Workforce Engagement
Halfords has long established practices of inviting feedback from colleagues across all areas of the business, including holding regular listening groups, appointing and meeting with local colleague engagement champions, and conducting regular colleague surveys, including the Times Top 25 Big Companies survey, in which we were placed again this year for the seventh consecutive year.
This year we held a total of 111 listening groups across the Group as a whole. Outputs and associated actions are reviewed by the Board and are incorporated into Executive Directors' and Executive Committee functional engagement plans. As discussed above, colleague engagement is a bonusable objective for Executive Directors and members of the Executive Committee.
Under Helen Jones' direction, our focus this year has been to ensure consistency of our engagement approach and action planning across the Group.
In addition to the above, the Group has long established grievance and whistleblowing policies that facilitate colleagues' ability to raise any matters of concern more formally, and in total confidence, should the need arise. The Board reviews reports relating to whistleblowing cases and the process is outlined in the Audit Committee Report. We know from the calls received and the data obtained that a large proportion of the whistleblowing calls received via the helpline are from store colleagues seeking clarification on HR or safety issues, this shows that the process works well as an adjunct to our normal HR processes and ensures we provide the best support we can to our colleagues.
Monitoring Culture
The Board plays an active role in monitoring the culture of the business through its regular facilitation of listening groups and site visits. The Board reviews the results of the annual colleague engagement survey and sets engagement targets for Executive Directors and Executive Committee members. The outputs of listening groups and associated action plans are reviewed by the Board and key actions are incorporated into functional engagement plans.
Our more holistic review of the culture of the business undertaken earlier this year, in the context of our strategy and plans, told us that Halfords is a great, collaborative place to work, is engaging and is values led with knowledgeable friendly colleagues that go the extra mile to serve our customers. It also enabled us to identify opportunities for us to improve our rituals and routines, control systems and structures that will enable us to improve our customer centricity through a 'One Halfords' team approach which will embed, throughout our business, through the roll-out of the colleague values and behaviours refresh.