Our People

We are proud of the expertise and enthusiasm of the people we employ and we want them to feel fulfilled in their work. To ensure this, we provide clarity in our employment policies; remunerate employees for their contribution to our business; support equal opportunities; maintain strong communication channels between different levels of employees; provide a safe working environment and improve learning and innovation by investing in training and development. We are also continuously seeking to educate employees about the principles of CR and our own commitments, as well as equipping them to implement these in their daily work.

In addition to the achievement of our 2006/07 CR targets we also have the following examples of our approach in action:

We have accreditation as an Investor in People – a national quality standard which sets the level of good practice for improving an organisation’s performance through its people. Our accreditation was confirmed in the reassessment of December 2005
Since 2001 we’ve had an independent counselling and advisory service, for employees to consult privately for any work related or personal problems. This has proved to be highly effective and supportive
During 2006 we rolled out an HR information technology system for our office-based employees. All of our old HR paper based systems are now electronic helping us to work towards a “paper-less” office
In 2006 an employee training programme of defibrillation resuscitation was implemented for all wardens and selected staff of Windsor Great Park
Since January 2007, all new office based employees have been asked to complete an online work station assessment which allows them to manage their own work area requirements
Regular updates and news articles on environment and sustainability are featured on our intranet and in employee newsletters, and we hold a number of seminars to share good practice across the estate.

2006/07 Targets & Achievements

1. To appoint a new occupational health service provider and begin the first phase of implementing our new occupational health and safety strategy.

(75% achieved) An occupational health provider has been selected to focus on a whole range of occupational health services for all employees. The programme will be implemented throughout 2007/08.

2. Hold at least two structured seminars for internal staff on topics related to the CR objectives and targets.

(100% achieved) A number of seminars have taken place over the course of the year covering a range of CR topics including climate change, environmental law, flood risk, health and safety. All employees were given the opportunity to see Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

3. To raise awareness of The Crown Estate's CR commitments and performance amongst staff in all different parts of the estate.

(100% achieved) There has been significant progress in raising CR internally. The senior managers’ away day focused on CR and early in the year all members of the management board were invited to attend the CR committee meetings. The focus of the urban team away day was climate change and carbon management. Additionally the employee intranet has been used extensively to promote national events such as Energy Saving Week and Fairtrade fortnight. It has also been used as a means of communicating recycling statistics and other CR facts in the form of articles and tag-lines.

4. Provide diversity awareness training for at least 75% of our staff.

(50% achieved) Board agreement was secured for the delivery of a web-based training product that would enable each employee to carry out diversity training at their desks. However due to unforeseen technical difficulties a programme of “face-to face” training had to be designed instead. This was designed in 2006/07 with delivery in early 2007/08.