Innovation and openness are the keys to success

Equiom Jersey's People team recently spoke with Connect Magazine, detailing the company's role for both their clients and their people to enable success. 

Equiom’s vision is centred around our clients and our people – delivering high quality, market leading services to clients through a talented, engaged and collaborative workforce.

Equiom was the first financial services business in the Channel Islands to adopt a full suite of flexible working policies for its colleagues going as far as allowing them to take unlimited leave.

Sarah Gomersall, Equiom’s Global Head of People, says: 'enabling colleagues to have a greater level of control over how and where they work is a central part of our strategy and a key differentiator for us in the market. We want our colleagues to ‘bring their best selves to work’ and be as effective and happy in their roles as possible. It’s part of who we are as a business'.

And this is not empty rhetoric – Sarah, who is based in Equiom’s Jersey office and our Chief People Officer, is also a Non-Exec Director of the Jersey Cricket Team and our policy on unlimited leave has provided her with the opportunity to enjoy a five-week career sabbatical accompanying the Jersey Cricket Team’s tour of Africa as their Tour Manager. Of the policy and its impact on the staff and the business Sarah says: 'It’s not just about having the ability to make those grand experiences like mine happen – things that would otherwise be impossible within the confines of a stricter annual leave policy. It’s much more about the smaller everyday life moments, whether it’s an afternoon off to watch the children’s sports day or accompany a family member to a medical appointment - having the flexibility to do those things that has made a massive difference to a lot of our colleagues’ daily lives'.  

Tailoring the colleague experience

As Equiom innovated in its people policies and strengthened the focus on the ‘hyper-personalisation’ of work for the individual, it was clear the approach to diversity and inclusion needed the same level of focus, innovation and importantly senior leadership buy-in. Becky Crawley, Equiom’s Organisational Development Senior Manager, says 'our open and transparent approach to the individual, and often quite specific needs of our colleagues means we can make a real difference to how people can contribute to Equiom’s ongoing success'. Becky has first-hand experience of this approach as she is profoundly deaf and works full time from home where she has all the support aids she needs in order to be effective in her role.  

Healthy people healthy business

Gemma Le Cornu, Equiom’s Senior People Business Partner with responsibility for a Team of People Business partners across multiple jurisdictions, puts a great emphasis on maintaining colleagues mental health. 'We need to do all we can to support people with their mental health, be that in work or out, and the Mental Health First Aider course learning was invaluable in learning how best to approach different situations'.

'Loneliness can affect so many people in so many ways, sharing your thoughts and feelings is a brave first step. I think many would be surprised at the number of people that often feel lonely, isolated, and overwhelmed'.

'The most important thing I learnt during the training was the importance of introducing yourself to a person and starting a conversation. It could really make a difference to someone’s mindset, shift their thought pattern and course of their day'.

Measuring success and continual improvement

Keeping track of progress is obviously important. Rebeka French, People Business Partner for Jersey and also Equiom’s Support Functions comments: 'we measure our progress with Quarterly eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) surveys. This gives us a platform to enable colleagues to confidentially voice their opinions on key issues - what are we getting right and what do we need to work on? - share ideas for improvement and highlight what our colleagues want and value most. Our eNPS score has improved significantly since we launched it in early 2021'.

Rebeka continues: 'At Equiom, we focus on continuous improvement and there are always projects across the business for colleagues to get involved in. We are always encouraged to lead or contribute to projects, in order to develop ourselves but also share our knowledge and expertise'.