Bloom is delighted to have made the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023 list, in the ‘Medium Company’ category. The list recognises organisations with the highest levels of employee engagement, wellbeing and satisfaction.
This is a particularly important accomplishment for Bloom, as we’ve made employee engagement a central pillar of our overall strategy. We want to be an organisation that’s recognised for the care it has for its people and for cultivating a truly engaged workforce. This means that we’re actively developing a commitment culture towards our team, striving to go above and beyond our obligations in providing a working environment in which everyone can flourish.
In order to build upon our purpose of ‘enabling brilliant outcomes today, that build a better tomorrow’, we know that we need to enable our colleagues to be the best versions of themselves – both at work and at home. That’s why we aspire to create an increasingly positive, inclusive and forwarding-looking working culture.
This culture is enshrined in our trademark behaviours, which are ‘we work together’, ‘we are real and true’ and ‘we are curious’. These were chosen in collaboration with our colleagues, by determining what values mattered to them the most.
Central to our people strategy is colleague engagement. In effect, making it easy for our colleagues to voice their perspectives and ensuring that they do so in the knowledge that their voices will be heard. Utilising our Hive HR employee engagement portal, alongside numerous employee surveys, has allowed us to identify their thoughts, concerns and suggestions. All of these help to inform Bloom’s long-term approach.
However, feedback from Bloom’s people only counts if it leads to tangible action. That’s why, over the years, we’ve built upon an impressive range of benefits available to our colleagues.
These benefits include a progressive attitude towards both home and hybrid working, providing full flexibility to our teams. In addition, all of our colleagues are free to take a day off for their birthdays and a volunteering day each year in order to give back to their communities. We also provide a generous bonus scheme, access to local hubs for home-based employees, culture awards (recognising key behaviours), various wellbeing programmes and regular company-funded social events.
Another dimension of our engagement culture is sustainability, a key ‘pillar’ of everything we do at Bloom. We’re working towards becoming a truly sustainable business, meeting (even exceeding) our environmental and climate-related obligations. To do this, we need the full support and engagement of our colleagues. Whilst we plant new trees for every client that joins Bloom, we also plant 20 in a colleague’s name when they win a culture award. We also work to inform and to educate our colleagues, helping them to understand their role within our sustainability goals and how they can make a difference to the planet as individuals.
Making the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023 list is an encouraging testament to the employee experience we’re cultivating at Bloom. But we won’t be complacent, we’ll continue to build upon the strong foundations that makes Bloom a fantastic place to work and grow.
