Technical recruitment agency, Carrington West, continue to go from strength to strength, most recently celebrated with the 2020 Investor in People Learning & Development Award. The business, which has been based on campus since 2012, has overcome the odds in 2020 with a focus on its people.
James Fernandes, Carrington West Managing Director says, “We are very proud to have won this award especially in the wake of what has been a challenging year for everyone. Our L&D programme has been developed significantly over the past two years as we understand that our employees are the key to driving our ambitious growth plans. We have introduced a number of elements including a fully bespoke platform with hundreds of hours of video content and training materials that are designed to suit different learning styles.
“As the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we made a very deliberate decision to focus firstly on our employee health and wellbeing, but also on learning and development as a tool to help build the personal and business resilience and agility needed to operate “business as usual” . Our employees’ appetite for knowledge and self-improvement was inspiring.”
Early in 2020, Carrington West rolled out improvements to their existing health and wellbeing programme, including mental health awareness training for managers and the training and appointment of mental health first aiders.
Emily Christmas, Carrington West HR Advisor, commented, “When lockdown one was thrust upon us, our business continuity plan quickly kicked in. Not only did this ensure we had no break in our operations as we transitioned to working from home, but it also meant that we had in place a plan to support our teams from day one.
“We recognise that a “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work. Each of our employees face unique challenges, react to situations differently and have very different home working environments. We worked with all employees to implement Wellness Action Plans that help individuals address anything that could adversely affect their health and wellbeing.”
Over the course of 2020, Carrington West has run a number of initiatives to support employees and help maintain the social company culture, from fitness classes to quizzes and virtual coffee breaks. Together the team raised over £1,000 and walked 2,000 miles during a month-long mileage challenge – supporting health and wellbeing, and the local community.
Simon Bateman, Lakeside North Harbour Asset Manager, commented, “Wellbeing is embedded to everything that we do at Lakeside, and we know that our occupiers share these core values. We’re delighted to see Carrington West’s successes celebrated with this prestigious award, and proud to see our community supporting local causes too. Congratulations to Carrington West on behalf of everyone at Lakeside!”