Admiral Group recently ranked #4 on the Great Place to Work Best Workplaces list 2015. In this interview we ask their Head of People Services Ceri Assiratti some questions on their culture and why they think they ranked so highly.
What’s the fundamental reason you ranked so highly on the Best Workplaces list this year?
Our position is based on what our employees think about working for Admiral which makes it very gratifying. Everyone here works incredibly hard to make Admiral the success it is and we want to make coming to work is enjoyable and rewarding so we do our best to make sure being here is as pleasant as possible. We believe, this is reflected in our results and success in the lists over the years.
How do you overcome the challenges of creating a coherent engagement culture across so many locations and so many diverse, dispersed workforces?
We have a core Group philosophy which our different offices, locations, brands and operations around the world use as a basis for creating their own culture. We encourage them to put their own stamp on their company culture, and are delighted to see that they get recognised as great places to work in their own countries. The senior managers of our operations around the world are embedded in the Admiral culture and drive it forward in their own operations, which make for coherent yet distinct identities for each operation.
Reward and recognition is a big part of the Admiral culture and you highlight that you give share options to employees. Is it essential to give staff more of a financial stake in success if you want them to be engaged?
Whilst many companies use share schemes to reward senior managers, Admiral’s scheme is unique because it covers all of our staff, regardless of seniority. Everyone shares in the company’s success and this sense of ownership and belonging exists throughout the organisation. For such young people, many doing their first full-time job, being given shares in the company in which they work is very unusual and allows them to feel part of the Group. Our share schemes are one of the factors that help to motivate our staff to give their best every day.
Is taking action on motivation an intrinsic part of creating an engaged culture?
By motivating our staff we feel that we get the best out of them as individuals and they are happy to come to work. We believe that ‘People who like what they do, do it better’. This means we go out of our way to make working for Admiral Group as rewarding and enjoyable as possible. By creating this atmosphere we believe our staff will give our customers the best possible service and the business can continue to be a success.
You’ve come a long way on your engagement journey with rankings for over a decade on the Great Place to Work list. What will be the key to taking your engagement journey to the next level?
As with all the staff surveys we undertake, whether internal or external, we take the results very seriously. They provide us with valuable feedback from our employees and are a perfect way for us to identify areas where we may need to improve, and also what we do that staff like. We like to share the results with our staff so they feel their voices are being heard and we regularly update staff on any changes being made. Staff then feel that the surveys they complete are worthwhile, and that it’s their feedback that helps us take engagement to the next level.
