Listen: In this episode of the Employee Benefits podcast, Helen Grimes, assistant director of people, explains how the reward strategy at housing association Stonewater is focused on attracting and retaining the best talent.
Grimes talks about how the benefits on offer are aligned with the corporate’s mission and values, which includes a benefit quite unique to the organisation: My Own Home. This is a scheme which enables employees to own their own home through shared ownership with the employer.
Grimes also discusses how the benefits strategy has evolved following a benchmarking exercise to ensure it offers schemes that are both valued and utilised by employees.
At a glance:
Stonewater is a housing association and its mission as a social landlord is to provide houses to people of all ages and backgrounds. It offers a multitude of different offerings, from rent, shared ownership and purchases, as well as specialist services which include retirement living, supported living schemes for both older and vulnerable people, and safe spaces for the LGBT+ community and domestic abuse refuges.
Some of its typical job roles include housing officer, surveyor, and customer contact assistant. It has 950 employees with an average age of 44 years. The average length of service is 4.8 years.
The primary business objectives that impact on benefits for the coming year:
- Increasing costs, particularly repair and maintenance costs, which are having a huge impact on the sector.
Career history
Helen Grimes, assistant director of people, joined Stonewater in 2015. She previously held positions including HR business partner, head of employee engagement and head of HR operations.
Grimes says that one of her achievements of which she is most proud is undertaking the Best Companies B-heard survey and growing engagement through the organisation’s culture to culminate in two-star level of engagement. She is also proud of achieving two-star Best Companies colleague engagement level.
