One
November 2023
Bank
A new chapter: Our London team settle in Page 5
New Head of ESG Pg 6
Meet our Loop Influencers Pg 14
Greenr App November Challenge Pg 20
Our Values BRAVE
ENTERPRISING
We encourage you to push the boundaries, challenge and share your opinion.
We’re entrepreneurial, creative and authentic. Always looking to add value through our actions.
SIMPLE
TOGETHER
We make things easy by being straightforward, practical and arming you with the tools you need to succeed.
We believe in one shared vision and that we’re all vital cogs in the wheel. When we rise together, everyone succeeds.
Contents A Message From CEO Alex Mollart............. 04 New London Office.................................... 05 Meet James Streeter................................... 06 Tandem Impact........................................... 08 Employee Engagement............................. 10 Our People.................................................. 11 Tandem Awards........................................... 12 Loop Influencers......................................... 14 Social Media Corner.................................... 16 Volunteer Days............................................ 17 Tandem Hub................................................ 18 Greenr App..................................................20 Culture Champions..................................... 21 Women In Finance...................................... 22 Festival Of Light.......................................... 23 Mental Health Awareness........................... 24 Xmas Parties................................................ 26 National Cat Day Winners........................... 27
From the Editor Hello and welcome to our employee magazine - for our people, by our people! This monthly bank-wide publication keeps you in the loop with all the exciting events, latest news and special projects we're all working on - plus, anything exciting that's coming up in the volunteering calendar and so much more! Got an idea for the next magazine? We're always interested to hear your feedback! . onebank@tandem.co.uk Enjoy!
Sinéad
A Message From CEO
Alex Mollart “...it’s been great to see the overall engagement of the bank increase once again...”
Welcome to November’s edition. We’ve had another great month with a flurry of activity continuing across the business. We kicked off last month with the official opening of our amazing new London office – The Bloomsbury Building. Thank you to both the Facilities and IT Services teams – as well as all the people on the ground in London who have done a great job making the move as quick and as smooth as can be. It’s a fantastic workspace for us all to be proud to be in and I look forward to spending more time down there over the coming weeks and months to meet more new faces. We’ve created a brand new role within the bank to support our ESG and sustainability focus, so I’m pleased to welcome James Streeter, Head of ESG to the bank. Many of you will recognise James who’s been working as an ESG consultant with us for the past few months, so it’s great to have him on board in a permanent role to help us achieve our greener mission. The Finance team are making good strides with the Medium Term Plan (MTP) – where we plan for the future with our teams and budgets. We’re now a third
of the way through this planning phase and should be able to share more with the wider bank by the end of the year. Congratulations to the Marketing team who are busy building our community. They’ve launched a new TikTok channel this month to drive our reach across new platforms and ultimately, new customers. Finally, it’s been great to see the overall engagement of the bank increase once again in the latest survey, showing that the work behind the scenes by our team of SLT and Managers across the bank is really starting to have impact. Yes, there’s still challenges which will be addressed at the next Senior Leadership away day with action plans, all to help make Tandem a great place to work. Thanks for everybody’s hard work and contributions! Have a great month everyone.
Alex
..
.
Tandem Bank takes a fintech leap with new London office We’ve officially opened our new London office, reconfirming our commitment to the UK’s fintech capital. The new site, located at 10 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2SL offers an excellent location with facilities and infrastructure, enabling us to add yet another greener office space to our facilities portfolio, moving from a D EPC rating to a B EPC. The Bloomsbury Building will
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. house our Marketing, Treasury, Risk and Strategy teams, and being located within the City ensures we remain close to the wider professional services and fintech ecosystems.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
“
This move marks another milestone for
be part of the Fintech revolution taking
Tandem. After a strong year of growth and
place in the North, but as the UK’s greener
breaking into an underlying profit for the
digital bank, London remains a crucial
first time last year, I’m excited about our
location for us and the UK’s fintech scene
evolution and what the future holds –
as a whole. The new office is in the heart
including an exciting roadmap of greener
of it – I’m glad we can continue our
products and propositions.
commitment and support the growing fintech scene.
