Sygna Is Named ‘Employer of the Year’ at the BeLambeth Awards 2024!
02 October 2024
We are proud to announce that we have won ‘Employer of the Year’ at the BeLambeth Awards!
Nominated by a local charity, Rise Futures, and voted for by our employees and the public, our team were presented the award by Lambeth Council earlier this week. We feel honoured to have been recognised for our efforts, and will continue to push to support young people in our community.
Here is how Sygna has impacted its local communities and care experience individuals over the past couple of years:
How does our organisation offer dedicated support and opportunities to care-experienced individuals transitioning into the workforce?
Sygna is committed to opening up the construction industry to a diverse workforce. We believe that for us to continue to create a sustainable built environment and evolve with the ever-changing world around us, it is imperative that we keep the doors to the industry as wide open as possible, meaning that no one should be excluded based on circumstances they cannot control. At Sygna, we ensure that our on-site and off-site roles are made available to individuals from any background and that our company work ethic enforces an inclusive and collaborative environment. The roles we offer focus on opportunities to build upon both professional and personal development skills, emphasising the control that the individual has over how much they want to push themselves. We are firm believers in employee-led initiatives, and so encourage our team members to communicate their ideas and put them into motion, while we provide peer support, with weekly check-in meetings to ensure they feel comfortable in executing their tasks and offering any help they may require.
While it is important to provide these opportunities, we believe that the transition into the professional workforce can be an intimidating experience. Therefore, we pride ourselves on developing a personal, trusting relationship with the individual, by integrating them into our teams and encouraging them to mix with people from across the industry, introducing them to a new, professional circle they may not have been a part of, without this opportunity.
How do you work collaboratively with care leaver organisations and networks to further support care-experience individuals?
We have worked closely with Rise Futures, a charity which is committed to providing young people with all the tools they need to reach their full potential. They focus on young care-experience individuals who haven't had the opportunity to transition into the workforce due to the barriers surrounding them. Rise Futures collaborates with businesses to provide professional experiences to young people, to push them to learn new workplace skills, meet experienced professionals, and also gain more confidence and reach their potential. For National Walking Month in May 2021, our team walked 6,212,203 steps and raised a total of £5,880 for Rise Futures, which was used to aid in setting up tailored prevention programmes for vulnerable young people across the City of London. Our Managing Director, Remi Portes, and Operations Director Tom Mitchell worked with Rise Futures as Business Mentors, acting as a contact, independent of their work placement, where they could answer any queries they may have but are not comfortable addressing with their immediate employer. Both Remi and Tom found this experience to be extremely valuable to the individuals they mentored, and so decided that in 2024, Sygna would offer an Opportunity Placement with Rise Futures. Our hope was that we could extend our safe and supportive work environment at Sygna, to somebody looking to gain their confidence, and develop their personal and professional skills- and most of all, make a pivotal change in someone’s life.
Sygna’s 2024 Opportunity Placement Story
From January 2024, until April, Sygna welcomed a young woman (S.M.) as part of an Opportunity Placement with Rise Futures. We wanted to be able to provide a nurturing work environment to an individual who wanted to experience a professional workplace, that would not only push their skills to grow but also their confidence – and S.M. came to us wanting to expand on all these abilities. S.M. was placed in the Business Support department under Taylor Kaye, supported by Olivia Arnould. Working with her Rise mentor, Shamar, Taylor and Olivia put together a roadmap for the next 4 months, which they hoped would help her achieve her goals.
They focused on establishing a routine which accommodated time spent with her Business Mentor, weekly tasks that would see the progression of her professional skills, including using Microsoft Suite, platforms such as Monday.com, being a part of marketing meetings and being encouraged to share her feedback and ideas. A huge part of her development which we were committed to, was encouraging her to be in the office as much as possible.
This support meant that S.M. successfully continued her placement for the full 4 months. On her last day with Sygna, she gave a presentation to the directors of the business, reflecting on her time with us and the skills she had learned. It was incredibly touching to watch her speak publicly with so much confidence: "Sygna provided me with support, reassurance and patience. I was able to complete my tasks at my own pace and had my own space, while also being encouraged and made to feel like I was part of the team".