Generation is on a mission to change education to employment around the world.

We operate in 17 countries, and my remit is to oversee the global hub of the organisation. The organisation has been running for around 11 years now offering training and job placement to get people into work and to support careers that might otherwise be inaccessible for them. Since we were founded in 2015 we’ve seen 155,000 graduates from our programmes, 81% of graduates are placed within 3 months and our work has helped people generate around 2.5 billion dollars in wages. This is not just about running education programmes but understanding what happens to recipients of our programs *our alumni) in the years after they graduate – are they employed and can they meet their daily needs. We’ve found 73% attain a living wage or above.

I joined the team 5 years ago having already been working for an international company. Generation works 100% remotely – I’ve never met my boss in person. We have 95 colleagues across 23 countries so while it’s not a large head count it is very complex from a people perspective. I lead a global HR team based in USA and UK.

Managing a global workforce means making sure everything is equitable and that we’re listening to everyone.

When I started at Generation the organisation did not have the best set up for the kind of workplace it was. We therefore started to engage with Employer of Record (EOR) providers which made things more straight-forward and opened up the opportunities to attract more global talent. In some locations employees are directly employed by us, but in others it’s indirect. However we offer equitable employment opportunities, and everyone needs to feel engaged to the same extent. 

Recently we’ve been updating the global employee handbook, and we’ve needed to make sure that each employee location is aligned to local labor laws and all the other globally applicable elements of life at Generation.

we need to ensure what we’re doing in one place comes across in the same way somewhere else.”

Working in this type of fully remote global organisation means having to deal with a level of ambiguity around the world, but we just  roll up our sleeves and get on with it. Also because we’re in the not-for-profit sector we need to be creative in what we offer to our people and very focused on the things that matter to them whilst still driving forward our mission and creating impact.

As part of this we carry out pulse surveys among employees covering employee satisfaction and and wellbeing. We aim to do this twice a year and it means we can demonstrate how things are developing and changing each year. We track the results from our surveys and take action to create the best employee experience we can. With people located in many different countries we need to ensure what we’re doing in one place comes across in the same way somewhere else and our teams feel engaged and a valued part of our mission, not left out. 

If you want to create a unified global workforce you need to get the culture right.

We’ve worked hard to build and protect our culture. We are intentional about how we show up for one another, treat each other, and live our values.

When you work in a global, listed organisation serving blue-chip customers, ESG is not something you can treat as optional. It is a requirement. It’s expected by regulators, by investors, and by the markets in which we operate.

But ESG is not just about reporting. We need to be constantly looking forward – defining targets and tracking progress as well as publishing results. We also need to approach ESG as an integral part of business strategy, building a long-term direction that shapes how the organisation operates.

At AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS, our approach has been to treat ESG as a transformation, not a compliance exercise. That means integrating it into how we think about the business, how we manage people, and how we make decisions.

While environmental priorities are clearly important, my role as CHRO has been focused on the social and governance dimensions.

Building diversity into our hiring strategy

One of the simplest lessons I have learned is that diversity is not something you can fix later. It has to be embedded in your talent pipeline.

We operate across multiple countries, and our workforce reflects that. In some teams, you will find people from across Europe, USA, Asia and Africa working together. For us, the primary criterion has always been skills. We are open to talent from anywhere, and we actively look beyond geographic or cultural boundaries to bring the right skills and ambition into our business.

ESG is a journey.”

Like many organisations with a strong technical and manufacturing heritage, we have not yet reached the level of gender balance we would like. But we are making headway. For example, at the Andorra site of Tag Systems, a member of AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS, we have a mostly female leadership team and our COO is female too. To keep up the momentum for gender balance, we are actively encouraging more female candidates, ensuring visibility of opportunities, and being deliberate in how we build our leadership pipeline through our recruitment, selection and onboarding practices. We’re also taking a transparent approach to payment parity.

We’re focused on creating an environment where people feel included once they join us too. For us, that has meant embedding our values more deeply into the organisation. We are currently working to integrate those values into our performance management processes, so that inclusion is not just a statement, but something that is reinforced through how people are evaluated and developed.

Ethical technology and psychological safety

As an applied technology company, we are very aware that the way we use technology has human implications. AI is a powerful tool, but it can also create uncertainty for employees. People naturally ask: what does this mean for my role? Will technology replace me?

If you do not address those concerns directly, you risk damaging trust. That’s why our approach has been to make sure our team understands that we are using AI to improve processes, not to replace people. Proactive messaging and clarity are important because people need to feel that they are part of the transformation. We want to bring them with us on that journey, not risk them feeling left behind, and we can do that by helping people understand both the potential and the pitfalls.