London is a core component. We’re proud to have our HQ in Blackpool and
Alex Mollart, Tandem’s CEO
”
A 'Welcome Pack' for employees working at or visiting the Bloomsbury Building is available on Tandem Hub/Life at Tandem/Office Locations
t S s e m a J t e Me
In the Spotlight
n E f o d a e H Our new
In October we welcomed James to Tandem as our Head of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). James joins us in this newly created role to help steer us along our greener journey. Driving our ESG Strategy and Framework forward, James is responsible for setting the bank’s policies, compliance and targets, while ensuring integration of ESG across Tandem’s products and propositions – meaning we’ll become greener in everything we do, benefitting both customers’ pockets and the planet.
We decided to meet with James and find out more about him... James, Welcome to Tandem! Tell us about yourself… “Hello. I’m James - a Londoner born and bred - although I started my career 30 years ago working on an oilfield in North Siberia! Since then I’ve been lucky enough to work in sustainability all over the world mostly travelling on business trips but I did live for a while in Egypt and Peru. "Having started my career within environmental management, it ultimately led me to work in sustainability. I’ve been working with Tandem for the last few months as a consultant and have been so impressed that it didn’t take much for Sven to convince me to join in a permanent role.” Why sustainability? Having studied Geography and Biology at university, I then did my Masters in Environmental Management. My love of the environment stems from my mother’s influence from an early age – often taking the family out to woodlands and the countryside, picking fruits, looking at the wildlife and she also signed me up as a member of the RSPB.
r e t e tre
e c n a n r e v o G d n a l a i c o S , l a t n e m n o nvir Continued... "When I’m not working at Tandem I chair the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, a new organisation that works with the global wine industry and until recently, I was also Chair of InterClimate Network - a climate change and education charity inspiring our next generation of climate leaders." How do you spend your time outside of work (and ESG!)? I live in London with my wife, two daughters and also our dog Kevin and cat Marco. I am (was!) very sporty, having played to a high level in several sports including rugby and basketball (when you meet me you'll understand why!). My real passion, however, is for cricket, in which I went through the junior ranks with Kent CCC during my teens and early twenties. I still play today, although at a gentle more social level. I also enjoy playing tennis, golf and cycling. I’m a keen cook and wine-fanatic and am gradually building a wine cellar. I love to experiment with flavours when cooking and spend time perfecting my sour-dough bread (before lockdown made it a thing!). My favourite dishes include homemade pasta, and my go-to wine is a
Californian wine, Ridge Zinfandel. From a health and sustainability point of view, I try to eat mostly vegetarian or vegan through the week and then buy sustainably sourced meat at the weekend. Any final thoughts? Although I’ll be based in the new London office, I’m looking forward to visiting our other offices and meeting more of the wider Tandem team.
Photo: James with pawsome pet Kevin
Our team
Tandem Impact 40,090 Trees planted
25,440 Volunteering minutes
67 Renewable energy at home
88 Employees in Green Deal
Our customers
139,000 Customers making greener choices
£584m Green home improvement lending
69.7% Green assets
74k tonnes CO2 saved
Employee Engagement Results Thanks to everyone who completed the most recent employee engagement survey – we had a fantastic 83% of you who shared your thoughts – thank you for your honest feedback. We’re working hard to acknowledge and find solutions to areas that still face challenges, but it’s great to see a table of so many strong green scores! Key headlines ■ Overall Engagement scored 7.5 increasing by +0.4 ■ Finance, Motor Finance, People and Home Improvement Loans exceeded a score of over 80% Overall Engagement
The results This data has also been shared with our ExCo team and every senior leader, head of department and manager (including specific comments and more detail on each of the separate measures for their business area) – ensuring we all have visibility of areas we are doing well in and the areas we can improve. Each team will work through the results so that we can act at local levels, as well as across the organisation. Want to tell us more and have your say? Help make Tandem an even greater place to work! Our next employee engagement survey is due in December.
