Positive culture is a major key to success.

As contractors we need to refocus on company culture!

The Mechanical and Electrical industry is notoriously old-fashioned, has high staff turnover and because it focuses on financial rewards over other benefits, this means that competitors often poach staff with the promise of more money.

I know from experience that engineers can be regarded as a tool for the business, rather than a human being. But I am pleased to see that times are changing as younger people come in, believing a rewarding career is about so much more than money. Therefore, to be a successful business, employers have to adapt accordingly.

As a team we have put a lot of effort into creating a positive workplace culture at GW Power-Safe. We support people who are ambitious and I feel this has contributed to us having a happy working environment, great staff retention and open lines of communication.

Some of the key elements include:

• Connecting team and brand - we all feel proud to be part of it.
• If employees have good rapport with a client, we make sure they go back to do future jobs to keep the connection.
• Our team talk about their experience which makes others want to work here too.
• We pay based on value, skills and experience, as well as positive work ethic and attitude.
• Provide quarterly personal performance reviews.
• Promote positive values.
• Mentors - we also have mentors within our business, supporting each other through both professional and personal issues.
• Spend quality time on team building; drinks after work, 5-a-side football tournaments - any reason to spend time together outside of work.
• Excellent staff training to keep pushing the bar.
• Camaraderie is the bond that holds people together.

A recent success story is our General Manager, Rob Dixon. He’s made a fantastic contribution to our business and thoroughly enjoys his role. Rob has just been nominated for Employee of the Year in the Hull Daily Mail Business Awards and we are all pleased for Rob as he is truly dedicated to improving our company. He is a detail person, cross checking everything and I recognised early on that it was important for him to have the freedom to do what is important.

Always looking to promote from within, another member of the team has recently come ‘off his tools’ to be promoted to Electrical Manager. This creates room for others to climb the ladder and for new people to come into the company.

I never shy away from being honest with our team. We talk about leads coming in through our sales team, report on client feedback (good and bad) and having recently received our second round of funding from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, they also know about the personal risk I have in the business from a financial point of view and what the funding is being used for to grow the business (another blog about that is coming shortly).

On another note, I actually employ and work in the same office as my mother-in-law. We have an excellent relationship and she is fully supportive of everything we do, I think this speaks volumes about the way we operate as many people shudder at the thought!

We are always on the look to attract the best people to work for us. If you or someone you know is currently employed in the M&E sector, we’d love to hear from you via email [email protected]

https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/gw-power-safe-ltd?