November is National Career Development Month – a month aimed at inspiring employers to empower employees to achieve their career goals.
Managing Director Mark Seaborn explains why this initiative resonates so strongly with the mission, vision and values we share at Pennington Choices.
Without a doubt, our staff members are the essence of what makes Pennington Choices the business it is today. And despite all the challenges thrown upon us in the last 18 months, the pandemic has changed Pennington Choices for the better.
It is a testament to our employee's hard work, trust and loyalty to the business that we are firmly back onto a path of successful growth.
Personal Development Plans
In the last year, we have welcomed 40 new employees to the Pennington Choices' family. Every one of them has a personal development plan - their growth and development are important to us. As part of the plan, each employee works with their manager to set objectives to help establish their personal goals and aspirations for career growth.
As Managing Director I’m also extremely proud of the internal New Manager’s programme which I run alongside external speakers and training providers every year. This programme aims to equip aspiring managers with the confidence, insights and practical skills to enhance their performance.
Additionally, we open a window each year where employees can request relevant business training outside of their roles. In 2021, nearly a quarter of all staff have taken the opportunity to request development training amounting to £73,000. With such opportunities to improve through training, coaching and internal promotions, our commitment to developing our staff has led to 13 employee promotions within the last year.
Employee promotions
Tina Kaminski joined the marketing team in March 2021 and within three months was promoted to Campaign Marketing Manager, taking a lead on managing the organisation’s CRM and responsibility for company-wide marketing campaigns.
'When I joined Pennington Choices as a Marketing Executive I was unsure whether my need for part-time employment would hinder my career. It has been refreshing to work in an organisation where my skills and experience have been recognised and valued so quickly and I am relishing the opportunities that have come my way'.
It is a similar story for Business Development Manager, Aileen Gilchrist who started with the business as a Trainee Bid Writer three years ago.
'Having progressed to the role of bid assistant and then bid coordinator within 18 months, I was offered the opportunity to explore a new career path within business development. Beginning as a business development coordinator, I began a learning journey with the support of the sales team. With support, mentoring and undertaking an NVQ in sales and other accredited sales courses, I developed the skills, networks and confidence to succeed in my new role. As a result, I am now the business development manager with responsibilities for asbestos bid management. Pennington Choices continue to offer new doors to open on my career journey which makes every day exciting and completely different’.
Similarly, Ben Davidson joined the company seven years ago straight out of university as a graduate Building Surveyor.
‘It has been great to take advantage of the various additional training opportunities and support offered to me during my time at Pennington Choices including the manager’s programme. From graduate to Senior Surveyor to my current role as Operation Manager for Stock Condition, I’m grateful to work for an organisation where talent and hard work is not only recognized but positively encouraged’.
Mental health and wellbeing
Employing 120 staff, we are a business that loves transparency and has a continual open-door policy. We recognise good mental health and wellbeing are important to create a happy and healthy workforce. Our Social, Wellbeing and Engagement consultant is employed to look after our staff, managing a newly created 12- month mental health programme of information and activities. We also offer personal development coaching through 1-2-1 sessions; we invest in our people and understand that encouraging personal development contributes to greater happiness and success in, not only our careers, but all areas of our lives.
Ranked within the Top 100 Mid-Sized Best Companies to work for, along with being accredited as a Two-Star Best Company for our commitment to staff engagement, we want to recruit the best people and continue to build on our great place to work status. Going forward, improving our office spaces, continuing our training allowance, reviewing our salary bandings and recommencing our social activities post-COVID are just some of the ways we are committed to doing this.
About us
Pennington Choices is a market leader in property surveying and consultancy services to organisations nationwide.
Delivering excellent service built on the principles of transparency, efficiency, and avoidance of business interruption, we've worked with more than 500 public and private sector organisations across social housing, NHS, education, and rail over the past 20 years.
Our clients have a full assurance that working with Pennington Choices guarantees they are doing the best they can to ensure compliance and safety within their buildings.
If you want to know more, we’d love to hear from you - get in touch.