Livv Housing Group is celebrating winning Best Employee Engagement Strategy at the national HR Excellence Awards, showcasing the remarkable turnaround undergone at the Merseyside housing association in the last 18 months.
In a highly competitive category that also included Lloyds Banking Group and the London Stock Exchange Group, Livv was recognised for the work that has been done internally during a crucial rebranding process, with Livv consequently achieving a governance rating upgrade to G2 by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
As part of this sea change rebrand process from First Ark Group, Livv launched a new Employee Engagement Strategy, working together with the Employee Forum, which had been introduced in April 2018. Representing different areas of the Group are 22 employees, enabling every business unit to have its voice heard on a range of issues. Meeting once a month to discuss issues raised by its members and colleagues, as well as helping to plan events and conferences, workshops and social arrangements, this engagement was instrumental in driving decisions around the reorganisation of operations during the rebrand and restructure of the Group.
Employee buy-in was key to the success of the rebrand, and consultation sessions with employees were held ahead of the launch in April 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the launch event had to be postponed but staff remained very much a part of it through communications over Livv’s intranet, sharing photos and stories.
Other new measures brought in to build up staff engagement include an improved staff recognition scheme, a calendar of health and wellbeing events and increased levels of communication to help the whole business stay in touch during the pandemic when many have been working remotely.
The result of this work can be seen in staff engagement metrics, with confidence in the company’s leadership team rising from 49% in 2017 to 79% by 2019, while overall employee engagement was up to 75%.
Livv Housing Group CEO Léann Hearne said: “I’m incredibly proud that we have won this prestigious national award which is recognition and validation of the hard work and care that was put into bringing all of our colleagues along on this journey with us through the rebrand and restructure.
“From when I first started at Livv, it was clear that there was a lot of work to be done to improve our internal communications and engagement with our team.
“Winning this HR Excellence Award after our upgrade to G2 means that these are exciting times for everyone at Livv and a stepping stone towards even better times as we continue to move forwards, delivering positive impact and flourishing communities.”