Experience matters, so we help our talented people to develop their expertise, knowledge and skills and increase their contribution and impact. 

Employee Forum

Our Employee Forum has continued to evolve and play a growing role in employee life and company culture at Landsec. It now has 15 members, to ensure it speaks for all parts of our business. Over the last year, we have invested in external training for members, which has clarified our engagement model and ways of working, for both them and the colleagues they represent.

With the Board’s desire to build closer ties with employees, the Forum met Edward Bonham Carter, Chair of the Remuneration Committee, to better understand Landsec’s approach to executive remuneration and to let the Board know its views. The discussion was very informative, and a summary on our staff intranet was well received, opening the topic up to a wider number of colleagues. The Forum also met our Chairman in private to discuss various employee-related topics, which all parties found valuable. 

The Employee Forum has three simple aims:

1.  Represent our colleagues
2.  Support the business with communication
3.  Be a sounding board for management
    

Our Code of Conduct

This year we re-launched our Code of Conduct. The code is not just about providing access to a set of policies but a statement of how we will behave and how we will treat our customers and the communities where we work. It makes it easy for our people to make the right decisions and to know what it means to live our values. As our values articulate how we should behave every day, we refer to them throughout our recruitment process. Our aim is to attract talent who will help us to build an ‘experience’ culture at every level within the organisation. This year we also updated our Management and Leadership development programmes to align the content more to our values and leadership competencies, better equipping delegates to deliver exceptional experiences.

Employee health and wellbeing

In addition to our support for employees’ physical wellbeing, we’ve been giving close attention to the impact of mental health.

Over 40 of our employees are mental health first aiders which means that, with the support of training, they are able to:

• Spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues in fellow colleagues
• Have the confidence to step in, reassure and support a person in distress
• Use non-judgemental listening skills and knowledge to ensure our employees are guided to the support they need.

Last year we launched a mental health app, ‘Thrive’, for all employees and this was supported by a powerful campaign video. We also introduced monthly mental health first aid lunches called ‘Time for You’, where our first aiders openly share their experiences and expertise.

Developing a diverse business

Having a diverse workforce at all levels of our company will ensure we make better decisions – for our business and for our stakeholders. We believe that employing a diverse mix of people makes us a stronger and more sustainable business, and one that reflects the diverse society around us.

We consider diversity in the broadest sense, including in terms of gender, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic background, disability and sexuality. We also value and encourage diversity of thought, perspective and experience. Find out more on our diversity commitments and progress here.

Volunteering

This year more than 40% of our employees volunteered time. In total over 8,500 hours, were given by employees to support our employment and education programmes. These hours equate to over £of social value.

 This volunteering has helped to:

• Enhance the employability skills of serving prisoners and ex-offenders
• Provided and served food for people experiencing homelessness
• Delivered numerous community projects for ex-offenders, women’s charities, homelessness charities and young people.