Background
As a company renowned for their unique workplace culture, Peldon Rose understands its importance and the role it plays in business success. The pandemic had a monumental impact on business culture globally and the aftershocks are still being felt today in the disjointed return to the workplace.
As the industry reignited in 2021, the size of Peldon Rose’s team grew and they onboarded 40 new employees, many of them remotely. Even with the influx of new starters combined with 35% of their people having been with the business for over five years (some with over 15 years of service) it was clear that their culture had been impacted by so much time apart.
The challenge was to reunite and reengage their people, to create magic moments, spark connections, inspire belief and support people’s purpose with moments of joy – in a safe and protected environment.
Approach
Collaboration at the core
A cohort from a cross section of the business came together to reignite their company culture. This included members of senior leadership, marketing, people and talent, wellbeing teams and their dedicated internal event coordinators, Peldon Rose Productions (PRP).
Communicating from the inside out
Having a fully remote workforce for much of 2020, Peldon Rose launched various channels of communication, including daily emails, virtual lunchrooms, and daily team check-ins to connect people. However, it was clear they were missing a home for internal communications – something their office-based community had taken for granted.
In March 2021, Peldon Rose launched TheDeck, their design-led intranet that acts as a destination digital hub to connect their teams. Encapsulating their unique culture, it’s a place where teams feel proud to share their work and knowledge and to celebrate success. They use the platform to cascade important business updates, onboard new starters, celebrate birthdays and, most importantly, let everyone know when there’s cake in the kitchen!
Finding ways of onboarding and developing new starters in a hybrid world was essential. Induction sessions were moved online, and virtual welcome lunches were held to introduce new starters to their colleagues safely and securely. Heading into 2022, the team reunited in the workplace and continued to grow, and with that their culture grew from strength to strength.
Embedding a wellbeing strategy
Peldon Rose partnered with industry leading charity Mates in Mind to ensure their people and practices had the right level of support, resources and training in the world of mental health. They also have a dedicated wellbeing team who create an annual wellbeing calendar. The team organise sessions such as Mental Health Awareness Week and coordinate a plethora of activities to give their people time away from their day job including massages, yoga, run clubs, nutrition workshops, financial advice, and company-wide breakfasts.
Bringing moments of education, fun and joy
Despite the challenge of hybrid working, PRP hosted 15 events in 2021 and 38 in 2022 including Pancake Tuesday, the Platinum Jubilee, and lots more. In early 2023, their annual ski trip made its return, this time to Les Deux Alpes, and we brought the Après to Wimbledon with a slope-worthy Après night.
Peldon Rose used annual calendar days to increase awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion topics including Black History Month, Pride, and International Women’s Day with the aim of both raising awareness and educating their people about the issues faced and how to overcome them. They adopted a multichannel approach including lunch and learns, and evening panel events with industry-leading guest speakers.
Creating a safe environment in line with Covid-19 guidelines
Embarking on their return-to-work strategy in 2020 and 2021, the dedicated team evaluated the functionality of their office and construction site processes to ensure the safety of their people when returning to the workplace and to support their growing team. They created relevant signposts, accessible videos, and virtual live walk-arounds to demonstrate the safety measures in place, so that people knew what to expect before returning. They introduced flexible working hours to avoid congested commuting times, Perspex screens at desks and social spaces, temperature testing for all entrants to the building, and provided masks, test kits, sanitiser, and home care packages.
Outcome
A certified great place to work
Peldon Rose are proud to have forged and nurtured a destination workplace their people can and want to work from – an environment that offers many benefits to people and their mental and physical health, both of which had been impacted by the pandemic. They pride themselves on creating a culture that everyone, no matter how long they have been at the business, or the role they play within it, feels included and empowered. Their culture is what makes them who they are. It’s why people choose to work at Peldon Rose, why they’re honoured to have been awarded Best Small Company for Business Culture at the Business Culture Awards, and most recently in 2023 a Great Place to Work certification.