Workplace culture is crucial for the success of any business. It has a huge impact on employee engagement, drives innovation, attracts talent, improves overall performance and reduces staff churn. By prioritising workplace culture, companies can create an environment where everyone thrives.
Great Place to Work is a global authority on workplace culture. They help companies to build and sustain high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures.
Through a confidential and verified survey process, colleagues and employees are invited to answer questions on topics such as diversity, inclusivity, happiness at work, confidence in management, development, pay, gender equality, wellbeing and more.
If the survey results meet a certain criteria, a company can achieve Great Place to Work certification. This requires an overall Trust Index survey score of 64.5% or above. This score reflects the overall employee experience, including trust in leadership, pride in work, and camaraderie among colleagues.
Putting people first
Colosseum Dental is the only UK dental group that’s officially certified a Great Place to Work, with a Trust Index survey score of 85%.
Nicola Bebbington, Colosseum Dental’s HR director, shared her insights: ‘Investment in people is a key part of our strategy, along with a very carefully managed approach to recruitment. We’re fiercely protective of our workplace culture, which we’ve established through a dedicated commitment to ensuring our people feel valued, cared for, appreciated and included.
‘A good workplace culture doesn’t just happen by accident. It happens when like-minded people come together, working towards a shared vision and aligned common goals. It can’t be copied or bought. And it doesn’t fall into place overnight. It takes time, care, collaboration and a humancentric approach to structure and strategy.’
Happy, inclusive and productive workplaces
She added: ‘Over the last three years, we’ve achieved Great Place to Work certification with an excellent survey score. We’ve also been recognised as one of the UK’s best workplaces for women, for wellbeing and for development (ranking in the top 20 for each of these categories).
‘And we’ve recently been listed as one of the UK’s best workplaces overall (top 50), amongst all “extra large” companies within the Great Place to Work portfolio. This places us in a cohort alongside some of the world’s biggest and most reputable employers, such as Hilton, Aviva, Adobe, Cisco and Experian – to name just a few.
‘Of course, achieving these accolades and certification is important to us. But what’s moreimportant, is the hard work and effort that goes into maintaining our happy, inclusive and productive workplaces. Also, the survey results (and assisting feedback) help to guide our business decisions in a way that puts people first. This informs our policies, our strategy, our team structures, ways of working and processes. And most importantly, it highlights areas where we need to improve – triggering responsive action plans to address the issues that matter the most to our staff and colleagues.
The secret formula
‘We don’t really have a secret formula (although there are some things we like to keep to ourselves). But here’s a summary of some of the things we’ve put in place, to secure happy, productive and collaborative workplace environments.
‘It’s our belief that we can’t expect our business to grow and thrive if we don’t make it possible for our people to do the same. Our Academy launched in 2023 – offering structured, flexible and career-enhancing training to colleagues in all roles, including CPD and personal development content.
‘We work alongside our practice teams to ensure alignment and focus on our purpose, our vision and our values. Our top level objectives and KPIs are ambitious, but achievable, clear and relevant to all job roles. Our recruitment team work tirelessly to ensure every new team member is a perfect fit – never hiring in a hurry just for the sake of filling a role.
Family feel
‘We constantly strive to meet the needs and wants of our people, providing the best tools and resources to support them in optimising their potential and providing excellent patient care. We hold regular networking and social events to bring our teams together, resulting in the formation of meaningful relationships and friendships across our nationwide estate.
‘Despite being part of Europe’s biggest dental group, there’s a genuine sense of “family feel” team spirit amongst our practice teams – they enjoy the benefits of corporate ownership, but they’re also encouraged to manage and operate with local autonomy.
‘We offer flexible, family and lifestyle friendly working arrangements whenever possible, a mix of excellent staff benefits and access to a multitude of resources for wellbeing and managing mental health.’ ‘Of course, any company can claim to be a Great Place to Work. But we can actually prove it. And we’re incredibly proud of that.’
