Yorkshire Housing

Our culture is based on trust, we’re big on being clear with what we expect from each other. Personal accountability fuels what we do and runs through every team in Yorkshire Housing. We're the kind of organisation that values and welcomes different ideas and opinions so that people at Yorkshire Housing can turn up, roll their sleeves up and thrive.

We like to think of ourselves as a Yorkshire Housing family and we’ve got some family values that help us be the best we can be, for our customers and for each other. We see them in action all the time, and we celebrate that with our ‘Best of Yorkshire' colleague awards.

- Create Trust

- Be Curious

- Make it Happen

- Achieve Impact

- Have Fun

Our colleagues have also formed some fab groups that you can join, or rock up to any of the regular events they put on:

- The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group
- The Wellbeing Group
- Colleague Forum
- Social Squad

Work is something you do, not somewhere you go. That’s what our Chief Exec, Nick, says – and here’s how it works. We don’t have an office – or ‘the o word’ as we now say – instead, colleagues work from home, out in their communities, a nearby café, a park, or from our incredible hub in Leeds, The Place.

The days of being chained to a desk 9-5 are over. Our hub, home, roam approach is what gives us the flexibility to improve the services we offer to our customers and when we offer them, too. Hub, home roam is a hit with our colleagues as well. There’s no more deciding between work and personal responsibilities, we can do both! 

We work flexibly, and that looks different to each person and each team. Of course, the reason we’re here is to support our customers so how we work has to fit around the business and customer needs. We find it works really well, the key is communication!

Hub

Our hub, The Place, is our zero-carbon workspace that colleagues can use when and how they like. It’s in Leeds’ innovation district, by Leeds Dock, and is a light and airy workspace for colleagues with spaces to collaborate or get your head down.

Home

You guessed it, this is you working from home! We’ve got a home-working catalogue for you to order from so that you can make your space work for you. Kit yourself out with a new desk, comfy chair, top-notch IT equipment, and even a SAD lamp for those dark winter days.

Roam

Roaming colleagues spend most of their time out and about supporting our customers across Yorkshire. Depending on the role, this could be in customers’ homes, one of our extra-care schemes, on the road in a YH van, working from a local depot or in a café or hub. But roam is for all of us too – you might start the day at home, check your messages on the way to a meeting on a train and then pop into The Place to end your day. We’re an agile bunch, you see.

One of our values is #BeYourself - we want all our colleagues to feel comfortable and safe bringing who they really are to work. After all, wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same? We think that difference makes us stronger, and we celebrate our diversity whenever we get the chance.

Here’s what we’ve got going on:

ED&I colleague group - The group is an open and safe space where you can chat about equality issues (no matter how big or small) and put on events for colleagues like our monthly ‘let’s talk about' sessions that cover everything from neurodiversity to the menopause

ED&I champions - Our Champions are an unstoppable force for change when it comes to building an inclusive culture at Yorkshire Housing. They represent different business areas, and as well as gathering feedback and signposting their colleagues to support, they also chair our colleague network groups which provide support and a shared sense of belonging to our people

Company-wide events to celebrate different aspects of the diversity calendar e.g. Pride, National Inclusion Week and Black History Month.

We collab with membership organisations e.g. Inclusive Employer & the Housing Diversity Network to use their expertise and share ideas with other members who inspire us

We've worked with AKD Solutions to deliver an inclusive leadership programme for our senior leaders

We want to attract the best people to come and work at Yorkshire Housing and to help you be the best version of yourself. We hope all the opportunities to grow your career with us mean you’ll want to stick around.

We’ll support you to keep learning and develop your skills daily. Work towards a recognised qualification, get stuck in with internal training opportunities or become a member of a professional body. We offer tailored support to teams and individuals to help you grow. So, if you need to know something new to do your job then we’re all ears.

We’ve seen:
- Communications colleagues take courses in social media advertising
- Presentation training for colleagues who want to build confidence or learn how to structure a presentation for the biggest impact
- Our repairs and investment teams are trained in electric vehicle charging
- Locksmith training took place for our building services team so that we could get our customers new keys right away
- Colleagues job-shadowing other roles across the business
- If you need to learn a new skill to do your job then we’re happy to make that happen. And if you’re not a housing buff, don’t worry – our online learning software gives you bitesize modules to bring you up to speed.

We’re also big on helping each other learn. Colleagues can attend our regular ‘lunch and learn’ sessions on equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) or wellbeing, often starring external guests like ex-footballer, Shaka Hislop talking about his involvement with Show Racism the Red Card and mental wellbeing advocate David Beeney.

We want all our colleagues to love what they do and to be happy and healthy. So, we have a big emphasis on all things wellbeing. That doesn’t just mean mental health, it means physical, financial and social health too.

With such a diverse group of colleagues working in a hub, at home or roaming, we know that everyone needs different types of support, so we’ve got quite a range to suit everyone. And, we’re all ears if our colleagues have ideas on how we can improve what we do.

Here's a run-down of the wellbeing support package we provide:
- Healthcare cash plan
- Colleague assistance programme - access to a 24/7 helpline and free counselling sessions
- Access to the 'Wellness' section on Perkbox - hundreds of free workout videos, guided meditations, sleep stories and more
- 121 financial wellbeing support from our internal team of Money Coaches
- Wellbeing First Aiders - a group of colleagues from across the business who are specially trained to deal with issues relating to wellbeing
- A calendar jam-packed with wellbeing events which cover topics such as men's mental health, menopause, money management and stress
- Coffee Roulette programme - stay connected and meet new colleagues over a brew!