The Wish Wash Company, based in Rhyl, has been trading for 14 years. A diverse cleaning business with divisions from residential to commercial, including cars, homes, gardens and bio-hazard. With a national contract for a large delivery company, their 78 employees are spread out throughout the UK.
The Wish Wash Company has a strong focus on employee engagement, with recruitment selection and retention of their staff being key to support their business but without their own HR function recruitment processes and performance management were inconsistent across the business.
Keen to address this, the company registered to take part in Chwarae Teg’s Agile Nation2 Business Programme and access the free consultancy support provided. Following the all staff survey and review of current working practices, Chwarae Teg’s Client Partner made a number of recommendations and supported Wish Wash to implement some changes.
Developing and adopting a formal recruitment process
The basic, non-compliant application form used by Wish Wash told them very little about candidates, making the selection process difficult and time consuming. As part of the Agile Nation2 Business Programme, Chwarae Teg delivered their Best Practice Recruitment & Selection workshop and provided Wish Wash with templates. With our expert guidance, a comprehensive, compliant and professional application form was developed, and as a result, managers observed an improvement in the quality of job applications received. Not only did this save valuable management time when sifting and shortlisting, it provided a wider candidate base from which to appoint.
In addition to this, Wish Wash decided to add a separate diversity monitoring form to the recruitment process in order to monitor the diversity of its applicants, to analyse whether they are engaging with the widest possible candidate pool. Diversity monitoring also enables managers to analyse the rich mix of staff backgrounds, to ensure the business is supporting its employees.
Upskilling managers in effective Performance Management
Managers had received little if no formal training on managing staff prior to joining the AN2 Business Programme, with several feeling unprepared to conduct performance improvement discussions. Management training, provided for all managers, included the benefits of effective and regular performance appraisals, and a new process implemented ensures formal, regular one to ones with staff.
Handling difficult conversations was also covered within the training and scenarios were talked through to support the managers to gain the confidence to manage poor performance in a timely and professional manner.
Managers now have the confidence in themselves and the process to deliver effective and regular two way reviews with staff and have the knowledge and skill to handle poor performance. Staff feel valued because they have opportunity to discuss their progress on a regular basis.
Implementing formal Reward & Recognition across the organisation
Wish Wash Company is keen on employee engagement and strives to ensure that staff, wherever they are based, are included in business values and decisions but this area scored low on the staff survey. The business recognised that although a great deal of the roles are basic, earning low wages, a formal recognition scheme would be beneficial, to get all staff involved.
An Employee of the Month has now been put in place with staff within teams nominating their colleagues, and vouchers being awarded. There is also a Depot Award, which encourages staff to work closely together promoting team building to earn that award.
Obtaining a Leading FairPlay Employer Award
Wish Wash Company were awarded Chwarae Teg’s Leading FairPlay Employer Award, highlighting their commitment to diverse and inclusive practices within the workplace. Having implemented the action plan following the all staff survey, Wish Was has improved the quality of job applicants, improved confidence and capability of managers to monitor and review performance, which along with the implementation of a reward scheme has resulted in staff feeling more valued.