BEST PLACES TO WORK

Sum up your agency’s approach to staff welfare and wellbeing in less than 10 words.

"Supportive, caring, flexible, nurturing, collaborative, focused, tailored, achieving excellent results."

Please describe your current office location and facilities.

The team is based together in a single, airy and light open plan office, designed specifically for our needs, in the heart of London.

It offers flexible working space and a bright environment – with a board room large enough to accommodate everyone for our weekly team meetings, plus another meeting room, as well as specific areas for intelligence gathering and access to the 80 newspaper and publications we read between us.

Large screens at either end of the office ensure we monitor the news on one - and keep up to date with our twitter page on the other.

As well as the kitchen, so staff can choose to bring in their own food for lunch, we have shower facilities to encourage staff to cycle to work – which many do.

Please give details of your staff training programme.

LCA’s training programme is a mix of external, internal, workshops, masterclasses and mentoring.

Each member of staff has a bespoke programme which caters for their development needs – this is in the normally in the range of £1,000 per person but is considered on a case by case basis and is usually more per head for staff who have just been promoted, are in a key role or need specific training.

We have a central, on-line training resource called ‘Elsie’ which includes best practice, top tips and examples of how we do things at LCA – from writing a communications strategy to conducting a stakeholder audit or managing a crisis. It also includes all our policies so that all staff can access them at any time – from maternity leave - to how to apply for an interest free season ticket or emergency loan.

We have a dedicated training budget for external training– staff often attend courses offered by the CIPR and PRCA but we also use other companies which use actors and focus on an individual’s impact and presence.

All staff fill in an evaluation form following their training so that we review whether it met their objectives and whether we would recommend it to other staff.

We have regular talks and Q & A (over a glass of wine in the office!) session from outside ’experts’ of interest.

Please give details of your staff appraisal programme.

These are carried out every six months for all team members. New employees have one at the end of their three month probationary period and their next appraisal is then six months on from that.

We have produced guidance for both appraisers and appraisees about how to get the most from their appraisals – good preparation being key to this.

There are also matrices for each role in the office which set out what we expect and the standard of work for each tier from a Director down to Admin staff so that staff can look at the competencies at the next level and aspire to reach them.

Feedback for appraisals is sought from a good number of colleagues who work with the appraisee (360°), noted by the appraiser and fed back anonymously. Confidentiality is carefully respected in this process.

A full note of the appraisal is then written by the appraiser and agreed with the appraisee.

The appraisals process is kept entirely separate from the salary review process, although obviously the performance of an individual as monitored by the appraisal will have a bearing on salary.

Please give details of your flexible working policy including maternity and paternity packages.

Staff have the flexibility to work from home, which they agree in advance with their appraiser so we can co-ordinate who will be in the office at any one time.

One of our Account Directors has changed their working pattern and is working 1 day from home a week to accommodate the fact that they and their family have moved to Dorset.

When staff work at the weekend or very late they are given time off in lieu.

LCA also offers generous maternity and paternity packages which are much better than the statutory requirement and increase with length of service.

Please describe any industry or networking events you hold at your offices.

We have just completed a programme of briefings for clients and associates on our predictions for the general and borough elections in London.

We also held a series of briefings on the Mayor of London’s first year in office – which staff at all levels helped to present – and ultimately we were asked to present to Boris Johnson himself.

Each year we hold private dinners at the Ivy with a senior guest speaker who will be of interest to our clients. Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary Caroline Spelman (now Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) spoke at our last event. In return we make a significant donation to a charity of the speaker’s choice. We always have a strong staff presence at the dinners.

We also give Account Directors a networking allowance of up to £1,000 per person to help encourage and develop relationships.

How do you reward staff at Christmas?

For the last ten years all staff have received a significant, generous annual bonus at the end of our financial year, (typically at over 10% of the annual salary) as well as an annual Christmas bonus.

What staff say.

I’ve had an incredible time here; in my first month I was whisked off with the rest of the team for a weekend in Barcelona and this sunny if hectic welcome set the pace for the time ahead.

I’ve learnt more here than at any other time in my career this was rewarded just last month with a promotion to Account Manager. My success is testament to the investment in my development that LCA has made – both in terms of the breadth of client and corporate work that I’m exposed to and its commitment to regular training, appraisals and feedback.

Jenna Goldberg, Account Manager