Staff and partner engagement
We will be an employer and partner of choice.
Our priority for this year:
- Ensure clarity and consistency of approach to staff throughout ccha.
- Ensure we recover our V1 G1 status and maintain good governance.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
With the launch of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy, we have been working in the background to prepare for data collection. Our EDI policy has been created, with a view to consult with residents in 2024/25, and we have set up the survey to collect information from staff.
This will help us to understand how our staff compare to our residents, to ensure we are representative of them. The survey will also help us to understand the needs of our staff so we can tailor our services to suit them, similar to what we are doing with residents. This ensures they have the right tools and environment to deliver the best service possible.
Recruiting the right people and getting them on board
We want to recruit people who are representative of our residents, in a fair way, and who embody our CARE values. Our new recruitment system is set up to ensure we recruit the right people with the ccha attitude. It has streamlined the onboarding process and created efficiencies.
We continue to focus on our values through the onboarding sessions, and by having regular meetings or collaboration days where staff discuss what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we can ensure we deliver on our promises. This helps us to work together as one organisation, so residents get the best possible service.
To ensure staff aren’t overwhelmed with training, which could take away from their day jobs, we have reviewed the training requirements, ensuring essential training remains while working creatively to get other training completed, such as through toolbox talks. The training is tailored to individual roles to ensure new staff gain the knowledge and skills required to start delivering the standard of service we aspire to.
Supporting our staff
Healthy and happy staff deliver better customer service, and we know how important it is for residents to have a dedicated person they can go to. This can be challenging when there is a regular turnover of staff or time off due to sickness.
To help staff maintain a good work life balance and a healthy lifestyle, we have created a dedicated space online for staff to find out about different initiatives we offer, such as stress awareness tips, benefits they can access, the Employee Assistance Programme and events organised by our Wellbeing Committee.
There is an increasing pressure in housing and our work is constantly changing, so we want to create opportunities for staff to spend time together, collaborate and bond. This is essential with the more common hybrid working nowadays. During the year we held a staff conference with team activities, hold regular collaboration days, as well as bowling, bingo and other activities out of work.
We achieved an average of just 1.53 working days lost due to sickness absence per full-time staff equivalent, and staff turnover at the end of the year was 16.16% which is below average in comparison to other housing associations.
Staff have told us that flexible working is a positive aspect of their job.
Championing our culture
Our Pulse surveys give staff the chance to let us know how we are doing and we get feedback on what they think of ccha. Our main focuses taken from the feedback have been around wellbeing, cross team working, emails and meetings, and accountability.
We have continued to work on these areas through our collaboration days, providing better processes and incorporating more discussions within teams.
Staff have told us that flexible working is a positive aspect of their job. This means we can have a smaller office and save money which can then be reinvested into services for residents and staff. This flexibility also means staff can have hobbies or look after family or children, while delivering a great service to our residents.
Regaining our V1 G1 status
Following on from the Regulator of Social Housing’s In Depth Assessment (IDA), the Board and Leadership Team have reviewed and improved all our governance and risk arrangements and developed an IDA action plan to deliver these.
Once approved by the Regulator, progress against it was monitored by a Task and Finish Group and reported to the Board to provide assurance. This was monitored alongside the Governance Action Plan to ensure compliance with the Code of Governance 2020, including Together with Tenants.
The regulator was informed of all progress and completion of the IDA action plan which led to us regaining our V1 G1 status in February 2024.
From this, we have seen an improvement in a number of areas of governance. The Board has a better understanding of our finances, stress and scenario testing, risk and risk mitigation with new members being inducted and brought up to date with this as well. Our Board has embraced this journey, and are now confident to challenge our Leadership Team to ensure we are compliant in all areas and meet the Regulator’s requirements.
In parallel to this work is the number of changes made by the Regulator, for example, Complaints, Consumer Regulation and Access to Information. The Board and Leadership Team remain committed to consistent improvement and development in all areas. They are fully aware of their responsibilities to our residents and are looking at continuing to connect with residents such as through estate visits or attending resident events.
Working together
As a small community housing association, partnerships are essential to ensure we deliver a great service to residents. One partnership has been with Croydon Youth Zone, Legacy, who provide a much needed space for children and young adults in the area. We promoted our free holiday club spaces to residents with young children, seeing around 5-10% of them take up the offer.
Our contractors work with us on a daily basis and have also been creating social value in our communities. Some initiatives have included providing wild meadow areas, bug hotels, skip days and they have joined us on estate action days.
The South East Consortium has been essential in saving us money on finding new contracts or services. We procured two new contracts with them, saving approximately £50,000 on the cost of a standard consultant.
We have continued our work with support providers Nehemiah, Lookahead and St Mungo’s and have been looking to lease out a number of our homes with them. Hestia has helped us provide support for our vulnerable residents and Emmaus has helped us provide discounted upcycled furniture and white goods to residents with limited resources.
