RealWorth Employee Handbook

Hello – we are RealWorth

We help organisations to identify, maximise, measure and communicate social and environmental change and to assist them achieve better, more sustainable outcomes.

Our ultimate aim is to support the eradication of inequality by creating places which enable everybody to realise their full potential.

We figure that it wouldn’t make sense to apply this to our business model without also applying it to our employment practices as well. We are a 21st century business and therefore we don’t use outdated 20th century management practices.

We need and encourage all of our people to be the best version of themselves that they can. This means that we start from a principle of trust. We only recruit adults, so we want to start by treating you as one. We think if we provide you with some sensible boundaries and outline guidance, we can trust you to use good judgement in all situations.

So a very warm welcome to our RealWorth employee handbook. It aims to be high on personality and low on rules. We’d like to continue improving it, so if you have any ideas on how to do that, please just let us know – happy reading!

Things that matter most to us

You probably already know that most businesses have a significant overlap of values? We think it’s probably to be expected – after all, most people would value honesty, integrity etc. At RealWorth though, we reckon it’s more use to our colleagues to try and pick out the things that we feel should shine out in everything that we do. So here they are and, importantly, we want everyone to feel comfortable in pointing out any times when we don’t get it right.

We are people people and are passionate about places and neighbourhoods. Everything that we do has a ‘people first’ feel to it
We are long term thinkers, because being so will help us to make a difference by delivering better, more sustainable outcomes
We are dedicated professionals, living and breathing a pro-social and pro-environmental attitude
We are imaginative and resourceful in our approach, proud of the rigour that our knowledge and experience provides and happy to share it and collaborate with others

Your early days

We’ve all been the newbie and experienced what it’s like when we don’t know who anyone is, where anything is and how anything gets done.

It’s pretty hard to figure out how to change that, so our approach is to say instead ‘hey, don’t worry’. It’s actually OK that you don’t know everything. In fact, we encourage you to bombard us with questions suggestions and ideas right from your first day.

We’ll make sure that your line manager is around to welcome you on your first day and to support you in putting together a plan for your early days with us.

Your first few days is likely to consist of a combination of reading and shadowing. Reading will help you to get up to speed with our methods and some of our current projects. Shadowing will begin to give you a real feel for some of our customers, partner organisations and simply how we do things around here.

So it’s important to be in learning mode from the day you arrive. Feel free to ask anything at all. We would love you to tell us if you think we can do something better. The early days are perfect to capture those moments of “…how weird, wonder why they do it that way…?”

How we work

What, not where

We believe that work is something we do rather than a place that we are. So we work in a way that is focussed on outcomes, rather than inputs. In other words, it is less important that you are sat at a certain desk in a certain place at a certain time, than it is that you deliver goals that we have agreed with you.

We each manage our own time, but we do it in a way that ensures we can support each other as a team and that RealWorth is protected.

Collaborative

RealWorth is a team and we recognise that we all bring something different to the table. Therefore it makes sense that we take care to listen to and support each other. We take this approach with clients, partners and associates.

Problem ownership

A problem is only a curve in the road. We believe that the best people to navigate it are the ones driving. Team ownership. Non-hierarchical – simple!

It’s all about learning

When we learn we grow. When we share knowledge and learning, we all grow together. We actively seek opportunities to develop in order to strengthen our team.

What if something goes wrong?

Oops! Well mistakes happen – that’s why rubbers were added to the top of pencils. It’s ok if something doesn’t go to plan. When this happens, we work as a team and figure out how to put it right. What we ask is that you are open about anything that that might be going awry. A failure to communicate well is much more likely to end in a disaster than a well-intended mistake.

We operate from a starting point of trust. We believe that if we are able to find people that are a good fit with each other and with RealWorth, everyone will be working together trying to do the right thing. If we get this right, any issues that arise should be resolvable in an informal way.

How am I doing and how will I know?

Because we are focussed on outcomes rather than inputs, we deliberately avoid a traditional and bureaucratic appraisal process.

However, we do think that it is really important for everyone to know what is expected of them, what they are doing really well and what they can do to continue to learn and improve.

We will make sure that, within your first eight weeks with us, we agree with you what success will look like in your role and how we will measure it. It’s important to acknowledge though that things change and as our business evolves and new work is secured, priorities may shift.

