Karen Archer-Burton: The importance of aligning values with recognition

At Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, employees are the lifeblood of the organisation; to ensure we attract and retain the very best talent, it is vital that they are recognised and feel valued.

That is why we are currently reviewing our employee engagement strategy as a whole. As part of that process, we have recently joined forces with Each Person to provide an employee rewards, recognition and discount scheme, powered by epoints. The scheme was selected in part because it enables us to align our recognition and rewards scheme with our core brand values.

At Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, we work by four key values and behaviours: passion for excellence, putting patients first, personal responsibility and pride in our team. These behaviours were developed with the input of our employees in 2013.

The values form the pledge that each and every employee takes when they join us, as well as the commitment the employer gives back to them; they they allow us to deliver the best service we can to our patients, while also ensuring our employees have a positive experience.

Using the recognition scheme, we are able to reinforce the significance of our core values to employees. Employees are sent digital thank-you cards when they exhibit behaviours aligned with our goals, and we are also able to attach the e-points currency as a special reward.

It is the passion and expertise of our employees that has ensured that Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals has recently retained its rating of ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Being part of a system that focuses on aligning our goals with recognition ensures that each employee knows what our values are, and understands that they have a personal responsibility to meet them. Not only that, but it also helps people understand what we are working towards as an organisation.

Karen Archer-Burton is assistant director of HR, learning and organisational development at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital