Engagement and retention – how can you create a people-first culture? by Scott Evans

A key part of any long-term business success is not only building, but maintaining, a winning workplace culture.  

Our ongoing efforts here at Sigma Connected to be a true people-centric organisation have come to fruition during a decade of global growth. We’ve achieved that goal through the gradual creation of a diverse, hybrid workplace where colleagues feel motivated, engaged, and fully live by our values. It’s an approach, which ultimately, has helped ensure low attrition rates, which is a huge plus given it’s well known that the BPO, and predominately the UK contact centre sector, tends to experience high staff turnover.  

Even from the very start of our journey in 2011, our culture has always been people first. From the CEO to our agents, our colleagues are a central element of our DNA, and despite us growing to employ over 5,000 people, the business has retained a rare family feel, and one which is so much more than just about the bottom line. 

Backed by an eNPS score of +41, for the second year running we were listed in The Sunday Times as one of the UK’s best places to work – the only BPO to appear on the list and another milestone which recognises how we have created a culture which is supportive, productive and truly inclusive. 

Creating that sought-after culture, which is an ongoing process, has come down to the full buy-in of our values which are thread through everything we do. Our values, which were determined by our people, are Always Adapting, Always Better, Always Learning and Always Together, and they help create a real community within the business. We believe in them and we know them inside out. They are what drives us. 

In this article I share examples and themes which can hopefully help other businesses fuse together a wide variety of coordinated initiatives that can ultimately deliver a people centric culture, resulting in meaningful engagement and workforce retention. 

A culture where you are yourself  

We have found that achieving low attrition rates and creating a culture which is non-hierarchical, with an ‘open door’, leads to good engagement. What’s brilliant, is that our people are not afraid to give their feedback (good and bad) to the senior leadership team, and in fact are encouraged to do so. That has created a real sense of empowerment where people feel their voices are heard and action is taken. 

We genuinely encourage people to be themselves, and in turn, we welcome them into our community. It’s what we believe, just be who you are and be happy. In turn, it’s no coincidence that our attrition rates in the UK are the lowest they have ever been and that 80% of promotional roles are from within our existing team. That’s supported by the huge focus we put on personal development opportunities for those who aspire to grow.  

Investment in career progression has been vital to building our culture. We have our online Discovery Platform, driven by our L&D team, which offers over 100 free courses colleagues can access for additional learning and ongoing qualifications. This helps us go further and faster to prepare home-grown talent for that next step and making sure they have genuine career opportunities.  

That online approach continues through the less formal ‘Viva Engage’ – our internal online community where we come together to celebrate, have fun, share our stories, even take part in competitions, polls and charity events. We also hold regular webinars, whether that be a ‘Fun Friday’ where everyone gets together and winds down for the weekend, or covering awareness activities.  

Essentially, these are areas of focus which we know keep people in the Sigma Connected family and go some way to retaining them and their skills. 

Of course, like every mature business, change needs to happen in order to grow. But we are also aware this will only happen if we keep communications open, allow colleagues to give honest feedback, which might sometimes be negative, and ensuring everyone feels they have a voice and that they are heard.  

One Me, One Sigma 

One of the cornerstones which we constantly look to has been our diversity and inclusion programme, ‘One Me, One Sigma’. Many of you will have DE & I programmes of a similar nature, but One Me, One Sigma essentially underpins our work around diversity and inclusion. Driven and developed by our own people, the programme represents the views and opinions of our whole workforce, making sure everyone feels seen and has a genuine sense of belonging regardless of their age, ability, gender, sex, sexual orientation, parental status, marital status, race, religion or belief. 

Just some of the activity that our One Me, One Sigma group have driven has focussed on neurodiversity, such as launching educational content for leaders, which includes cultural and religious awareness activity recognising the various cultures of our people – content which has been viewed over 27,000 times internally. 

To support the programme, we are looking to partner and grow our work with more organisations who can add to our offering, such as Stonewall and The ADHD Foundation, so we can not only learn more as a business and communicate more content, but also continue to focus on activity that break down barriers, raises awareness, and nurtures the very special culture of togetherness that we have here at Sigma Connected.  

Health and wellbeing 

We have a team of 40+ employee volunteers who are trained Mental Health First Aiders who are as well as professional Onsite Councillors, with access to a host of external resources and support for those who are struggling. These have been such positive initiatives, especially for colleagues who want to seek help but are embarrassed or scared to do so, or cannot afford professional support. 

Being accredited as a ‘Disability Confident Leader.’ and being awarded Platinum Status through the Mental Health Charter, highlights further how successful our programme is viewed and valued internally by our colleagues. 

Location. Location. Location 

We also mustn’t forget hybrid working – the biggest positive or negative change all organisations have faced since the pandemic which has also brought about a cultural shift for many. For the last two years we have introduced a national work from home policy in the UK which has helped to promote a better work/life balance. We still have offices in central Birmingham, but this change of direction for us has meant we’ve been able to offer jobs to people living in rural communities who wouldn’t normally have the same opportunities as those living closer to big towns or cities. This change has also led to us being able to offer more jobs to people with disabilities who might otherwise struggle to find a job that works for them. A big part of this is ensuring we set up home offices with the right furniture and equipment and also hold regular check-ins to ensure everyone’s needs are being met.  

Looking further, in South Africa, we also became the first ever BPO to establish ourselves in the Western Cape township of Mitchells Plain – again, bringing jobs to people where they live and saving time and money on commuting costs. This strategy has also helped local communities and economies to grow. 

The lessons we have learnt, and continue to do so, have been about flexibility, innovation and trust. It’s working extremely well and with the fight for talent deepening further, we have tapped into untouched markets and regions where we know that before we wouldn’t have considered. 

Not standing still 

This is, like I’ve said, just a snapshot of why I think what we have here at Sigma Connected is so special and hopefully having shared a few initiatives with you will give some inspiration to take into your own business. 

Like all organisations, what we’ve done, and what we’ve got, isn’t perfect. But we are on a positive journey where we know what we’re doing is working. Driven by our engagement programme we see smiles, we see engagement and ultimately, in today’s fast-moving employment market, we see people staying at a place they love and feel part of.