■ Strong and sustained improvement since previous survey ■ Goal Setting (Objectives), Management Support and Peer Relationships all scored high ■ Overall Total Reward saw +0.5 movement reflecting the continued work on bringing you a total reward package
Engagement Score
75%
OUR People David Browne
Thomas Papavranoussis
Ellie Walsh
Rebecca Caddy
Senior Data Engineer
Head of Prudential Risk
Customer Operations
Underwriter
Blackpool
London
Specialist
Cardiff
Cardiff Kevin Clement
Jack Lowther
Full Stack Developer
Infrastructure Engineer
James Streeter
Financial Accountant
Remote
Remote
Head of ESG
London
Joseph Eyre
London Chloe Grahame
Wilson Ma
Resilience Analyst
Treasury Manager
Jack Murphy
Administrator
Cardiff
London
Complaints Specialist
Blackpool
Aleksandra Lipke
Blackpool Elizabeth Alker-Newman
Joseph Horne
Case Manager
Customer Relationship
Valentina Ancona
Test Automation Engineer
Blackpool
Manager
Senior Cloud Engineer
London
Cardiff
Remote
Junior Treasury Analyst
Izzy Beardwood
Phil Stone
Delivery Manager
London
Administrator
Collections Strategy
Remote
Blackpool
Manager
Keagan Gonsalves
Reshil Dabasia
James Palmer
Dan Reeve
Cardiff
Compliance Monitoring
Steve Short
Manager
Underwriting Manager
Ken Cheung
Blackpool
Cardiff
Financial Controller
Annie Hannigan Receptionist
Blackpool
Blackpool Maria Khan
Lauren Johal
Director of Product
Customer Operations
London
Specialist
s r e t r a t s ! w e e N welcom
Cardiff
An Award
Winning Team
It’s awards season! It’s great to see the nominations of finalists and shortlists coming in for Tandem… The hard work of all our teams and
Wishing good luck to all nominated
departments are being recognised on
and of course, well done and
local, national and Eurpeon levels
THANK YOU! to those who work so
which is just fantastic to be part of.
hard behind the scenes…
TA N D E M M OTO R F I N A N C E Motor Finance European Awards Finalist for Best ESG Initiative of the Year We’re very proud to be recognised alongside some big brands within the industry, including Autotrader, ALD/Leaseplan and Quiktrak – absolutely amazing achievement! The awards took place on 19 October and although we unfortunately didn’t win, it was fantastic to get the recognition and make some great contacts in the industry. Well done to Dave Briggs, Dave Anderson and all the Motor Finance team!
TA N D E M B A N K FinTech 50 Awards
FINALISTS
6TH NOV
We’ve been selected as Finalists for FinTech 50. This list recognises and celebrates the top 50, most innovative startups, scaleups, and established companies in the UK that are pushing the boundaries of technology within the finance and payments sector. What’s even more impressive, is the results are based on public votes. Keep your fingers and toes crossed! The list will be announced on 6th November.
FI NANC I A L ED U C AT I O N PRO G RA M M E This Is Manchester Awards
SHORTLISTED
9TH NOV
Organisation Making a Difference in the Community We’ve been shortlisted for the fantastic work our Financial Education Programme has delivered to the North West region – giving back to our local communities and supporting young people with their financial literacy skills. The Awards ceremony takes place on 9 November - best of luck to our Financial Educator Andrew Hurst and all the team on the night!
TA N D E M SAV I N G S T E A M Moneyfacts Consumer Awards App-only Savings Provider of the Year Green Savings Product of the Year Fixed Rate Savings Product of the Year
NOMINATED
FEB 2024
We’re nominated for not one but THREE categories at this years’ Moneyfacts Consumer Awards. Winners won’t be announced until February 2024, however, winning is dependent on customer votes so if you are a Tandem customer visit Tandem Hub to find out how to put your nomination forward.
Meet our
Meet Emily 28.6k followers
Influencers Loop is Tandem’s Gen Z app for money sharing made easy. As we continue to build the Loop brand, throughout October, we invited some key social media influencers to help build fun and exciting content to showcase what Loop is all about. So, how did we do it? Five key influencers were chosen from hundreds available to us online, and we’ve tasked them with targeting the Gen Z audience as they return to university and colleges across the UK. The new Influencer activity launched for Loop with over 270k customers and potential customers reached. We coupled humorous and day-to-day content with quick ‘How to Loop’ guides to help drive awareness and consideration of the platform, its features and our branding.
