How to Build a Winning Culture with Kefron’s Sarah Arthurs

We are thrilled to announce winning this year’s Empowerment and Trust CIPD Award. Our Head of People and Performance, Sarah Arthurs, shares her insights into the strategies that helped Kefron achieved this recognition and the lessons learned along the way.

With plans to grow our Group revenue by an average of 13% per annum in the next two years, Kefron’s strategy is currently at one of its most exciting junctures with massive growth potential across all three business units in our current markets of Ireland, UK and beyond.

We know that without the values that have guided us this far – a willingness and trust that employees have in us to take calculated risks, putting our people first and creating a positive environment in which to come to work to everyday – we simply won’t be able to achieve these goals.

Kefron Group is made up of 3 very distinct business units with different customer offerings and employee skillsets. We needed to create a Group culture and strategy to guide and promote the development of the individual business units, in order to achieve optimum alignment of the initiatives we had planned for leadership, engagement and performance. Each group of employees has different individual needs and wants for an employee experience. Creating a meaningful and trusting culture that all 3 business units could identify with and come on the journey with us was challenging; a “one size fits all” culture does not work for us.

We succeeded by documenting an overarching Group culture, driven by the values and the employee value proposition, which has given us the freedom to develop initiatives that allow us to engage in a meaningful way with employees, empower them to make the most of their journey with Kefron Group and create an inclusive environment that celebrates similarities and differences equally.

In November 2022, we entered the CIPD awards under the category of Employee Empowerment and Trust. The CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) is the governing body of HR professionals across Ireland and the UK, and they pave the way for both best practice and the future of the profession. The awards cover 13 different categories across all areas of HR, including ESG, Wellness, Diversity, Learning and Development to name but a few. The Employee Empowerment and Trust award recognises organisations that demonstrate how people perform at their best when they are empowered and trusted in their roles. The organisations shortlisted need to have shown how they have developed a culture of trust and empowerment that enhances the employee experience, engagement, and commitment.

We made an initial written submission that told our story and in January 2023, we met with and brought the judges on the journey of how we created our Group culture ethos in early 2022 and the success we’ve achieved over the last 12 months through bespoke leadership programmes, retention rates of 97%, employee satisfaction rates of 90%, NPS and EBITDA growth. We were delighted to be shortlisted along some very well established and big companies; Bus Eireann, Tayto Snacks and Boots Ireland. We attended the awards ceremony in the Mansion House last week and were absolutely thrilled to win the award.

This award is a fantastic achievement and a testament to the hard work, dedication, and commitment of everyone at in the Group. Our company’s commitment to empowering and trusting our employees is a shining example for other organizations to follow. By fostering a culture of empowerment and trust, Kefron Group is not only creating a positive work environment for its employees but also driving innovation, collaboration, and ongoing growth for the company.

Congratulations to all the 2023 CIPD Ireland HR Award winners for their hard work and innovative initiatives that saw them recognised as the best in their category.