RealWorth’s Employee Handbook
Some simple rules and guidance to enable people and teams to develop and support each other.
Welcome to RealWorth
We help organisations to identify, optimise, measure, and communicate the social value of places, projects, policies and programmes.
We support our clients to make positive, lasting and measurable changes to people’s lives and generate outcomes that are better for everyone. This aim is central to our culture and management practices and is reflected in our employment practices.
We need and encourage all of our people to be the best version of themselves that they can be. We set great store in the principle of trust. We only recruit adults, and we treat everyone as such. We believe that if we provide you with some sensible boundaries and outline guidance, we can trust you to use your good judgment in all situations and use your intelligence to ask for support where needed.
The RealWorth employee handbook 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 publish values that are often similar versions of the same thing. This isn’t a surprise; after all, which employer wouldn’t say that they valued inclusion, honesty, and personal choice? At RealWorth though, we think it’s more useful to pick out the things that we feel should shine out in everything that we do.
So Here Are Our Principles
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 that are better for everyone
We are dedicated professionals, living and breathing our pro-social beliefs and values.
We are imaginative and resourceful in our approach, proud of the rigour that our knowledge and experience provide and happy to share it and collaborate with others.
We encourage everyone to point out to each other whenever we begin to lose sight of these principles.
Your early days
We’ve all been a “new starter” and know what it feels like when we don’t know who anyone is, where anything is and how anything gets done.
It’s pretty hard to figure things out in those early days. Our approach is to embrace the fact that you won’t know everything from day one and will 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 are 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.
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 “I 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 together.
We each manage our own time, but we do it in a way that ensures we can support each other, our clients, and our business. Our core working hours are 10 am to 3.30 pm from Monday to Friday. Beyond that, we allow people to work flexibly to support personal choice.
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 often only a bump 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 and strengthen our team.
What if something goes wrong?
Mistakes happen. It’s okay if something doesn’t go to plan. When this happens, we work as a team and figure out how to put it right. We need you to be open about anything 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 find people that are a good fit with each other and with RealWorth, everyone will work together 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 bureaucratic and complicated appraisal processes.
However, everyone needs to know what is expected of them, what they are doing well and what they can do to continue to learn and improve.
During your first eight weeks with us, we will discuss and agree on a personal development plan for you in your role. However, it’s important to acknowledge that things change and as our business evolves and new work is secured, priorities may shift.
Once you’ve settled in, it will be up to you to drive your development, seek feedback from your colleagues about your performance and use this information in your development review process.
Pay and benefits
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 Xero portal – details of which will have been provided as part of your induction process. Expenses will be reimbursed to you at the end of each month. Any significant costs (e.g., flights, accommodation) will normally be booked and paid for by us.
We think that looking after yourself and staying healthy is key. So, RealWorth benefits are focused on supporting just that.
Leave Allowance
Taking time away from the office is important and good for the soul. So, in addition to our standard 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. This starts on the day you joined us and each anniversary thereafter.
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. This is classed as a taxable benefit in kind by HMRC.
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.
Professional development
Your professional development is just as important to us as the work that we do. We encourage you to find and take advantage of skills-based formal training as well as other professional development opportunities (such as conferences or online training) and will support you to do so financially by reimbursing the costs. We do this to help you grow as a professional and as a person. When senior positions arise at RealWorth, we will always look to promote internally first.
What if I am unwell?
We trust you to decide whether you are well enough to work and where the best place is for you to be if you’re feeling under the weather. If you are feeling up to it, then a home working day or two might be best for you and might help avoid you passing germs to others. Just keep your manager 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 months will be covered by our occupational sick pay scheme – in other words, you will receive full pay, inclusive of statutory sick pay.
Policy pages
To be a responsible employer, we need to have policies. However, these documents do not define who we are as an employer. 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 your line manager or a director if someone tries to bribe you.
You must declare any gifts that you receive to your line manager.
Anti-tax evasion
Tax evasion is a crime.
Don’t do it.
Don’t facilitate someone else doing it.
Tell your line manager or a director 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.
If you or we need to resort to a more formal process, the disciplinary and grievance policies below will be followed.
Health & Safety
We are all responsible for ensuring the health & safety of ourselves, our colleagues and anyone else who may be affected by our actions.
Take care.
No compromises.
Report any H&S incidents to your line manager or a RealWorth director.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
We welcome and respect differences 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 kind and respectful to everyone.
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. Full-time employees are encouraged 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 discussed everything below when you joined us, but to save you from racking your brains trying to remember where everything is…
