Toxic management, covert sexism and ageism - Manager Blue Ventures Employee Review

Thank you for leaving your detailed feedback about working for Blue Ventures; it is always valuable for us to hear the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders. I am sorry that your experience at BV was not as positive as we had hoped. As I am sure you were aware when you were with us, BV has been on a significant growth journey and is constantly evolving as an organisation. Part of the reason for creating my role was to enable us to focus on being intentional about the culture we create in BV vs a culture that evolves organically (as has been the case to date and which is typical for an organisation like ours). I spent my first 3-months gaining valuable insights into what it was like to work at BV. What did colleagues most like about our culture (such as the entrepreneurial spirit, the ability to move to action quickly, approachable leadership, etc.) and what they liked least (such as wanting more inclusion and collaboration, deeper understanding of decisions made, opportunities to pause and reflect, better leadership communications and an improved balance between the ‘what’ we delivered and ‘how’ we delivered it) Since then, the leadership team has focused on DEI, culture and colleague experience and have made many positive improvements, but of course we recognise that this is a continuous journey. Some of the fundamental changes we have made so far (which I assume happened after you left us) are: A new People Strategy with culture and DEI as core pillars A new DEI strategy and plan which outlines our commitment to increasing diversity, localisation and decolonisation of the organisation A new, more robust code of conduct applicable to all colleagues and stakeholders working on BV's behalf, including specific measures around bullying and creating a safe working environment A new bullying and harassment policy A new flexible working policy, which allows colleagues to work from home for up to 60% of their week and to request wider flexible working arrangements Improvements to our safeguarding and whistleblowing reporting system Review of our reward system and increased competitiveness of colleague pay - for the 2023 pay review we gave a bigger increase to the lower paid colleagues. New executive leadership development programming and improvements in leadership communications Significant diversification of the Senior Leadership Team (we expect in the next few months to be 50% female, 50% based outside of the UK and 50% non-white ethnicity) Other improvements we have made and the most recent insights to indicate progress: Twice-yearly colleague engagement surveys with the results shared with colleagues and used to inform our plans. Implementation of quarterly people and culture KPIs, which are reported to the SLT and Board of Trustees as part of monitoring our progress Creation of a women’s network where female colleagues can meet, discuss their experiences at BV, provide feedback to SLT, and help set the agenda. Annual gender and diversity pay analysis as part of our pay review process Development of colleague DEI training and Power and Bias Training for the SLT Development and implementation of leadership behavioural competency framework aligned with our values Implementation of a new robust performance management approach, which is underpinned by an equal value placed on the what (is delivered) and the behaviours to deliver, as well as 360 feedback and development planning Development and implementation of a leadership development programme with a focus on women leaders Changes to our recruitment approaches to ensure we value potential, experience/academic record, and recruiting outside of the UK as our default We are also in the process of developing terms of reference for an external culture review, which was agreed upon last year as part of our efforts to be open and honest about our culture journey, to check on progress and actions so far and to make further recommendations in addition to the plans we already have Our most recent insights (31 December 2023) indicate that we are making good progress: We have dramatically increased the diversity of the SLT since the last financial year: Increase from 25% female leaders to 42% (expected to be over 50% once vacancies are filled) Increase from 17% leaders based outside the UK to 50% (expected to be over 50% once vacancies are filled) Increase from 17% of leaders with a non-white ethnicity to 42% (expected to be over 50% once vacancies are filled) Our 12-month voluntary turnover was 10.5% (0.5% above our 10% maximum target set because some turnover is always healthy for an organisation). Our leavers' average service is 4.3 years, well above our 3-year average target, with only 1.4% of colleagues leaving in their first year. Our engagement score from our November 2023 survey was 77%, 2% above our 75% target and our external benchmarks. Across BV, we have a promotion rate of 8%, with 64% of promotions being for female colleagues and 50% of leader promotions being female. 40% of staff who left BV were female. I would be more than happy to meet with you (if you are comfortable doing so) to talk through all the positive changes we have made and our plans to follow and hear more about your insights, which will help inform our ongoing work in this critical area. Kevin Moyes Chief People Officer