What that looks like in practice is training programmes focused on responsible AI use, data privacy and governance awareness. In this way, we’re not just equipping our people for technical transformation, we’re also ensuring ethical culture is embedded in this brave new world.

Upskilling for the future

If there is one area where ESG, business performance and employee expectations all come together, it is skills.

If organisations do not invest in upskilling, they are not only putting their business at risk, but are also failing their people. At AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS we have taken a structured approach to upskilling, introducing an online learning platform that offers both mandatory and optional training. Employees can follow defined learning paths, but they also have the flexibility to choose areas that are relevant to their own development and interests. This includes technical training, soft skills, and emerging topics such as AI and data-related capabilities.

We also encourage employees to participate in external conferences and industry events, so they can stay connected to broader market developments.

Upskilling is about more than productivity. When people feel that they are developing and gaining relevant skills with an organisation that is investing in their future, they become much more engaged. So, our investment in a training platform not only delivers the skills we need, but also the sustainable workforce that will help us drive growth and maximise the value of our human capital.

Governance only works if people understand and trust it

As a listed company, AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS has to operate within a strong governance framework, but governance is not just about compliance; it’s also about how fairly and consistently we manage our people.

One of our key priorities has been to strengthen this area through a more aligned and transparent performance management model, and we are currently developing a group-wide framework that will allow us to assess employees using consistent criteria across all regions.

the value drivers are not policies, frameworks or reports, but people.”

But designing a good model is only part of the challenge – getting the implementation right will be critical. That is why we are placing a strong emphasis on how the model is introduced through training and communication, with local HR and leadership teams in each market playing a key role in ensuring that the model is applied correctly and consistently.

We are also moving towards a fully digital system. This allows for greater transparency, better reporting and more effective oversight, ensuring that performance data is visible, measurable and actionable.

This much I know

ESG is a journey. We are still developing our long-term targets and refining our approach with systems in place to measure progress and a clear direction of travel. Our ESG journey at AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS is not being driven by a single function, but by a governance structure that brings together leadership at the highest level, including the CEO, CFO and myself. This ensures that our ESG priorities are aligned with our overall business strategy.

If I had to summarise what I have learned from our ESG transformation so far, it would be that the value drivers are not policies, frameworks or reports, but people.

Our ESG transformation is bringing together a framework for how we hire and develop people in ways that leverage value from diversity, build trust within our organisation and create a culture that supports both business performance and governance.

Ultimately, ESG is not a bolt on; it has to be built into an organisation as a culture and a strategy.

“AI is coming to take our jobs.” It’s really not. It has huge potential for all sorts of things, but the most useful aspect is being able to reduce repetitive unthinking tasks and allow us to play at higher levels of cognition in a way to make Abraham Maslow proud.

The fear that removing manual work or finding ways to optimise processes and workflows will mean that specialists will become less, well, special, is a totally understandable fear. After all, I’m sure we all know leaders who fear becoming irrelevant and try to hold on to power for too long, often without changing to fit the new contexts and environmental shifts that happen.

With many organisations continuing to undergo organisational change, there are five key options in terms of developing an effective AI-era workforce:

• Retrain
• Redeploy
• Hire
• Contract
• Release

The bottom three are expensive and resource heavy, especially when you consider timescales around notice periods, gardening leave and onboarding. The top two allow for new opportunities for the existing workforce, but this needs to be positioned effectively so as not to scare good employees away. In a McKinsey survey of company leaders in February 2018, 55 percent of respondents from companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenue said they would laterally move more people into different or brand-new roles than they would release.

Adaptability is consistently high in the most desirable and powerful behaviours / skills for recruitment, and this should include internal recruitment. However, the classic ‘what are my transferrable skills’ fear often means that we can have a narrow view of our options – and this also applies to the business, holding people in specific roles or with a specific view of their potential based on outmoded performance frameworks. However, they may be missing a trick as the best performers don’t just leverage skills, they also use their strengths effectively.

At Strengthscope, our definition of strengths is that these are ‘underlying qualities that energise us and we are great at (or have the potential to be great at)’. These provide us with fulfilment, enjoyment and motivation to perform at our best, and when they overlap with our learned skills and are directed effectively through clear organisation goals, we achieve peak performance.

The helpful thing is that strengths can be termed ‘role agnostic’, meaning that you don’t need to have a specific combination of strengths to succeed in any role. It’s about how you apply them in different combinations based on the context in which you find yourself, providing different strategies to tackle new challenges. This massively plays to the retrain/redeploy strategy, as giving people the chance to play to strengths will lead to higher levels of engagement, empowerment and confidence.

