The Trust is committed to taking each employee on a journey of
personal growth and development. We do this through our unique
Rising Stars Personal Development Scheme, which played its part in
helping us to achieve Investors in People status
We don't want you to just come here and work, we wish to provide
a nurturing environment, so you can grow and develop, and in turn
help us enhance our services to all. We are committed to providing
all of our staff with Learning and Development support. This could
be from attending in-house training sessions to enrolling on
recognised qualifications relevant to your role. On completion of
their first qualification, staff are entitled to receive a monetary
reward payment and are also invited to an annual celebration
evening, usually held each October.
Staff can nominate their colleagues for our annual
'Hidden Treasures
Award'. This is for staff who continually
perform above the Gold Level or who have achieved an outstanding
piece of work that has either positively impacted on a number of
people's lives or delivered a substantial efficiency saving. The
winners receive a monetary incentive.
Within the Rising Stars Framework staff are given clarity on
what is expected from them during their daily duties. It also
provides an introduction to THT's company
values which play a crucial part in helping us
to deliver excellence:
During monthly one-to-one sessions, objectives for both
performance and personal aspirations are jointly set and are based
on what motivates each individual to succeed. These sessions are a
great way of identifying areas in which staff excel or may need to
improve on.
In 2006 the Trust introduced new terms and conditions of
employment, including a new pay system based on the Rising Stars
Framework. The payment levels were derived from a large-scale
benchmarking exercise to ensure pay levels were competitive in the
sector and in the local area. This was underpinned by an
independent Equality Audit.
For instance, staff who work at the 'silver' level which is for
competent, experienced staff delivering good performance and on one
rate of pay. However, staff who 'go the extra mile', which involves
coaching and mentoring their colleagues, can progress to the 'gold'
level' for which the pay rate is 5% above the 'silver' level.
A recent Investors in People report stated:
"Underpinning and driving the development of the organisation
and everyone within it is the Rising Stars programme. It is
difficult to describe in a report just how impressive this
framework is, but in the Assessors experience it is exceptionally
innovative and, interview evidence indicates, extremely effective…
It is quite exceptional to find an organisation of this size and
with such a diverse range of job roles to have achieved such a
consistent application of its people management
processes."
The Rising Stars
framework is supported and recognised by four Trade
Unions.