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County Durham housing association picks up two stars

believe housing has picked up a top accreditation as a great place to work.

The prestigious ‘two-star’ Best Companies accreditation has been awarded to believe housing less than two years after it was created. It is the first time that the County Durham-based housing association has been involved in the survey and accreditation.

The survey, given to all 575 believe housing employees, focuses on eight factors including leadership, wellbeing and fairness. believe housing scored particularly highly on the positive contribution that the organisation makes to the wider community; scoring more strongly than most ‘two-star’ firms.

Chief Executive of believe housing, Bill Fullen, said:

“I’m very excited by these results. To get two stars at any time is quite significant; to do it during the midst of a global pandemic when people are quite exhausted during the third lockdown is phenomenal.

“For an organisation like ours that mixes key frontline trade workers and office-based staff to achieve a strong and consistent culture can be quite a challenge, so this result is something to be very proud of.

“We don’t see this as finished business though. We know engaged people deliver great services for customers, and we want to attract and retain the best people to do that. We need to continue our focus on wellbeing of employees. We have to be sure we support colleagues who might be feeling a bit anxious due to the world around us right now.”

Chair of the believe housing board, Judith Common, said:

“Having a workforce that is both motivated and empowered to do a great job, is key to delivering the brilliant services our customers deserve. This work not only proves that we’re heading in the right direction, but also shows us the ways that we can improve still further.

“It’s only through the passion and dedication of staff at all levels that this has been possible in under two years, and against the backdrop of a global pandemic. Everyone deserves real credit here.”

The positive results from the Best Companies accreditation is echoed in the annual tenants’ satisfaction survey, which reported that 86.6% of customers were satisfied with the services believe housing provides during 2020.

The Best Companies survey is the most respected measure of work satisfaction in the country. The independent research has been carried out for 20 years and informs the annual ‘Best companies to work for’ list. These results mean that believe housing is hopeful of a strong performance in the 2021 list.

Director of Transformation and Culture at believe housing, Julie Brayson, added:

“I think this is a very important result. The challenges of the pandemic should not be underestimated, but we’ve raised expectations and delivered tangible results.

“It’s a great example of how successful digital transformation can be. We’ve now got people working for us who we’ve never physically met. And yet we’ve still succeeded in making them part of the family; they’re part of the really positive culture we have now.

“Now we’ve got a really strong baseline to build on. We know that we can focus on the 100 things we can do 1% better to keep driving up performance and improve services for customers.”

The Best Companies data comes hot on the heels of believe housing’s culture survey, using the Barrett Formula, which recorded a score of 86 out of 100.

Every member of staff surveyed by Best Companies also had the chance to leave anonymous comments about how they feel working for believe housing.

For more information on believe housing visit www.believehousing.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Believe Housing .