Development levels are also higher – when playing to strengths, there is a higher chance of reaching new levels compared to compliance training, which is a simple pass/fail model. Strengths development is a journey of awareness and leans very effectively into the 70-20-10 model for adult learning through experiential application of strengths on the job. This happens while leaning on the strengths of others to broaden your scope of strengths use (as well as drawing on others where you do not have high levels of energy or motivation) and focusing on context specific learning in areas of strength. This allows development to happen in the flow of work, meaning less focus on off-sites and building trust and knowledge of how to help colleagues be at their best.

As you look at your talent management strategy for the upcoming year, consider leveraging your existing team to achieve great things, allowing them to role craft by playing to their strengths.

During the webinar, panelists Kira van Niekerk – Global Connection Director, Thomas and Charlotte (Lottie) O’Brien – Head of People & Culture at Stopford discussed how the first signs of disconnection could be detected and what HR could do to respond. Here they tackle a further two questions:

Q: How does disciplinary action work alongside addressing disconnection?

Kira van Niekerk: Disciplinary action and addressing disconnection aren’t opposing approaches – they’re parallel tracks that serve different purposes.

• Disciplinary action focuses on behaviours and outcomes: attendance, performance standards, policy adherence.
• Connection work focuses on conditions: the psychological, relational, and cultural factors that shape how someone shows up.

When used together, they give leaders a fuller picture. You can still hold someone accountable for performance while simultaneously exploring what’s driving the disconnect – whether it’s unclear expectations, unmet support needs, misalignment with strengths, or relationship breakdowns.

Healthy organisations don’t choose between the two; they apply both. Accountability sets the baseline. Connection unlocks the solution.

Q: If an employee underperforms, are we ‘letting them off’ by putting it down to disconnection? Can you spot the difference?

Kira van Niekerk: No, and this distinction is critical.

Disconnection is an explanation, not an excuse. When someone is disengaged, demotivated, or misaligned, it doesn’t remove accountability. Instead, it helps leaders diagnose why performance has slipped and what levers can be pulled to change the trajectory.

Here’s the difference:

Addressing disconnection actually creates a more robust, human-centred form of performance management. It helps leaders intervene early, reduce attrition, improve morale, and avoid formal action where possible, without compromising standards.

Lottie O’Brien: You’re not letting anyone off by considering disconnection – you’re just making sure you understand why the underperformance is happening before jumping to formal action.

Disconnection and performance management can happen together. If someone is struggling because they feel lost, overwhelmed, or out of the loop, you support them and set clear expectations.

If someone understands what’s needed but still chooses not to engage, that’s a different conversation – and that’s when disciplinary steps make sense.

Spotting the difference is mostly about behaviour:

• Disconnected = trying but not quite getting there

• Disciplinary = not engaging, ignoring expectations, or repeating issues despite support

So, you’re not excusing behaviour, you’re just treating people like humans first and making sure you’re tackling the real cause.

Q: Disconnection can feel a bit ‘soft’ to discuss sometimes. How do we make it a board-level priority – and should it be?

Lottie O’Brien: Yes – but you need to frame it in business terms, not fluffy wellbeing language.

The board listens when you link disconnection to things they care about:

• lower productivity

• mistakes and rework

• people leaving unexpectedly

• culture slipping

• early warning signs that something in the business isn’t working

Connection is basically a free performance booster for SMEs; if people feel connected, they work better, communicate better, stay longer, and spot issues early.

So, it’s not a “soft” topic – it’s a practical one that affects the bottom line.

Kira van Niekerk: It definitely should be because connection is no longer a “nice-to-have”; it is a hard business lever. To elevate it to board-level priority, reframe it through metrics that leadership already cares about:

Make connection a strategic risk and ROI issue

• Disconnected employees cost organisations in productivity, errors, turnover, presenteeism, customer experience, and innovation pipeline decay.
• Connection predicts performance, retention, leadership effectiveness, and team cohesion. This connects (literally) to core KPIs.

Tie it to financial impact

Board members respond to quantified value:

• The cost of one regretted leaver
• The drag created by slow decision-making
• The compound loss from disengaged teams
• Retention and performance uplift achieved through improved connection

Connection becomes a cost-saving and value-creation strategy.

Anchor it in organisational resilience

High-connection organisations demonstrate:

• Faster adaptability
• Stronger leadership pipelines
• Healthier cultures
• Lower risk of toxic teams or compliance issues

Boards want resilience baked into the system, not reacted to when it’s too late.