@definitelynotemilymc Emily's content focuses on university life and travel, where she shares all her tips and tricks. In her content she explains why Loop is essential for life at university, while showing us how she uses the app to split her bills in her day-to-day life with friends and flatmates.
220.9k followers
Meet Tamanna @tamrkives Tamanna often likes to go out with her friends to eat or have coffee. In her first video, she takes us on an evening out with a friend and shows us how they split the bill with Loop. Her content is nice and aesthetic.
Next time you pick up a
Meet Dec
Meet Bailey
153.6k followers
@dxc1
51.4k followers
Dec's page is all comedy, his wittiness and skit - that's what he’s known for! He sometimes likes to make his videos very cinematic and dramatic, so in his first video he tells us all about the different kinds of housemates that you may encounter at university and incorporates Loop into each of these types, while showing us how Loop can avoid awkward money conversations with your flatmates.
@baileyturvey Bailey loves to travel and most of his content is around traveling on a budget. In his content, he takes us through his travels to Thailand and Portugal on a budget, while showcasing why Loop is his favourite app for splitting bills while traveling.
Meet Amy 11.2k followers
@amesbanks Amy’s page is super fun and positive. She often does a ‘day in my life’ at the office and vlog style videos, so in her content she shows us how she likes to split the bill with Loop when going to lunch with a friend.
tab, borrow, lend or send money - Loop it!
Social Media Corner
Could you be our next TikTok star?
Our Tandem TikTok is now live! Follow us at @tandembank Great news! In just one week we totalled over 92k views, and we want to keep the momentum going. Make sure you like, comment and share our videos. What is TikTok? If you think TikTok is just for kids… think again! TikTok is a video-sharing, educational and informative app that allows users of all ages to create and share short-form videos on any topic. It’s mainly mobile-based and allows users to get creative with their content using filters, stickers, voiceovers, sound effects, and background music. With our attention spans becoming shorter and shorter, video content is really driving forward a new way of learning and TikTok offers quick and concise snippets of information. Brands and news channels globally are recognising the shift in user demand and are pivoting to TikTok as the latest platform to really focus content for. 5 Tips to be successful on TikTok 1. Make sure you create videos that leverage whatever is trending at the time. 2. Use the most popular hashtags to really help set you apart – and it will make you more visible! 3. Boost your account authority. This means you need to post consistent, regular content demonstrating your account’s trustworthiness to the TikTok algorithm. 4. Be responsive. If you have a video that starts to gain some traction, follow it up – and fast! Repost, respond and create additional videos promptly. 5. Keep it short and snappy in order to maximise watch time and completion rates. You only have 8 seconds to capture the viewer’s attention (for millennials, it’s 12 seconds!). You need to make it clear early on that your video is worth a watch.
Are you a potential TikTok star? If you’re up for featuring in a future TikTok, get in touch with Ella Boyd or Caitlin Perrey in our Marketing Team (a team marketing t-shirt is up for grabs!)
r e e t n u l o V Days As part of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework and commitment to our people, every Tandem employee gets two volunteering days as part of our pledge. We have recently added more events to our volunteer calendar on Tandem Hub so there are plenty of options available. •
•
Bute Park, Cardiff are looking for volunteers to help half a day with the Park Rangers and gardening staff on various dates in November. Blackpool’s Salvation Army are looking for volunteers to help organise and sort donations as a result of their Christmas donation appeal in December.
•
4Louis, memory boxes sessions are again taking place in the Durham and Blackpool offices.
•
Rossall Beach in Wyre (North West) are continuing with their regular beach cleans.
•
Christie Charity would like volunteers to help sell raffle tickets at their Christmas Concert at Manchester Cathedral.
If you haven’t yet used up your two day allowance, visit our volunteering calendar page on Tandem Hub to find out more about each event and book your place, to help make a difference.
M a k in g a d if fe re n c e
!
