Chief Revenue Officer at EDAM Group, reflects on what EDAM Group are doing to create a happy and engaged workforce, and why it is important that you invest in your team.

Any business with strategic plans for growth during a period which sees a new PM in Parliament, Brexit (or not) on the horizon and the impact of both as yet unknown, must focus squarely on developing what it does best and do it even better.

As the UK’s market leading service provider of credit hire and post-accident services, we’re proud to be doing just that. It’s what we’re known for – doing better. For our customers and our team.

Investing in our people means we’re continuing to thrive during economic uncertainty. It means we’re keeping our customers happy. It means we’re watching our profits increase. But most importantly, it means we have a happy and engaged workforce striving to reach a common goal, doing their bit to ensure EDAM remains the market-leading service provider of credit hire and post-accident services they have helped to build.

The individual and collective wellbeing of our staff sits at the centre of our company culture. Our core business values reflect what we consider to be important; innovation, integrity, respect, passion and fun, while working as one team. Positive employee engagement is a priority and we work hard to create a nurturing environment for each individual.

Our core business values reflect what we consider to be important; innovation, integrity, respect, passion and fun, while working as one team

How? We’re open and we’re honest. We listen and we do.

On a practical level, we proudly make a huge investment in our team and their learning and development via our two centres for training excellence; the EDAM Group Claims Academy and Recovery Academy, alongside numerous internal schemes and incentives that encourage staff to do their best by themselves, by the customer and by the company.

We’ve launched a number of coaching and development schemes including GTi (Grow, Thrive, Improve) and most recently our neuroscience-driven Top Right Leadership Programme, which aims to establish and encourage a strong leadership team. The 18-month course is tailored to each individual and built around trustworthiness, inspiration, influence and commercial focus. And it’s reaping rewards.

Providing new and exciting opportunities for growth at all levels, ensures all employees are supported to be market leading service providers who flourish in their roles and are passionate about EDAM and what we do.

Our ambitious 2020 vision to double in size hinges upon our continued levels of outstanding customer service, which in turn relies upon our employees delivering a seamless end-to-end customer journey. And that’s why we’re confident we’ll reach, if not exceed, our targets for business growth, because our team genuinely care. About our clients and our business. That’s thanks to developing a culture which is more about our people and less about our bottom line.

As part of our continued commitment to keeping people at the heart of all we do, we’ve introduced an industry-first in the form of our ‘Minding EDAM’ wellbeing initiative. The company-wide programme seeks to to draw awareness to the importance of mental health and through a calendar of thoughtfully considered mood lifting events promote a happier workplace.

We’ve seen first-hand the impact that investing in our 400-strong team has. Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) remains over 86 for the third month running. Proof, should it be required, that our people are motivated and doing a great job.

We’ve won awards in recognition of our investment in our employees too, most notably achieving a coveted two-star Best Companies status and being named in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For, in recognition of our outstanding levels of employee engagement. Not only that, but company profits have grown by 71% over the last three years, earning EDAM a place in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100. There’s no doubt that valuing your workforce puts a higher value on your company too.

The best investments are those which are low risk and offer high returns – spending time and money on the happiness of your team is definitely worth the outlay.

Marc Lafferty is the Chief Revenue Officer at EDAM Group

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