Culture Handbook

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This Handbook

Welcome to Active Gloucestershire! We are excited to have you join our team and are keen to make sure that your time with us is inspiring, rewarding and essentially spent doing something that you enjoy.

How to use it....

We want this handbook to give you an insight into who we are, what we do and what makes us tick and as such, we encourage you to use this handbook to understand a little more about the values that drive us, the issues that matter to us and the way in which we operate.

What it isn't....

This handbook won't tell you how to claim expenses or fill in a sickness absence form nor will it explain how to use our IT system or what to do if you get called for jury service. For further information on our 'must-have' policies and other useful guidance, please ask to see our policies manual, safeguarding handbook and our health and safety handbook. Think of this handbook as less of an instruction manual but more a tool to help you settle into your brand-new adventure!

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Handbook contents

What is Active Gloucestershire?

About us

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Challenge

Our History

What is important to us?

What we believe in

How we work

Settling in

Work life

Office life

Your life

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About us

We are a charity, based in the heart of Gloucester, working to increase the physical activity levels of the least active in our county. We passionately believe that physical activity can have a transformative impact on the lives of people and their communities and our core purpose is to drive positive change.

Our vision

“Everyone in Gloucestershire living healthy and happy lives”

Our mission

“We are an inclusive community that connects and inspires people in Gloucestershire to improve their lives through physical activity.”

During our last strategy period, we identified the need for a step change in our approach to getting people more physically active. In the past, most health campaigns tended to make already active people slightly more active, leaving inactive people further behind. We knew we needed to try something new.

Since 2018, we have been testing a new whole systems approach to tackling inactivity in our county, a social movement, called we can move. At its core we can move acknowledges that many factors influence how physically active someone is and that no single organisation can effectively change the status quo on their own. The movement unites actors from across the system behind its mission to get the least active people in our county moving more and by addressing all aspects of our daily life, aims to create an environment in which everyone can become physically active.

As the coordinating body for we can move, we have transitioned into a backbone organisation that connects leaders, individuals and organisations from across the system and inspires and enables them to get more people moving more and leading healthier and happier lives.

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Our Challenge

Covid-19 heightened health inequalities across Gloucestershire

Before Covid-19, around one in five people in Gloucestershire were not moving enough to benefit their health, a result of gradual improvements year on year. But the pandemic affected everyone in different ways and more people became less active. This especially affected groups we’d already identified as having the greatest health inequalities.

Across England, compared with pre-pandemic (May 19 – May 20), the impact on the groups we focus on is stark:

Group	Change in inactivity during the pandemic*
Black people	An increase of 2.6 percentage points to 32.3%
People living with disabilities	An increase of 2.1 percentage points to 42.4%

Older adults (75+)

An increase of 1.9 percentage points to 48.7%

*based on November 2020 - November 2021

“The pandemic has made our movement even more important”

Jon McGinty, Active Gloucestershire Trustee, November 2021

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Our History

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What we believe in

In developing the we can move approach, we have reflected on and identified the behaviours that matter most to us and that best embody who we are and what we believe in.

Be brave

The best way to see if something works is to give it a go.

Be curious and listen hard

Gather learning, Insight and data and look to understand the experiences of those with perspectives furthest from your own.

Stand shoulder to shoulder

Everyone owns the movement. Ask for help when you need it, offer it when it will be useful and be prepared to grow ideas together.

Find the energy

Focus on strengths, emphasise the positive and gently challenge the negative.

Build relationships of trust

Invest in others as much as in getting things done.

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Settling In

Talking It Through

Starting somewhere new can be daunting, so if you have any worries or concerns, we encourage you to talk about what's on your mind to other colleagues or your line manager. Whether it be about the project you're working on, how you're finding things, or checking how you should do something-just chat to one of our team and we will be happy to help!

Mentor Support

When you start with us, in addition to a formal induction, you will also have a mentor - another colleague who will navigate and support you through your first few weeks in your new role and potentially beyond. Your mentor will have been where you are now and so will be well placed to make sure you're not just 'figuring stuff out' on your own and that you have as easy and stress free a start with us, as possible. Mentor support within our organisation isn't only on offer to you during the first few weeks of your induction. If you think it would be useful to continue to have a mentor, to bounce ideas off, advise and guide you during your time with us, just let us know.

Career Development

Our team is our greatest resource. Their knowledge, skills and expertise are pivotal to achieving our outcomes and realising our vision. At Active Gloucestershire, we want you to have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills set and boost your aspirations. We offer an extensive staff training programme, which runs throughout the year and provides our team with the opportunity to undertake a variety of courses from equality and diversity, safeguarding and first aid training, to training more specifically tailored to their role, including behaviour change, systems evaluation and facilitation training.