Remember, you don’t have to select one of our listed volunteer days to take up your two days allowance, you can pick any volunteer event or charity of your choosing and if it falls on a weekend you can claim the day back in lieu. To arrange any days, make sure you clear it with your line manager first, and log it as a volunteer day on BambooHR. Send photos of what you’ve been up to, to esg@tandem.co.uk. Find out more on Tandem Hub or email : esg@tandem.co.uk
Tandem Hub is our exclusive online community for our people bringing everyone together via the very latest Tandem news, employee benefits and discounts plus so much more... It’s our one-stop-shop for everything to do with Tandem. Have a look at what’s included!
Tandem news News from around the business, you can keep up to date with everything that’s going on.
Comms hub You can find a list of previous TownHall meetings, One Bank magazines, blog posts, social posts, charity events and volunteering opportunities.
Learning and Development Access all the training opportunities available at Tandem for all levels and departments.
Wellbeing Centre Our wellbeing section covers everything from mental health support to mindfulness exercises, physical exercises, money saving tips and healthy recipes to help you look after your mind, body and soul… and wallet!
You can access Tandem Hub at: tandemmoney.rewardgateway.co.uk If you have trouble accessing it, email: internalcomms@tandem.co.uk
Life at Tandem Find all the additional perks of working at Tandem and how to get involved in volunteering days, Greenr App, People Council, the Green Deal and more.
ESG and Impact Hear about all our environmental, social and governance work and the impact we are making and find out how you can get involved.
Tandem Benefits A list of all the benefits you are entitled to as a Tandem employee, such as electric vehicle scheme, solar discounts, healthcare, leave allowances… to name just a few.
Discounts Discounts and special offers on many online and high street stores. Includes cash back offers, discounts, savings and more.
Join us in our Greenr App November challenge and help make a change to the environment! This month, we're launching our new challenge on the Greenr App to help make a change. All employees are encouraged to get involved as teams compete against each other to make the most carbon footprint savings collectively… and you can help to win a donation of £250 to your teams’ chosen charity and an extra days annual leave! It’s not just about reducing emissions - at Tandem, we’re committed to increasing climate education among our workforce. Since we launched the Greenr App in June this year, collectively we have saved an amazing 188 tonnes of carbon – the equivalent to offsetting 10,000 trees in a year! What is Greener? Greenr is an App to help our people calculate their own carbon footprint, track daily carbon emissions and pick sustainable pledges to make changes at the source, making it easier than ever for everyone at Tandem to live a sustainable lifestyle. Find out more about the Greenr App and how it can help you save your carbon footprint on Tandem Hub/ESG & Impact/Greenr App
Get Greenr! Download the Greenr App and lookout for more information on the November Challenge.
Get Involved! How to sign up Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:
Download the Greenr App Complete the app’s carbon quiz Enter the competition via the app
Look out for an email from your Team Captain with more information, and get ready to start the challenge. Each week, a league table of teams will be announced along with further hints and tips on how to make even more savings. How do you earn points? Users can earn points by taking up ‘action’ or ‘habit’ pledges to reduce their carbon footprint. You can also gain points by logging activities that you wouldn’t normally undertake, such as a vegetarian meal, walking, cycling or car share when you would normally use your own car.
r u O t Mee s n o i p m a h C e r u t l u C
As we integrate the BEST Values into our everyday lives, we continue to recognise those who live and work by our core values and walk the talk – leading by example. Each month, we'll spotlight culture champions who have demonstrated they're using our core BEST Values to help make Tandem great!
