The continuing evolution of the UK marketplace has created an increasingly competitive environment for businesses to navigate in today’s job market. To achieve transformative and sustainable growth, businesses must put strategies in place that not only achieve their long-term ambitions, but also benefit each individual employee to retain talent and attract new hires.
Business leaders, employers and employees have all been impacted by the modern ways of working; with remote, flexible and hybrid models being practised by businesses across the majority of industries and transforming the way a company’s culture is perceived.
As the changing expectations and preferences of employees continue to reshape and redirect the traditional working day, the recruitment process can become much more challenging. The success of hiring high-skilled, productive, and loyal employees is largely dependent on robust talent acquisition strategies.
With more than 6,000 people from 165 companies based at Birchwood Park, not only have we seen the profound shift in employee behaviours, but we have ensured to respond accordingly to meet with the evolving needs of top talent in an increasingly diverse workforce.
As the Park is a community-driven workplace that provides a wide range of pioneering amenities tailored to enhance the wellbeing and productivity of the workforce, we provide an environment that enables our occupiers to retain employees by helping each individual reach their full personal and professional potential.
With a strong focus on employee satisfaction and workplace wellbeing initiatives, our status as the North West’s largest out-of-town business destination has been established by the way we are lead and support businesses become successful in the talent acquisition process.
Employee Satisfaction
Sitting at the heart of any effective recruiting strategy is employee satisfaction, which starts with the workplace environment. Recognising that current employees are more productive, we’ve strived to create a positive and inclusive community as we understand that regardless of role, industry or sector, employee health and wellbeing is essential to to reducing employee turnover.
Our cause to prioritise workplace wellbeing has given assurances to each occupier that employees not only feel valued, supported and safe, but that they can come to workplace which meets their individual needs, whilst giving them the necessary tools to progress learning and development opportunities.
Our dedicated Park team understands that this can often start away from the desk. With facilities purposely designed to help nurture employees’ physical and mental health at the beginning and end of the day, during office breaks or lunch hours, the Park’s grounds include adaptations to the working environment designed for comfort and collaboration, which only enhances the employee experience.
With high quality food and drink options from the EngineRooms, as well as expansive green spaces, employees are provided with the perfect refuelling replenishments before returning to the office to complete the working day.
Having a wide range of these facilities onsite provides employees with an environment that can interact and communicate in a less formal, more relaxed way, leading to a more supportive work atmosphere and high employee retention rates.
Workplace Wellbeing
As we are at the forefront of workplace wellbeing, a phrase that is much more important to us than the latest corporate buzzword, we want occupiers to feel fulfilled during their tenure at the Park. As a result, we offer a programme of beneficial initiatives that we call ParkLife.
Designed to foster a positive work environment, ParkLife remains immensely popular amongst our occupiers as it offers a whole host of fun, engaging and social events, such as fitness classes, comedy nights, onsite massages, dance classes, foodie experiences, as well as designated Wellbeing Months throughout the year.
Putting on an active, continuous programme not only helps motivate and refocus employees, whilst increasing productivity, but it also makes the workplace much more than a place of work – it becomes an inclusive hub that fosters growth, creativity and collaboration.
In addition to the programme of activities on the Park’s site, we also help occupiers implement an enhanced talent management strategy to better support their staff by taking on a consultancy role. We have created our very own dedicated Wellbeing Hub which offers a wide range of best practise advice and tips to help it easier for businesses to achieve greater wellbeing and employee engagement at work.
This includes our workplace wellbeing handbook, employee wellbeing calculator and our ready-made well-being package, which includes the on-site gym Alive & Well, in addition to entire weeks dedicated to well-being throughout the year.
Building this stronger sense of culture among a unified workforce can help individuals become better communicators and collaborators, giving them more value as a team member and ultimately lead to a higher level of performance. Not only will employees be much more inclined to stay with businesses based at the Park, but our the recruitment strategy when trying to hire highly-skilled, motivated individuals also becomes easier.
Location
Unsurprisingly, location is also critical to attracting and retaining talent. Where an office or place of work is situated can often play a significant factor in the long-term growth of a business. It is therefore important for businesses to consider not only what type of candidate they require in their current location, but also what they can offer top candidates.
Although Birchwood Park is the North West’s largest out-of-town business destination, we are in close proximity of a number of bustling university cities, such as Manchester and Liverpool. As such, no matter the size, sector or field, our occupiers are able to recruit from an enormous talent pool.
The ability to offer external candidates an alternative to city centre working, which still provides the same or if not better facilities, amenities and growth opportunities, has enabled the Park to attract experts and industry leaders from a variety of different sectors – specifically in nuclear.
As UK’s centre for innovation in the science and nuclear industry, bringing together global powerhouses of the industry with the right talent has enabled us to build a roster of both public and private sector nuclear-based organisations that span all areas of this revolutionary industry.
With talent acquisition and retention becoming essential aspects of business success, we are proud and confident to say that our value proposition enables the Park to stand out as a leading destination in the UK. Through our unwavering commitment to employee satisfaction and the best-in-class workplace wellbeing initiatives, we’ve created an environment where individuals can thrive and businesses continue to flourish.
For any organisations interested in joining our innovative and vibrant business community, with ambitions to enhance their own recruiting process, please don’t hesitate to get in touch today.