Make it measurable

With tools like the Connection Measure and Thomas Connect insights, boards see:

• Baseline connection scores
• Team-level hotspots
• Trends across leadership layers
• Impact of interventions

Once something becomes measurable, it becomes manageable – and fundable.

In a webinar from The HR World and sponsored by Thomas, panelists explored how to spot signs that employees were losing engagement with their work and what could be done to ensure they remained connected and productive as much as possible.

Engage Today: how to fight the disconnection dilemma, highlighted a common, but sometimes unseen hazard in today’s workplace. At a time of complexity and challenge for businesses and their employees a lack of trust and distance can develop. Employees can feel disenchanted with their work and consequently their contribution declines. While the signs of this disconnection can be subtle and unseen at first, there can be serious repercussions if left unchecked.

During the webinar, panelists Kira van Niekerk – Global Connection Director, Thomas and Charlotte (Lottie) O’Brien – Head of People & Culture at Stopford (Jasmine Anderson was unable to attend due to ill health) discussed how the first signs of disconnection could be detected and what HR could do to respond. Working in a small business, said O’Brien, meant that she was generally able to spot when there were issues among her workforce – in a hybrid context it was possible to see when employees seem less connected with their work and the company in general, perhaps even through their non-attendance at in person events.

Kira van Niekerk noted that HR should ensure it has policies and regular check-ins to support the identification of these kind of issues as and when they emerge. Too often what seems to be a low-level inconsequential matter can grow to something more troubling if left unchecked.

Both panelists offered worthwhile solutions to both understanding and countering disconnection in the workforce – whether based on person to person communications or more sophisticated technology based platforms. Among the most important initiatives was to ensure managers were properly trained and skilled at supporting the people they are responsible for. In this way there can always be someone looking out pro-actively to ensure everyone is content and thriving in the workplace.

The webinar is well worth a watch, offering some clear and practical advice on ensuring the entire workforce always stays engaged, happy and productive.

Thriving teams: Why change shouldn’t hold your business back brought together Scott Christie – Head of Training and Integration, Strengthscope; David Edwards – Global Head of Workforce Planning, Ericsson and Anne Guérin-Moens, Group Human Resources Director, SBM Offshore.

All agreed current times were bringing diverse pressures and uncertainties to employees and organisations. Not only are external events – economic, political and so on – creating unprecedented times of change, but organisations are also changing rapidly, altering their course according to markets and opportunities.

To address some of the negative and stressful fallout from change, the panel highlighted the importance of being clear, direct and honest with employees about the need for change and to provide the kind of support required to help teams see change through. As Anne noted one of the issues at stake for organisations is the danger of disengagement with employees – that they might feel left out of considerations when change comes, with organisations presuming instead that employees will fall into line and do whatever needs to be done. However, organisations really want employees who are agents of change, ready to take on every challenge – to be part of what Anne describes as a collaborative culture.

Scott explained that understanding employee strengths can help both for teams to work together more effectively and for individual employees to be managed in a way that is more effective for them. Gone is the one size fits all approach to people management, by understanding employee’s working style and attitude it is possible to deliver more effective support and encouragement for employees to do their best.

As far as HR is concerned, David Edwards believes the function has a clear role here, taking the initiative to lead the conversation and strategy around change. By taking on that responsibility, HR can gain status and position within organisations. This isn’t just a chance to take advantage of the opportunity but for many businesses its a way to deal pro-actively with the ongoing world around them.

The webinar is well-worth a view, packed as it is with ideas, practical examples and more.

With a growing network of MHFAiders®, innovative wellbeing campaigns, and senior leadership buy-in, Hitachi Rail is embedding a whole-organisation approach to mental health that reflects its values and its future.

Embedding a culture of care: The BeWell framework

In January 2023, Hitachi Rail launched its wellbeing framework, BeWell, which sits at the core of its UK-wide approach. Designed to support employee wellbeing across five pillars:

• Mentally well
• Physically well
• Financially well
• Feeling valued and included
• Able to learn and grow

The framework ensures wellbeing is not a one-off initiative, but a year-round, strategic priority.

Louise Williams, DEI and Engagement Lead at Hitachi Rail UK, leads this work. Having started her wellbeing journey informally nine years ago, Louise has grown what began at the Newton Aycliffe Hitachi Rail factory, into a robust UK-wide programme that now includes:

• 92 trained MHFAiders (4.3% of staff)
• 22 Menopause Champions
• A growing network of Men’s Health Ambassadors
• Localised BeWell Leads across nearly every UK site

These local leads co-deliver national campaigns and adapt them for their sites, ensuring relevance, inclusivity, and impact. Everything aligns to the theme of psychological safety for 2025, and activity is shaped by employee feedback and insight.

