jobs – via internal development courses or degree apprenticeships – to technical roles or management. As part of an international group, there are also opportunities to work beyond the UK. Four employees from across the Group who took that step shared their experiences at an international career mobility roundtable. The online discussion was open to anyone interested in this possibility.

Mentorship

It's now two years since we launched our formal mentoring programme, which was the focus of People Week’s penultimate day. Again, to convey the value of mentoring and how it works, we asked people who had taken part in the programme to explain in their own words the difference it had made in their working lives so far.

Our aim was to recruit more mentors as well as mentees. Both benefit from introductory training before they join the programme. The mentees shared how being mentored had boosted their self-confidence and problem-solving skills, and encouraged self-reflection, which is so important in our work as well as our personal lives. Mentees also expanded their networks, which benefits mentors too as they improve their leadership and communication skills.

As People Week ended, we reinforced its central message that people can take their career journey into their own hands. We reminded them of the many options we provide – from behavioural learning opportunities and building a personal development plan to professional body memberships, sponsorship for further education, and internal vacancies and secondments.

I was thrilled with the level of interest and enthusiasm at the conference and shared from our other events. The feedback by our trainers from the regional pop-ups was also extremely positive. But it doesn’t stop here; we will continue to promote a culture of continuous learning and growth – both at personal and organisational level.