We are also keen to support those in our team who want to undertake leadership coaching and provide both internal leadership opportunities and access to formal leadership development courses. We encourage you to investigate the types of courses, seminars and events that interest and excite you and share your thoughts with your line manager.

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Work Life

Communication is key

Here at Active Gloucestershire, we are big believers in talking things through, so whether you want to mind map some new ideas, get some feedback on something, or you just have something you need to get off your chest, we encourage you to talk to your colleagues or your line manager to get their perspective and input or just to get some reassurance that you're on the right path.

As well as discussing our projects at our 10@10 team catch up meetings on Mondays and more formal one to one meetings and appraisals, we also like to share and celebrate our successes with each other over a cup of coffee, at one of our team lunches or during our regular staff socials.

Staying flexible

Recent research has shown how many British workplaces operate an 'always on' culture, leading to employees feeling anxious, inadequate and incapable of 'switching off'.

We recognise that our employees have lives outside work. We are happy to consider and accommodate various working patterns and arrangements, so that you can balance your personal life with working productively.

We offer a ‘core hours’ working pattern and have fully embedded hybrid working, where all staff have the choice to work from home, the office, or from other sites. We also actively encourage our team to try out several different meeting formats including stand up, walking and outdoor meetings (when the weather permits!) to discover what gets those ideas and conversations flowing

Staff wellbeing

At Active Gloucestershire, the wellbeing of our staff is of paramount important to us.

Whilst we understand that stress can often be unavoidable in today’s busy world, we also know that too much of it can lead to burnout, disengagement, sickness and strained relationships. In order to mitigate the effects of stress on our staff, we have pulled together a varied and comprehensive wellbeing package, that we hope ensures all our team feel valued, supported and cared for.

As well as a formal employee assistance programme offering staff mental health support, we also fund and organise various health and wellbeing sessions for staff, that run during the working week. Sessions have included sleep health, financial wellbeing, compassionate mindful resilience, meditation and online cookery.

Our team also has access to the Headspace meditation app, eyecare vouchers and a range of benefits and discounts through Caboodle/Salary Extras.

We believe that birthdays should be spent doing the things you enjoy best with the people you love the most. So here at Active Gloucestershire, staff are gifted their birthdays off. Whether you’re heading out for a birthday meal, taking a trip away or having a party with friends and family – take time to celebrate your day, your way.

Getting to know each other...

Keeping our team motivated and working well together is paramount and as such we create opportunities for our staff to connect and spend time with each other.

As well as regular team away days and our annual Christmas meal out, we also hold team lunches, regular coffee and catch up sessions and optional staff socials where we do something fun together after work.

...and our community

Our relationship with the local community underpins much of what we do and so when we can, we like to get out and about and volunteer with neighbouring organisations, to better understand them and the work they do.

We also offer each of our team the chance to undertake some employer supported volunteering with an organisation of their choice, during their time with us, so be sure to pick this up with your line manager, if you think it is something that might interest you.

http://hrnews.co.uk/always-on-work-cultures-putting-british-employees-at-risk/

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Office life

Hybrid office

As our team has grown, so our office lay out has changed. It balances open spaces which support collaborative work with quieter zones when staff need some thinking time or just want to get their head down and concentrate. Whether you are looking to mind map some ideas, start conversations with colleagues, host a formal meeting with stakeholders and partners or just seek some seclusion, we have a variety of spaces you can choose from.

Facilities

Your health and wellbeing matter to us. If you’re in the office and you fancy a run at lunch, just bring in your trainers, or if it’s a game of table tennis you’re after, just ask one of the team for a knock around. There’s also a bike available for you to zip around to meetings on and avoid traffic jams. Or, if it’s your mind that needs nurturing, book out some time in meeting room 2 and try some yoga or mindfulness.

Working comfortably

If you prefer to hot-desk or think a standing desk will boost your productivity let us know! If you feel an ergonomic keyboard and mouse will make typing easier or a laptop riser will allow you to work better at home, just put your request in to us. If you need additional tech supplies or stationery for a meeting, event or just day to day work, tell us. Whether in the office or working from home, we want you to be able to work as comfortably and conveniently as possible.

Working responsibly

You are part of a team at Active Gloucestershire, so whether it is locking up the office in the evening, recycling your waste or clearing up your lunch dishes we ask that you don’t leave it for someone else to do. Pass on phone messages, hand out the mail and keep your colleagues informed of where you are. Working considerately helps to keep our office running smoothly and our team content.

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Your Life

Taking time out

Sometimes, during our working week, things come up in our personal life that need our attention. That’s OK. Take time off to attend to it. All we ask is that you let your manager and team know, get cover if you need it and make up your hours. If you’re planning a holiday, get your leave booked, pop your out of office on and off you go! Relax, unwind and come back restored.

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