“We held a national planning day where we looked at our people survey results,” says Louise. “Our campaign plan for the year – including Mental Health Awareness Week and Time to Talk – is shaped directly by what our employees told us.”

Supporting MHFAiders beyond training

Louise and her team know that training MHFAiders is just the beginning. That’s why Hitachi Rail has embedded wraparound support to help sustain their role and motivation:

• MHFAiders wear recognisable green t-shirts and branded lanyards, creating visible support
• Posters and internal campaigns raise awareness of who they are and how to contact them
• A confidential 1:1 support service is in place for MHFAiders, Menopause Champions, and Ambassadors who may need debriefs after difficult conversations

Alongside the support from the organisation itself, MHFAiders are also invited to join the Association of Mental Health First Aiders, England’s first and only membership body of its kind. Membership offers access to ongoing learning, resources, and connection with a wider community, including webinars, research, and the MHFAider Support App, which provides 24/7 digital support. 

MHFAiders are also encouraged to refresh their training every three years, which ensures they can fulfil their role with confidence, skill and care. Refreshing helps reinforce key skills, reflects the latest evidence, and reminds MHFAiders of the importance of setting healthy boundaries when supporting others.

Louise acknowledges the ongoing challenge of keeping people engaged and refreshed, particularly alongside their other commitments. “Some MHFAiders want to refresh whilst others don’t, and that is ok,” she notes. “We want people to be engaged and committed to the role. We now ask people to commit to a charter at recruitment stage to make expectations clear.”

Louise has considered non-financial rewards too, from branded hoodies to thank-you events, as simple ways to show appreciation for the added responsibilities MHFAiders take on.

To deliver Mental Health First Aid training, Hitachi Rail works with MHFA England Instructor Members through Resilient People. These accredited trainers bring expert guidance and lived experience into the room, ensuring training is consistently high-quality, inclusive, and impactful.

“We’ve been a Mental Health First Aid training partner to Hitachi Rail for six years now, so have seen first-hand how important staff wellbeing is and how it’s embedded right throughout the organisation,” says Barrie Penrose, Company Director at Resilient People. “Having a framework of training and support that sits across an organisational structure – and one that is championed by senior leaders – has no doubt helped create a supportive culture and a mentally healthy workplace.

“This approach, where mental health and staff wellbeing is a first thought rather than an after-thought, where training and support is part of everyday life, not just an annual initiative, should be the corporate blueprint – Hitachi Rail’s framework is a great model for other businesses to follow.”

Railway 200: Celebrating people’s stories

Railway 200 is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate the past, present, and future of Britain’s rail industry. For Louise, it’s about more than technical milestones.

“Railway 200 is about STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths – and innovation,” Louise explains. “I also wanted to highlight the responsibility rail has to its people and customers around wellbeing and diverse perspectives.”

As part of the campaign, Hitachi Rail is sharing real stories from employees, showcasing the impact of their mental health and employee network initiatives. These stories will continue into next year using MHFA England’s My Whole Self resources as a key touch point in the celebration.

“We’ll use the My Whole Self campaign to bring together all the stories and campaigns we’ve delivered over the year,  from mental health to menopause and beyond,” she adds.

Senior leadership buy-in

A key enabler of Hitachi Rail’s success has been its leadership. Chief Director UK & Ireland at Hitachi Rail, Jim Brewin is hugely supportive of the BeWell initiatives and encouraging open conversations around mental health and wellbeing. Louise’s full-time role, having started out as an HR Advisor, is another reflection of that organisational commitment.

A whole organisation approach in action

Beyond mental health-specific roles, Hitachi Rail has created a broader environment that supports employee wellbeing through:

• Flexible and inclusive working policies
• A hybrid working model, where applicable
• Enhanced family-friendly leave provisions
• Regular employee events and engagement opportunities
• Menopause and mental health awareness campaigns

Hitachi Rail’s efforts align with MHFA England’s belief that mentally healthy workplaces are high-performing, productive, and inclusive, and that meaningful, proactive action benefits everyone.

Driving change on and off the tracks

Hitachi Rail’s commitment to wellbeing is not a bolt-on. It’s a strategic imperative, built on insight, inclusion, and real-world impact. With a growing network of MHFAiders and champions, a powerful internal wellbeing framework, and Railway 200 shining a light on the stories that matter, they are showing what’s possible when organisations invest in people as much as progress.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” says Dominic Monkhouse, business coach and CEO of Monkhouse & Company. “You can’t train Blackpool beach donkeys to win the Grand National. It doesn’t matter how good your coaching programme is, how many motivational posters you slap on the wall, or how much leadership offsite waffle you invest in – if you’ve got the wrong raw material, you’re not building a winning culture. You’re running a petting zoo.”

