Winner: E.ON and Mitie

Sponsored by: Equans

The BEST (Business Excellence Smart Toolbox) Programme was developed in collaboration between Mitie’s FM team and client E.ON. Both parties sought to provide a suite of tools to engage team members and create opportunities to share BEST practice, support employee development and retain their talented team. The BEST tool kit is available to all managers, supervisors, team leaders and BEST champions.

Key objectives included:

  • Empowering teams, boosting engagement and retention;
  • Enhancing collaboration between Mitie and E.ON to deliver the client’s vision for a ‘great place to work’;
  • Sharing BEST practice across the business; and
  • Encouraging teams to trial new ways of working.

Results gleaned

The BEST tools have empowered and inspired 160 team members across 34 sites to develop and grow within the account.

The success of the initiative has led to implementation across additional Mitie accounts, including Scottish Government, BMW, BAE, Magnox and Thales, and added to key bids that have a change management requirement.

Scores post implementation of BEST have improved on the following metrics:

  • NPS scores;
  • Employee engagement; and
  • Development opportunities with the wider Mitie business.

To facilitate successful roll-out of BEST, the team developed several digital communication tools including interactive newsletters, videos and guides to reach everyone, even atthe most remote sites.

Additionally, the team created digital and print magazines in-house to act as a diary of the highlights and achievements within the account.

TimeOut sessions were created to encourage learning by taking a break from work to focus on development.

The impacts of the BEST initiative have been impressive. Comparing the E.ON account with the broader Mitie business, results show that:

  • 93% of Mitie employees on the E.ON account say workplace health and safety is important (77% of Mitie employees across the rest of the company);
  • 77% of Mitie employees on the E.ON account think Mitie values diversity of its people (67% of Mitie employees across the rest of the company); and
  • 61% of Mitie employees on the E.ON account say it would take a lot for them to leave Mitie (50% of Mitie employees across the rest of the company).

Best practice learning

  • Invest in your people to deliver the programme;
  • Choose programme leaders with the right attitude, and desire to learn and develop;
  • Find business veterans to embrace a programme to encourage greater engagement;
  • Keep pushing and evolving so the programme can exceed its potential;
  • Be adaptable so that you can align the programme with the changing needs of clients and employees;
  • Celebrate successes;
  • Embrace social media to build the community and share special moments and stories;
  • Believe that everyone and anyone can grow with the right support;
  • Measure and benchmark your results; and
  • Take the client with you on the journey.

Key quotes

“I found the TimeOut sessions to be a great way to get all employees, regardless of service line, to have fun and interact with each other whilst learning more about what it means to work for Mitie, both in terms of what the company expects from them and what they can expect from the company.” – Alex Davies, continuous improvement manager, BMW.

“Mitie has supported E.ON in the delivery of significant change across our organisation. Moreover, with the BEST toolbox, Mitie brings the account to life with its delivery team which has the additional added benefit of helping us to create a great place to work.” – Brett Smith, senior contract manager, E.ON.