Borders College has once again been shortlisted for a nationally recognised award. The Smarter Working Live Conference and Awards ceremony will take place this coming Autumn and the College are thrilled to have been placed in the Inspiring Your People/A Great Place to Work category.
The submission focused on the College being certified as ‘A Great Place to Work’, going above and beyond to ensure staff are happy in their working environments. Debbie Kerr, head of HR at Borders College, commented:
“One of our key values is to inspire our people and through good leadership, communication and engagement, we have proved that the College is certainly a great place to work.
“We take the Wellbeing of our staff very seriously and for that reason we have a Wellbeing Group made up of volunteers from across the College who meet regularly to discuss both organisational wellbeing activities as well as social activities.
“Our staff are involved in many aspects of how the College operates, including the development of our Strategic Ambitions 2020-2025, consulting them particularly on our values and behaviours. Staff agreed that as a College we are inspiring, innovative, collaborative, inclusive and empowering.
“We have had many fun and wellbeing activities over the last 18 months, including virtual dog Shows, quiz nights, book clubs, cooking demonstrations and beauty and hair treatments, as well as a more serious provision of Occupational Health services.
“We have also changed the culture of the college to being outcome-based rather than output-based, allowing our staff the autonomy to manage their time and do the right things at the right time for our students.
“Our staff have been outstanding during this particularly difficult time and although there has been some return to campus for practical delivery, the majority of our staff remain at home. As a College, we have been able to provide them with the tools to undertake their roles remotely.
“We commit to our staff with a healthy staff development budget which has helped to support the digital transformation that we have gone through in the last year. We definitely see ourselves as a skilled, innovative and ambitious public sector.”
Borders College Principal Angela Cox commented on the recognition, saying:
“Our staff make our College the outstanding learning organisation it is. When our staff are happy the levels of staff engagement, innovation and commitment to our students improve. We are delighted that this has been recognised by being shortlisted for this award.”