There is, no doubt, some truth in Monkhouse’s comment. After all, if it weren’t then recruitment would be a breeze – hire whoever you like and shape them to be whoever you want them to be when they’re in your organisation. With the right onboarding, training and support they’ll soon understand what your business is about, readily contribute in the way you expect and happily comply with your business’ values. Perfect. 

But of course they won’t.

And not just because, according Monkhouse, most training doesn’t change behaviour – in his words it just “makes everyone feel slightly better about not being very good at their jobs.” 

People are people

They won’t because people are individuals with their own sense of what is right, wrong and acceptable. Everyone has their own take on how things should be done – although equally they understand the need for agreement, compromise and respect in order to work together. So does this make recruitment pivotal to creating the right company culture? Indeed doesn’t it mean recruitment is the determining factor in building a business with the culture you, as a leader, desire?

Yes, and no.

“Hiring the right people is important for culture, but organisations must be very cautious about hiring for ‘culture fit’,” explains Zara Whysall, Research & Impact Director at business consulting services Kiddy & Partners. “Culture is complex, so this can introduce ambiguity and bias into selection decisions, and risks becoming a mask for ‘hiring people like us’. That’s a recipe for groupthink, blind spots and lack of agility – not to mention discrimination claims.”

Moreover, a tendency to recruit according to culture can mean businesses miss out on other advantages: “Sometimes organisations might even seek people with qualities that are purposefully counter-cultural, because they recognise that they need to change,” says Whysall.

The challenge of perpetuating culture

Businesses may, therefore manage their recruitment work according to how they want the business to progress, but ensuring the right culture is delivered and maintained, argues Jonathan Evans CEO of international workforce strategy consultancy Discovery ADR, depends on the actions and outlook of those already in the business rather than those who are coming through the door: “Culture must be actively set, modelled and reinforced by leaders,” he states, “otherwise, even the best-intentioned people will fill the gaps with their own assumptions. In the absence of clarity, things drift – and over time, culture can fragment or be undermined entirely. I’ve seen it happen. Everyone plays a part in maintaining culture, but without direction, it quickly becomes the Wild West.”

“Hiring the right people is a strong start, but it’s not the whole answer,” agrees Joel Marotti, Senior Managing Partner, Vertical Media Solutions. “Culture is reinforced through what leaders do, what behaviour is rewarded and what is quietly overlooked.” Marotti notes an organisation can hire people who seem aligned, but if the reality of being in the business doesn’t match the pitch, they’ll either disengage or adapt to whatever culture is there. “Culture is shaped by action and consistency,” he says. “So yes, people matter, but hiring alone won’t build culture unless it’s backed by structure, leadership and everyday habits that reflect what the company claims to stand for.”

Culture isn’t what you say in the boardroom – it’s what your people do when nobody’s watching

In fact, while leadership matters, line management probably matters more. “The bigger myth is that ‘culture comes from the top,’” says Monkhouse. “It doesn’t. Culture isn’t what you say in the boardroom – it’s what your people do when nobody’s watching. And that’s shaped, day in and day out, by line managers.”  

Monkhouse therefore argues that yes the business needs to hire right but it also needs to ensure the environment of the company is such that it will perpetuate, and perhaps only tolerate behaviour that supports the ongoing culture. 

In it together

“Culture is not something people bring with them – it’s something they co-create,” says Caroline Hughes, CEO at Conscious Leadership Development. Hughes believes hiring does matter, because it is only by getting that right that you’ll get people who are aligned to your values, vision, and ways of working – and that will mean you have employees who are more energised and ready to contribute positively. But she also emphasises that the influence of leaders – what they tolerate, reward and role-model – has a bigger influence on what company culture actually is.

“It’s about building the conditions where your people can thrive and want to bring their best,” says Hughes. “After all, both brilliant and bad leaders are created in the same environment.”

Hughes states a preference for recruiting people who will ‘stretch’ rather than ‘fit’ the culture of a company. People who push the boundaries and bring it forward: people she terms as ‘way-showers’ and role models for what better looks like. 

The best HR leaders don’t just hire for culture – they support leaders to define it, cultivate it, challenge it, and nurture its evolution

“In truth, it starts with clarity,” she says. “Being honest about what your culture actually is – not just what you say it is – and taking responsibility for how you’re reinforcing or evolving it through your leadership, structures, and behaviours.” 

