Pennine Healthcare – Our EO Story: Employees at the centre of everything we do

Derby-based Pennine Healthcare is one of the UK’s leading employee-owned, medical technology manufacturers.

Employee engagement is vital for the long-term growth and success of Pennine Healthcare, and by putting employees at the centre of everything we do, we believe we drive successful engagement.

This year many new campaigns and changes have been made to improve communication, gauge employee feeling and give more power to the employees themselves.

This can be seen in the following initiatives:

We Matter

The official employee representative group of our EO structure, We Matter, was launched in September 2021 to give employees a voice within the business.

Each department has a representative within the We Matter group, with no senior managers allowed to join. Workshops have been held with outside consultants to offer advice on structure, how to conduct meetings, prioritise and give every employee a voice.

The ‘We Matter’ team have nominated a chair who sits on the EOT Board, whilst communication channels have been set up in the form of internal fortnightly e-shots, notice boards, dedicated submission forms on the company intranet and social media content.

Employee surveys

As an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), employee feedback is paramount to our continued success, so we conduct employee surveys each quarter to measure, track and act on employee feedback.

The number of responses exceeded expectations in the first round of surveys, and the honest, open feedback from all staff was very much welcomed and has allowed Pennine to work together to build purpose and values and improve our culture and morale.

We believe that it is vital that Pennine builds a culture of openness, honesty and above all accountability, underpinned by our Derby Spirit.

Storytelling via social media content

We want to promote the benefits of becoming an EOT to the wider community, and really sell the message of what it means for Pennine to be an EOT.

It’s so important to the company that our EOT Status even features on the company Brand House, as a pillar that sets Pennine apart from other businesses in this field.

This message is promoted via social media content, where we are proud to showcase some of the brilliant work we have achieved since becoming an EOT, from recap videos of EO Day Celebrations, to press releases about our £200,000 PPE donation to Ukraine, it’s important that we document our successes and achievements both internally and externally.

On the emergency donation of face masks, dressings, bandages, sanitiser, gowns and more sent to Nova Poshta (Help Ukraine), a Ukrainian delivery service, who distributes the supplies to those most in need, Graeme Cameron, Pennine Healthcare’s CEO, said: “We are an employee-owned organisation and that gives us a unique position to help others first.”

EO Stories 2022 homepage >>