Our people are our most important asset. Nurturing our people is absolutely vital to achieving our core purpose of better outcomes for more children.
Our People and Culture Strategy for Barnardo’s sets out how we’re supporting our colleagues and creating a positive, inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
Through these eight key areas of focus, we’re striving to make Barnardo’s an even better place to work and bring our values to life in everything we do through a set of behaviours.
Eight pillars
Colleague engagement
Colleagues across Barnardo's need opportunities to make their voices heard and help shape decisions about the charity's future - whether that's in your team, department, directorate, or charity wide. Harnessing the passion and expertise of our people is key to making the right decisions and co-creating the culture and environment we need to thrive – now and in the future.
Learning and development
With the world changing faster than ever before, Barnardo's is deeply committed to promoting learning. This is embedded as a key 'enabler' of our Strategy. We want colleagues to be able to access a range of opportunities to learn new skills and develop in their roles.
Advancement opportunities
We have talented colleagues across the charity who are looking for opportunities to develop their career and continue contributing to Barnardo's, whether in the same role or in a different role. We need to make those opportunities visible and provide a clear pathway for those looking to move into management and leadership.
Pay, reward, and recognition
So many of our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering their vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to the cause. As well as ensuring our pay is fair and responsive to the external environment, it's critically important that we recognise those who go the extra mile and that we create regular opportunities to say thank you.
Inclusive environment
Equality, diversity and inclusion are central to everything we do at Barnardo's, stemming from our core belief in the unique worth of every individual, and the specific commitments in our Strategy. We must ensure Barnardo's is a charity that celebrates difference, prioritises diversity, and is a place where everyone can thrive. Read our EDI Action Plan which outlines our principles and how we plan to marble these through everything we do as a charity
Hybrid workplace offer
Building on learning from the Covid-19 pandemic, we want to offer colleagues as much flexibility as possible in where they work. Some colleagues need to be in a particular location, including many of our frontline Children’s Services workers, and colleagues in our Retail shops. For others, it's possible to work partly or mostly from home, or from a range of locations. Our goal here is to facilitate work/life balance, as well as making sure we can recruit colleagues from right across the country.
Health and wellbeing
We know from our direct work supporting vulnerable children and young people how important it is to create an environment that is trauma-informed, supportive and have initiatives in place for those who may be struggling. We also recognise that many of us across Barnardo's have struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic, both personally and professionally.
Leadership presence
Our leaders play an important role in driving our Strategy forward, sharing our vision, and supporting colleagues. It's important that our leaders are visible and accessible across the charity, to help us feel a shared connection as part of the Barnardo's family.