Once you’re established, it will be up to you to seek feedback from your colleagues and we will build this in to a team and peer review process.

Pay and benefits

We pay you – hooray! Your annual salary will already have been agreed with you and you’ll be paid monthly in arrears, on or around the last working day of each month.

You should record any expenses you incur in doing your job on our FreeAgent portal. These will be reimbursed to you at the end of each month. Any big costs (e.g. flights, accommodation, etc) will normally be booked and paid for by us.

We think that looking after yourself and staying healthy is key. So RealWorth benefits are focussed on supporting just that.

Leave Allowance – We believe that taking time away from the office is important and good for the soul. So in addition to our generous holiday allowance, we offer colleagues the option of buying an extra week’s leave. We recognise that holidays are not everyone’s thing, so you can also sell us a week back. Just be sure to let us know your plans within the first three months of your leave entitlement period,

Wellbeing allowance – whether your idea of staying well is using a meditation app, taking a yoga retreat or joining a gym, that’s ok with us. We want to encourage you to do this by reimbursing 50% of the cost you incur in your chosen route. For permanent full time employees this benefit is a maximum of £500 each year.

Employee Assistance Programme – we all need support from time to time and RealWorth provides access to a 24 hour EAP, which includes counselling support and legal & financial advice for you and your close family members. Find out more here. Log on as Peninsula using the password EAP. Or call the confidential 24-hour hotline on 0800 047 4097.

What if I am unwell?

Well first of all, please keep it to yourself. Of course, we mean that in a light hearted way – we would just prefer that you share a joke rather than any germs. We trust you to decide whether you are well enough to work and where the best place to do that is. If you are feeling up to it, then a home working day or two might just be the ticket. Just keep us informed and up to date.

As in most businesses, periods of sickness that go beyond seven days must be supported by a fit note from your GP. After three months service, up to 10 days certified sickness in any 12 month period will be covered by our occupational sick pay scheme – in other words, you will receive full pay, inclusive of statutory sick pay.

Regardless of the length of illness, please just keep us informed and in the loop.

Policy pages

Yeah, we know, policies – groan! We absolutely don’t believe that who we are as an employer should be defined by policies. Instead it is about creating a great place to work and ensuring that you feel able to bring along the best version of yourself each day.

Even so, the reality is that to ensure we meet our legal responsibilities and to give you confidence that both you and RealWorth are protected, we need to make some policy commitments. However, we don’t think it should take reams of paper to do this and we don’t think it should send you to sleep. So, here they are – RealWorth employment policies – in a few boxes and a few links at the bottom of this page!

Anti-bribery

Bribery is a crime

Don’t do it

Tell us if someone tries to bribe you

You must declare any gifts that you receive

Anti-tax evasion

Tax evasion is a crime

Don’t do it

Don’t facilitate someone else doing it

Tell us if you suspect it

Disciplinary and grievance

Act with honesty and in good faith at all times

We will always aim to openly discuss any concerns that we have

We encourage you to do the same

In the unlikely event that you or we need to resort to a more formal process, we will use the ACAS codes of practice

Health & Safety

We are all responsible for ensuring the health & safety of ourselves, other colleagues and anyone else who may be affected by our actions

Take care

No compromises

Report any and all H&S incidents to a RealWorth director

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We welcome and respect difference of any kind – we believe it makes us stronger

We make employment decisions based on skills, knowledge, experience, capability and attitude – the rest is irrelevant

Be nice to everyone

Email and internet usage

Conducting some of your home affairs using our system makes sense – it will help to keep you sane and we are ok with it

Do the right thing – only access legal and appropriate material

Protect RealWorth’s reputation

Giving back

In line with our overall aim, RealWorth encourages and supports you to volunteer for pro-social and pro-environmental causes. We all need to do something. Everyone at RealWorth is expected to. Feel free to take up to three hours each week in paid time and use RealWorth’s infrastructure to help you really make a difference to your chosen cause.

Some Useful Links

We should have covered everything below when we welcomed you on your first day, but to save to racking your brains trying to remember where everything is…

SharePoint Portal
Book holiday and other types of leave
Employee Assistance Programme
Claim Expenses
Harassment Policy
Absence Policy
Capability Policy
Equality Diversity Policy