Social Accounts 2025 - Flipbook - Page 70

How we have progressed over the year
What we say we would achieve Progress to date
 Maintain a strong focus on positive
employee engagement.
 Retain and recruit key skills across the
organisation including our Board.
 Manage a successful organisation-wide
transition to new ways of working caused by
the Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, we continued to hold meetings with representatives of a committee to discuss the
transition of going back to the offices and potential new working arrangements.
As pandemic restrictions eased, external training and development opportunities increased and we encouraged
the team to take part. We have continued to hold Coffee and Learn Sessions on a variety of topics including,
narrating PowerPoint, growing and storing herbs and environmental issues.
The Queen’s Award presentation (delayed from 2020) was held near Newcastle upon Tyne, This was the first
time our UK team had met in person for two years. Pandemic restrictions meant that our colleagues in Africa
and Latin America were unable to travel to the UK. However, they joined us virtually via Zoom for the ceremony.
The UK team also came together in both June and September and again, colleagues enjoyed the opportunity to
interact face to face.
The results from the Engagement Survey were the best we have seen with a positive move in engagement
levels, which demonstrated that from those who responded (response rate of 94.4%) colleagues were either
Actively Engaged (63.5%) or Engaged (36.5%).
There were three leavers during this financial year. The first was due to a need for our former colleague to
relocate to Brussels. Two colleagues left for for career and salary progression - as a small organisation, there
are limited opportunities for upward progression.
We successfully recruited two new Non-Executive Directors (to replace those retiring) to our Board during this
time who have brought additional skills and experience to the organisation.
Following almost two years of working from home our Newcastle office re-opened on 14th March using a new
hybrid model. The UK team initially worked one day a week in the office and the remainder at home We
consulted with colleagues on their preferences and began to consider smaller office premises. As a
consequence from mid-May, the UK team has been able to work from home or choose to work in the office.
Our regional premises were closed during the year and our colleagues have chosen to work permanently from
home. Consequently, these premises have closed permanently.

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