LOGIN
Nupsala: ‘We really wanted to make sure that the foundations were solid before we grew the business any further.’
Nupsala UK has become the first non-clinical workplace to successfully secure Gold accreditation through the Great Workplaces by Ȥҹapp scheme. But what convinced the company that the innovative accreditation scheme could add value to its fast-growing veterinary wholesale business?
Greg McGarrell, Chief Executive of Nupsala, felt confident going into the process that its workforce seemed content but, with the business expanding rapidly, he wanted to ensure that it was building on a solid foundation and to get an outside perspective on what more the management team could do to ensure their 24-person team in the UK and Romania continued to thrive.
He said: “We are not a business that stands still. With lots of different teams working here and in Europe, we really wanted to make sure that the foundations were solid before we grew the business any further - for us that means a happy workforce.”
“We have teams working in lots of different settings; we’ve got a veterinary clinic, a sales force who don't always work in the office, remote workers, the team in Romania and people in the office. We have a duty of care to all of them.”
To secure accreditation the team at Nupsala worked collaboratively with a dedicated, experienced accreditor from a veterinary background. As part of the process, staff across its different workplaces completed an anonymous survey, which showed particularly highs scores for workplace culture. Staff reported very strong camaraderie and a ‘great teamwork culture’ in all teams, including the remote working sales team and staff based in Romania.
Nupsala’s People and Organisation Lead Carol O’Prey agrees that the company take their duty of care to all staff seriously and says that this is a core value for their business. She added: “When we heard about the scheme we were excited. This is a great opportunity to get that external view and really understand how our employees feel about their work and how we compare to other employers.
“The feedback we got from the report was invaluable, this isn’t a tickbox exercise for us at all. We’ll be drawing up an action plan and working through every suggested area for improvement. Now we have that Gold, it’s a source of pride for the whole team and we’ll be working to keep it.”
The accreditor who worked with Nupsala reported that the company demonstrated strength in leadership and management and praised its positive culture, and ‘no blame’ approach, reporting that many staff compare the workplace extremely favourably to previous employers.
Greg says: "We were always going to strive to get a high award because that's what we do. But we were so delighted when we came out at Gold. We’re shouting it from the rooftops. It’s everywhere on our website, on our documentation, on our emails. It's a source of pride to say that we've achieved this and it's not just one person, it's everybody.”
Register your interest
Want to know more about how Great Workplaces can help your team? Register your interest below, and we’ll share more information.
If you have any queries, get in touch: 020 7908 6320 or [email protected]