​Let’s talk about being open at work

By Alexa Bradbury, Global Marketing Director

Do you feel comfortable talking about work-related stress with your manager? No? You’ve just joined the other 86% of UK workers that don’t either.

As much as we’d like to paint ourselves as the star employee who can deal with anything thrown at us, the truth of the matter is that 80% of UK workers describe stress as ‘a way of life’. With such a large majority of us feeling this way, it’s surprising that we’re not doing much to speak up on this issue.

At Guidant Global, we understand that people shy away from speaking out if they don’t feel there’s a safe platform available to openly express themselves without harming their status at work.

​How we got our people to be talking and happy
Our business strategy is quite simple: People Lead Growth. This means we rely on our talented people to take the wheel and drive our business forward. In the words of our Managing Director, Karina Townley, “We can’t do that without doing the right thing by those people”.

Although Guidant Global has always had a strong and supportive culture, we wanted to rethink the way we recognised and understood our people, so that they would always have the tools on-hand to be happy and productive.

​Making a bold move: getting rid of appraisals
Rolling out OpenBlend for the UK in 2015 marked a significant shift in the way our people communicated with each other. Managers and employees fed back that their relationships have changed… for the better! 88% of managers felt they’ve had more meaningful conversations with their teams as a result.

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But how was this done, you ask?

​OpenBlend helps our people identify – and for our managers to understand – what personal and professional elements (or blends, as it’s called on the platform) enable them to be their best self at work.

Every 4 to 6 weeks, our people would meet up with their manager to have an open discussion on how their blends have been faring, and whether there was a solution which could be offered in order to help our people have a better experience at work.

​And the result?
The focus on our people’s wellbeing have helped them feel more valued and engaged with the work they do. Our people feel like they can come into work every day as themselves and #BeTheChange in inspiring better ways of working. This year, we’ve even ranked #51 on The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies list, the fastest growing company in 2019.

With the success of OpenBlend in the UK, we’re happy to announce we’ll be rolling it out globally in the near future.

We’re proud to have found #ABetterWay in our people-centric approach. Are you looking to join a diverse and inclusive company committed to bettering the world of work through encouraging open and honest conversations? Why not take a look at some of our latest vacancies here >