The economy is still in turmoil and in tough times staff morale can naturally decline having potentially dire effects on a business. At AAT(Association of Accounting Technicians) - a leading education and membership body into accountancy - we believe there are three key factors that can mean the difference between high staff turnover and long term loyalty.
Flexibility
The flexible nature of our organisation has allowed us to keep hold of employees. We are firmly aware that people’s lives change - this is certainly the case with those that start families and can only work part-time. We try and accommodate our staff as best as possible and this is of course appreciated across the board.
The majority of our staff have access to flexi time benefits, can clock flexi-time and can work from home. This freedom allows people to take charge of their own time management and work in a way that suits the individual and their internal teams. It also helps to address the very important work – life balance.
Support
We avidly encourage professional development and continued learning through our students, members and the 168 staff which make up AAT head office.
Over 85 of us have been here for five years or over. I’m a firm believer that our staff retention is so high because of the opportunities we strive to give employees internally through career progression supported with training, learning and continued development.
The more we invest in our staff by helping them to flourish and succeed, the more they continue to give us their best work. We don’t only offer financial support but moral support as well as sufficient time for those employees to study alongside work.
Benefits
Our working environment is still considered unique although more businesses are implementing a hot desking policy. We’ve had this in place for the last four years and it’s been an outstanding success. The hot desking policy at AAT has allowed for a better and more fluid working environment, encouraging people to meet others, intermingle, change ideas and work with others more efficiently. It also complements our flexibility to working and there are no ‘ownership’ issues in our open plan office.
We also offer other perks: season ticket loans, cycle to work schemes, childcare vouchers, discounts of gym memberships, life assurance, a pension scheme and more. However, fundamentally what keeps employees happy regardless of a recession is a sense of worth and value. It’s a reciprocal relationship here at AAT, we listen to employees needs and help accordingly and in exchange we have a workforce of people that evolve with us, shaping our company and making it what it is today.
