Celebrating 10th Consecutive Year as a Great Place to Work

https://youtu.be/hQFH1sAaYDE

Good things come in threes for Version 1 at the 2021 Great Place to Work Ireland ceremony

Version 1 is thrilled to announce that we have been listed as one of the Top 10 Best Workplaces in Ireland for 2021, an accolade we have now received for a remarkable 10 years in a row! We were honoured to be recognised at the 19^th annual Great Place to Work® Best Workplaces in Ireland virtual awards on the 10th of February 2021 for three separate achievements:

1. Being named a Top 10 Best Workplace in the Large Workplace category (in 6th place)…

2. For receiving the prestigious ‘Inspiring Award 2021’ for our Shadow Board programme at Version 1…

3. Last but certainly not least – for winning a ‘Best Workplace Laureate Award’ for successfully maintaining our Great Place to Work status for the past 10 years consecutively which is no mean feat as those who are aware of the hard work, dedication and investment this requires will know!

Great Place to Work – What Does It Take?

The Great Place to Work® Awards honour the Best Workplaces across Ireland who are awarded based on in-depth analysis of two main areas:

• The Trust Index© Employee Survey that measures the extent to which your organisation is considered to be a great workplace by your people.
• A Culture Audit that analyses the policies, practices, programs and day-to-day management behaviours that underpin a workplace culture.

The assessments are categorised into five dimensions of the Great Place to Work® Methodology. The first three dimensions, Credibility, Respect and Fairness, measure employee trust in management, while the final two, Pride and Camaraderie, assess employees’ feelings about their jobs and their colleagues, ensuring that all aspects of employee life are factored into the results.

Celebrating 10 Years of Success

Version 1’s CEO, Tom O’Connor, reflected fondly on the last 10 years of being a Great Place to Work (officially), of which he has been at the helm as CEO for four.

“What a remarkable achievement this is for Version, we are truly honoured. In a year that Version 1 will celebrate another major milestone; of being in business for 25 years, we are delighted to see that our commitment as an employer has received such positive feedback. While I’m very happy that we are being welcomed as a Best Workplace Laureate this year for ten years of hard work, I’m even more delighted that this award is being received alongside the ‘Inspiring Award’ for 2021′. I would like to thank every Version 1 employee for this achievement, your innovation, creativity and energy on initiatives such as our Shadow Board means we are still at the vanguard of Employee Experience. The last decade has been a truly phenomenal transformation and acceleration for our business,” O’Connor stated after the ceremony.

“We are humbled by the three milestones we reached tonight – it’s not something we ever take for granted, and we are very grateful that our efforts have received this recognition once again. I am confident going into our 25th year in business, and our 10th year as a Great Place to Work officially, that these achievements will only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of making a real difference for customers, building an empowering culture for employees and growing a strong organisation for the future.” O’Connor added.

Version 1’s Director of People Success, Jarlath Dooley, who has been the driving force behind our decade of Great Place to Work recognition, put Version 1’s human-centric culture very firmly at the heart of the win:

“We are extremely proud to receive this award for the tenth year in a row. We cannot overstate the importance we place upon creating an enriching culture and working environment for our employees. Our goal is to always retain and continually attract top talent in the regions where we operate, and we are very lucky to have such a first-rate, skilled employee base.” Dooley commented before continuing to explain the change in approach Version 1 adopted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic made the past year incredibly challenging for our employees and has brought Version 1 on a journey from focusing on ‘Employee Experience (EX) to Human Experience (HX). My view is that COVID taught us that we have to stop treating humans as employees and instead, treat employees as humans. COVID forced us to consider employees as humans who had young children, elderly parents, underlying conditions, or potentially unsuitable home working environments. It forced us to consider mental resilience, physical movement, and social belonging. We had to look at how work was being done and equip people with the tools and technology to work smarter. Where this consideration was given, and the experience we had in Version 1, productivity improved, engagement scores went up and retention levels improved dramatically. It’s been an incredible journey with our employees over the past year navigating these challenges and we have them to thank for making Version 1 such a great place to work, year in and year out with the innovation, perseverance and care shown to our Human Experience.”

Employee Experience

Over the course of the last ten years, many new policies and programmes have been introduced across the organisation that focus on improving our employees’ experiences, and have no doubt contributed to our 10 consecutive years as a Great Place to Work. These initiatives include the rollout of our career development framework Pathways, the establishment of our Digital Academy, our continued dedication to CSR activities and DIB‘s efforts and the creation of our Wellbeing Model, to name but a few. Another hugely successful addition over the years was the establishment of an Employee Experience function. Created to foster meaningful experiences for everyone in Version 1, the dedicated Employee Experience (EX) team examine all the key touchpoints of employee’s journeys, encompassing virtual onboarding sessions, celebrations and recognition of our employees.

Version 1’s Director of Communications, Strategy and Planning, Louise Lahiff, also highlighted our strong customer relationships and continued focus on customer success as a triumph over the years, ensuring that our organisation is measuring success not only internally, but through the feedback of our customers too.

“In reflecting on our journey as a brand, our growth over the past decade has been immense. Devising a strategy that puts our customers, our organisation and our people on an even keel means that we continue to see long-term, fruitful relationships with our partners and clients, whilst still being able to offer a healthy work-life balance and rewarding culture for our people. It’s not an easy balance to get right – or to maintain – but it remains a strong priority for us always.”

Looking to the future, the next 10 years seems bright for Version 1; they have seen their employee satisfaction scores and business demand soar during the pandemic, and the management team are busy strategising for the decade ahead, with many new goals on the horizon. There has never been a better time to join them on their journey.