Our people
Our People Strategy sets out how we will attract, retain and develop our employees with the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours we need to deliver our Vision. We are committed to achieving the Best Companies 2* standard for employee engagement, as set out in our Corporate Plan.
Attracting and developing talent
We must be able to attract, motivate and retain employees with the skills and attributes we need in the local employment markets we operate in. We support professional development for all colleagues, offering apprenticeships, qualifications and management and leadership development as well as general workplace skills programmes. We are committed to internal progression and promote secondments as well as permanent internal moves.
Our structured and organised approach to learning and development includes:
- A thorough induction programme
- An annual talent mapping and succession planning activity
- A management development programme
- Comprehensive compliance and mandatory training courses
- Learning which supports managers to develop coaching and mentoring skills and manage wellbeing and health of themselves and their teams.
Pay and benefits
Our approach is to pay fairly across the business and to make sure our salaries are competitive on the open market. Our gender pay gap report is published annually and we aim to return a median gender pay gap that does not exceed 3%. We aim to report our ethnicity pay gap as soon as we have a reliable and representative data set. All our salaries are benchmarked and we keep an eye on changes in the external market.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I)
We want Paradigm to be a place where everyone feels welcome and like they belong. We proactively support equality, diversity and inclusion within the business and we have set up an ED&I working group to develop a clear approach to improving our performance on ED&I for customers and colleagues. We do not tolerate discrimination and recognise the benefits of nurturing a diverse community of colleagues
Wellbeing
Our Wellbeing@Paradigm approach empowers colleagues to manage their own wellbeing with support from Paradigm. We take a holistic approach, covering physical, mental and financial health as well as encouraging personal growth and volunteering opportunities. We have a comprehensive wellbeing scheme including a healthcare cash plan, Employee Assistance Programme and a team of trained Mental Health First Aiders. We have flexible and agile working practices which support colleagues to manage their work-life balance.
Sustainability
Our Corporate Plan and Vision statement reflect our commitment to improving our sustainability and our People Strategy supports these goals. We are considering value for money options to enhance our head office with sustainability goals at the forefront. These include options to reduce energy consumption and waste, support effective hybrid working and enhance our working spaces from a safety, wellbeing and energy-saving perspective.
How we're doing so far
Our progress against this strategy
At March 2023:
Pay gap progress:
Men’s average earnings For the first time in our 2022 Pay Gap Report, we reported a median gender pay gap in favour of women. The results show a:
- median gender pay gap of -3.05 % in favour of women (compared with 4.37% in favour of men in 2021).
- mean gender pay gap of 4.81% in favour of men (compared with 10.92% in 2021).
Wellbeing initiatives: We’ve launched regular wellbeing and mental health training for staff and managers. Currently, 28 Mental Health First Aiders are trained, with ongoing expansion based on interest.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion: We published our EDI report for 22/23. We particularly use our EDI Working Group to drive positive changes across Paradigm, including awareness campaigns on diverse topics, the use of Equality Impact Assessments, a dementia-friendly approach and improved customer support.