Testimonials

Local Solutions has previously worked with Dr Neil Thompson and his team at Avenue Consulting to deliver learning and development sessions for our workforce. The feedback from the sessions has always been extremely positive and has assisted us in improving our practices. Recently, Avenue Consulting completed a staff survey for us. The aim of the survey was to identify our strengths and weaknesses as an employer and any potential conflicts or areas of dissatisfaction. We also wanted the survey to be a starting point to drive employee engagement by addressing the areas raised. Historically, Local Solutions had always facilitated staff surveys internally, but by using an external party to facilitate the survey on our behalf increased employee trust in confidentiality therefore receiving more realistic results, that were a true reflection of the workforce. The survey was user friendly and easily accessible online for our employees. The results and analysis were completed by Avenue Consulting, therefore reducing the administrative burden for the organisation. The report provided to us by Avenue Consulting was of good quality, extremely useful, detailed and provided insights and recommendations to us. The exercise was valuable to us and we are currently working on an action plan to provide feedback to our employees and address the areas for development.

At Bennett Brooks we have been dealing with Dr Neil Thompson, and his staff at Avenue Media Solutions and Avenue Consulting Limited since 2001. Their approach to issues is extremely professional and enlightening. Matters are always addressed in a timely manner and are approached clearly and sensitively. Dr Thompson’s extensive experience and expertise cover a vast range of topics, allowing the advice and support to be both specific and all encompassing. We recently engaged the company to assist with an employee survey. We wanted to provide an opportunity for staff to inform us of those areas where we perform well as employers, and those areas where we could improve the working environment and conditions for staff, without the staff feeling exposed or pressurised. The confidential survey compiled by Avenue was accessed and summarised confidentially, and the results presented to us in tabular format so that we could identify those areas where improvements could be made. The next step is to look at those areas, and if necessary, with the support of Avenue, implement changes and improvements that will benefit both the employees and employers. The exercise was a valuable insight into staff perception and understanding of our objectives. Following completion of the survey we were able to ensure that all policies and procedures, which we assumed were common knowledge amongst all staff, were readily available and clearly stated. Staff are now fully aware of the opportunities and facilities available to them, and where to turn if they need support and advice in the future.

Prospects for Young People decided to take a different approach to how it was going to undertake the bi-annual employee well-being survey and commissioned the Avenue Survey Centre to provide an online survey. This was because we felt it would provide an impartial and independent vehicle through which to conduct the survey; was potentially more accessible to staff and the results could be more quickly analysed. The experience was very positive with the Avenue Survey Centre working with us to adapt aspects of their original survey design to suits with our requirements and providing us with a weekly update on the level of take up over the three week consultation period. The overall response rate was 47% which for our first attempt at this approach we felt was reasonable and a detailed analysis was provided to us in a timely and effective style. This analysis report will be invaluable to us in supporting the writing of an action/development plan to address a number of the issues raised. We would certainly use the Avenue Survey Centre for future well-being surveys as the process was thorough and efficient and took away the pressures on internal resources to manage what can be a large and onerous exercise but a nonetheless vital and important one.