This then, is HR’s role – not just as curators of great talent, but as stewards of the cultural blueprint. “The best HR leaders don’t just hire for culture – they support leaders to define it, cultivate it, challenge it, and nurture its evolution,” concludes Hughes.

The moving culture

“Culture shouldn’t be static or prescriptive – it should have the potential to evolve,” says Sam Price, Talent Solutions Director, Morson Talent.

Price says attracting the right cultural fit or complement begins with the job ad, which needs to be simple and clear but it also needs to signpost potential candidates to other sources of information. “Attracting talent that will align with a company’s culture or culture ambitions is broader and more holistic than the recruitment process alone because it is so easy for candidates to gain a picture of what an organisation is like before they apply,” she notes. “Website content, online interviews with senior leaders, tone of voice on LinkedIn – all those touch-points can influence a candidate’s perception of whether a company is a workplace that might be right for them.”

AI technology can even be brought into play here, used to offer candidates a platform through which they can ask any question they wish of the business, letting the technology scrape the information together for them articulating the brand online and ensuring it reflects the culture.

Culture, then, seems at once to be desirable as a standard expected experience, and also an evolving set of expectations, reflecting the values of a business within a world of change. Ideally, new employees will ‘get’ the idea, but also they’ll challenge and push the culture forward, leading the organisation into new, more rewarding pastures – both in terms of what the business achieves and the experience of those working for it.

Houston & Hawkes was set-up in 2019, at the start of the pandemic. While on paper this was a very challenging time to embark on a new business venture, lockdown gave us the head space to do things the right way, drawing on a passion for delicious food and a shared moral compass with a focus on caring for both people and the planet. Six-years on, we are the UK’s first B-Corp caterer and have been placed in The Caterer’s ‘Best Places to Work in Hospitality’ for the third consecutive year. 

We started the business to make a difference, to always deliver on promises and of course to eat well and have fun – these really are the fundamentals behind Houston & Hawkes. Becoming a B-Corp was natural for us – prioritising a friendly, enjoyable and supportive staff culture was the ambition from the outset and something we had enjoyed in other organisations.  We’ve started how we meant to go on and so far, it’s working!

Care at the core

Employees expect more from their employers these days – and well they should. Happy staff who feel valued, heard, supported and most importantly, safe, perform better and commit more; it’s a win-win scenario. 

At Houston & Hawkes we’ve introduced initiatives ranging from signing-up to the Mindful Employer Charter, guiding our approach to mental health support, to contributing to charities such as Hospitality Action, which helps those within our industry who have fallen on hard times. Financial insecurity is often associated with the catering sector. Traditionally, many roles are viewed as casual, and zero hours contracts are rife. No staff at Houston & Hawkes are employed in this way and we’re proud to be a Living Wage employer – something that’s not very common in our industry. 

We have an open-door policy, and that includes Dave, me and the rest of the senior leadership team.

The days of bottling up your problems and keeping what’s going on in your life from others, including your employer, are over. We’ve entered an era of greater empathy and understanding, and this is definitely a good thing. 

Rewarding staff is important too, we have recently launched our first ever ‘Company Awards’, with different categories for everyone in the business. We always do a summer and Christmas party, both of which are extremely popular. Other ‘rewards’ include quarterly senior management nominations for an outstanding individual. The winner gets to have breakfast with Dave and I followed by a well-earned day off. 

A place to progress

We want to make sure working for Houston & Hawkes is a future proof career choice. Hospitality employers also stand to lose from the traditionally ‘casual’ nature of the industry. We have clear progression routes, training programmes delivered from two London-based academies, and bursaries. In our recent employee outcomes report, net promotion rates across Houston & Hawkes stand at 79%, compared with 66% on average for our sector.

Measuring happiness, inspiring innovation

To ensure the happiness of our staff and continued progression, we conduct an annual survey. Feedback is listened and reacted to, with a full summary report sent to every individual. Off the back of this survey we have implemented new policies such as increased access to overtime and improved benefits. The breakfast with Dave and myself is something that came out of this survey. Houston & Hawkes is not just ‘our’ business, it’s theirs too, we want employees to feel part of its development. 

Alongside the survey, we use structured performance reviews, regular site visits and anonymous feedback tools to keep a close eye on team morale and engagement.

Laying the groundwork

Underpinning all of this is our B-Corp accreditation. We’re proud to be the first business in our sector to have achieved it. Embarking in this way of doing things from the outset – an extremely demanding yet rewarding process – led us to create a better, more sustainably focused and socially aware organisation. 

In fact, aligning our policies and procedures with such a rigorous scheme effectively afforded us ‘free’ consultancy. B-Corp values are in the very fabric of how our business is set-up, rather than having to adapt an established business to fit the framework.   

