The Best Employers Eastern Region programme returns to help businesses and organisations across East Anglia develop and support staff adapting to new ways of working.

The best businesses put their people first. This year it's more important than ever to create a culture that engages workers and encourages success, to move on from the unprecedented challenges of the coronavirus - from the shift to remote working, with its pressures on mental health and wellbeing, to furlough and more.

That’s why the Best Employers Eastern Region 2021 programme is returning in April, to help companies understand the impact 2020 has had on staff – and to equip them to move forward positively.

East Anglian Daily Times: Best Employers operates on a non-profit basis to support businesses in East AngliaBest Employers operates on a non-profit basis to support businesses in East Anglia (Image: Archant)

Lynn Walters, executive director at Pure and co-founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, explains: “Following a year of incredible change, this is a great forum to share experiences and learnings - to learn from each other and understand how the change has impacted our employees, our organisations' priorities, culture and values.”

From its origins as an employee survey, the Best Employers programme has evolved into a broader package of insight events that bring together employers who are passionate about developing their company culture and staff engagement levels.

This year's programme is built around a series of webinars featuring internationally renowned speakers, all designed to help businesses do the best for and get the best from their people in the changing world of post-pandemic work.

As well as the launch event on April 22, there will be further webinars covering: engaging and leading remote and on-site teams; health, wellness and developing workforce resilience; how to foster an innovative, hungry and progressive culture; and how to approach recruitment, onboarding and rewarding your team.

East Anglian Daily Times: Lynn Walters of Pure says Best Employers is a great chance to understand how the change has impacted our employeesLynn Walters of Pure says Best Employers is a great chance to understand how the change has impacted our employees (Image: David Johnson Photographic)

“As a professional recruitment consultancy for our region, we have seen first-hand the significant impact that the pandemic has had,” says Pure’s Lynn Walters. “Engagement, culture and values are essential to retain and attract the best talent and, despite the recession, top talent in specialist areas are still in high demand.”

The heart of the Best Employers programme is still the employee-engagement survey, powered by co-founders and psychometric-testing experts eras ltd. It’s easy to use and can be tailored to the unique needs of individual businesses, while still allowing companies to compare their performance to that of others in the region.

“The opportunity for organisations to gather feedback from their staff at this time, when we have many people working remotely, is invaluable,” says George Sik, consultant psychologist at eras ltd. “We expect to see some significant shift in the levels of engagement. The opportunity to track your progress and benchmark your organisation against other top employers is incredibly valuable.”

The survey opens on April 22 and runs until July 31 – though once its underway, businesses can run a report or download the data from it at any point. Workshops with eras ltd can help companies set up and get the best from their Best Employers survey. Firms that have taken part in previous years can of course take part again.

As part of the process, companies can also get Best Employers accreditation – a visible statement about the way they look after their people that allows businesses and organisations to raise their profile and enhance their employer brand.

Best Employers Eastern Region is an exceptional showcase of the businesses people want to be a part of – and this year, more than ever, it makes good commercial sense to be part of the Best Employers community.

For more information, see www.best-employers.co.uk


East Anglian Daily Times: Alex Pearce was instrumental in the creation of Best EmployersAlex Pearce was instrumental in the creation of Best Employers (Image: Eras)

Alex Pearce

Best Employers was born out of a collaboration in 2012, between Alex Pearce, managing director of eras ltd and Lynn Walters, executive director of Pure. Alex very sadly and unexpectedly died in October 2020, so to mark his legacy Best Employers 2021 will raise money in his memory. Half of the net proceeds raised through the 2021 programme will be donated to his favourite charities, Winston's Wish and Nelson's Journey, in his name.