This isn’t the end however. We are committed to continually challenging ourselves, further enhancing our social and environmental impact and bringing increased value to our clients, customers, supply partners and teams.

Customers with shared values

Our own ethos and strong sense of self even filters down to the clients we work with. We attract like-minded businesses that also want to do the right thing by their employees and the environment. Notable clients that share our values include VodafoneThree, a progressive employer which sees the benefits of treating their staff well, nourishing them with responsibly sourced healthy and delicious food, while creating spaces for time away from the desk and socialisation. 

Of our B-Corp achievement, Charlotte Sealby, Senior Workspace Manager at VodafoneThree said: “(Houston & Hawkes’) focus on supporting the community in which they work, looking after their teams, and their relentless focus on local food and drink procurement stands out and is one of the many reasons we chose to partner with them.”

Care at the centre

Overall, our commitment to creating a people-focussed culture is integral to our success. Houston & Hawkes attracts good, hard-working people, who share our values, care about each other, care about the environment and ultimately, care about our business. 

I expect my staff to be contactable after hours. In an age where work-life balance is sacred, eyebrows often raise when I tell people this. They tend to assume it’s something I keep quiet.

Far from it. We’re deliberately very upfront about our working culture at Flexa. We don’t mind if some people don’t like it; it won’t be right for everyone, and that’s the point. We want to repel as much talent as we attract.

A big part of what makes our culture at Flexa unusual is that we embrace work-life integration over traditional work-life balance. We have core hours between 11 and 3, during which everyone is expected to be online. Outside those times, staff are free to fulfil the rest of their contracted hours when they want. We also work remotely, with an optional office space and monthly team meetups in London. This means work and life can co-exist.

But this flexibility comes with expectations. We require our team to be contactable outside of our core hours when needed. We also expect them to move fast, be adaptable, and take full ownership of their work.

Finding productivity

We’ve opted for this working style for two reasons. Firstly, because when and where people are at their most productive varies. We want to give our team the freedom to work in a way that works best for them. We know that when you give people trust and autonomy, they feel respected and will be more engaged as a result.

Secondly, keeping a rigid separation between work and home life à la traditional work-life balance is unrealistic for us. As a startup, sometimes we have early morning client calls or need to respond to urgent matters at the weekend. This is true for many workers, especially those higher up the career ladder. On the life side, sometimes you need to rush off to collect a sick child from school or attend a doctor’s appointment.

Our approach works because we’re upfront from the start. New hires share our preference for work-life integration, and like being able to start and finish early to catch a concert, or squeeze in a mid-morning gym session. They enjoy being able to live outside London and save on commuting costs and rent.

Not attracting talent

But our working culture won’t be right for everyone – and that’s a good thing.

Many employees don’t want to be reachable outside of work hours, while others will want more in-office time. This includes some Gen Z workers, who, according to our data, are the least likely among all age groups to want “remote first” roles.

We actively want to put some people off, and we do this by being really upfront with job seekers about what it’s like to work at Flexa. Other employers should do this, too.

Employers are currently in a lucky but challenging position. There is a huge amount of talent available: hundreds of applicants are applying for a single role. But this makes it harder to find the right people hidden in the mix. For us, our company culture acts as a filter.

We have fewer but more aligned applicants applying to Flexa, because only job seekers who like our way of working will apply. New hires are also far more likely to stay for longer because they know in advance that the work environment suits them. Our team shares similar working preferences, making collaboration easier.

So how can other companies do the same?

Being honest

The key is to create a strong, honest employer brand, and be upfront about the working environment you offer, whatever that is.

To do this, be really specific on your website, social media, and job adverts about your package. If you have a hybrid setup, state exactly how often staff are expected to be in the office. If you champion professional growth, list the programmes and policies you have in place to enable this.

Company cultures should repel as many candidates as they attract.

You want to show off your best bits: for example, we proudly talk about our 4.5-day working week, 45 days of annual leave, and a 45-day ‘work from anywhere’ scheme. But you also need to be realistic: the aim is to show prospective hires what your working environment is really like, beyond just buzzwords about perks and flexibility.

You should also encourage your team to share their experience on LinkedIn. At Flexa, we’ve found the authenticity of these posts goes down really well with prospective hires. We’ve hired for all our roles with no recruitment spend at all as a result.

There is more variety than ever in the environments, cultures and benefits different companies offer. This is a great thing for employers and employees, but only if employers own their brand and aren’t afraid to put some people off. Speaking from experience, being liked by everyone shouldn’t be the goal. Company cultures should repel as many candidates as they attract.