1
2
Andrew Rios-Hall L&D Facilitator As a business, we feel we need to improve customer experience, by resolving a higher proportion of complaints at the first point of contact (than is currently the case). Having engaged key stakeholders to discuss this further, Quality Assurance received feedback that additional training and support was required to facilitate an improvement and agreed a course of action to meet this. Andrew has been superb in supporting us with updating our training material over recent weeks. Rick Keeble, Quality Assurance
Fiona O’Brien Senior T&C Assistant Secured Lending Culture Champion for Simple & Together Fiona O’Brien has worked to ensure we roll out training to current and new employees, whilst also mentoring in a simple and straightforward manner into gaining competency, as she wanted the individual to succeed so the department can succeed. Fiona ALWAYS thinks of the bigger picture and sees how all the smaller pieces will fit together. She is a vital cog and I’m sure the rest of the department would agree that we would be lost without her and her knowledge. Tanya Rowbottom, 2nd Charge Lending
Nominate ! a colleague
We want to continue to grow our culture and that starts with each and every one of you! All nominations submitted need to demonstrate how they're Brave, Enterprising, Simple or Together: internalcomms@tandem.co.uk
Women in Finance Focus Groups As part of the People Council Women in Finance workstream, we’re running a series of focus groups throughout Q4, across all offices (remote sessions will also be available), and everyone is invited to get involved. Why are we focusing on this? We want to explore and understand the perceived barriers to progression for women in Tandem as well as the things that prevent women from taking up the opportunities presented to them. Tandem wants to understand how we can attract and employ a diverse range of people from varying backgrounds internally (for promotion) and externally (new entrants). So, we want to hear from you on how we create a bank-wide understanding of women’s matters and what we need to put in place to provide the right support. Sessions are open to all! Everyone in the bank is welcome to book onto any of the sessions available, simply by logging onto Tandem Learn. Come along and join the discussion, as we want our people to be leading the conversation. Everyone is welcome and your views are important to us.
When is this happening? Durham Friday 10th November Blackpool Wednesday 15th November London Thursday 16th November Manchester Friday 24th November Cardiff Monday 4th December
Visit Tandem Learn for more information or to book on a group!
Diwali Festival of Light
Diwali, the Festival of Lights, will be celebrated in our offices on 12 November - brought to you by our Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DE&I) team. Primarily celebrated within the Hindu, Sikh, and Jain faiths, Diwali holds immense cultural significance for millions of people around the world. It commemorates the victory of good over evil, seek blessings for prosperity, and foster a sense of unity and togetherness among families and communities. The festival brings joy, happiness, and spiritual enlightenment to people's lives, and marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year. What does Diwali symbolise? •
Victory of Light over Darkness: Diwali symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.
•
Goddess Lakshmi: Diwali is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, and abundance.
•
New Beginnings: Diwali marks the beginning of a new year in the Hindu calendar.
•
Family and Community Bonding: Diwali is a time for families to come together and celebrate. People visit their relatives, exchange sweets and gifts, and share festive meals.
•
Spiritual Significance: Diwali is a time for spiritual reflection and seeking blessings from deities.
Why celebrating Diwali is important Celebrating Diwali allows us to come together as a team, fostering stronger relationships and a sense of camaraderie. it creates opportunities for open dialogue, collaboration, and mutual respect between our people. By acknowledging and celebrating this festival, we embrace the rich cultural diversity within Tandem and foster an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Diwali highlights the importance of spreading positivity and togetherness throughout Tandem, helping to adopt and promote the importance of inclusivity in the workplace.
Get involved Look out for our ‘Diwali celebration bowls’ that will be on show in the reception areas of our offices on the week leading up to Diwali, so that we can celebrate together. You’ll be able to find out more about Diwali on Tandem Hub.
If you have a cultural or religious celebration you’d like Tandem to include in our workplace calendar, so we can help share knowledge and educate our people on, email: dei@tandem.co.uk
h t l a e H l Menta
Throughout October we held several events to highlight Mental Health Awareness Month and World Mental Health Day (10th October). We hosted two insightful and really informative Lunch and Learn webinars on ‘Managing Anxiety’ and ‘Menopause in the Workplace’. Each was well attended, giving our people some ‘timeout’ on their lunch break whilst putting some questions to, and opening up discussions with the guest speakers for each session. Did you miss it? Don’t worry if you missed it or if you’d like to learn more on these
topics. Further information on both of these webinars can be found on Tandem Hub/Life at Tandem/Tandem Wellbeing. More Lunch and Learn webinars on various topics are being planned throughout the year – keep your eyes peeled for more details coming soon! Could you be a Menopause Champion? Tandem Bank are committed to looking after our people and creating an inclusive, rewarding working environment that includes being able to talk about menopause if you want to. We are looking for a diverse range of people to become our Menopause Champions to help our colleagues and their families learn about and deal with the adverse affects that going through the menopause can cause. You can find out more about what is involved and the training offered on Tandem Hub/Life Hub/Tandem Wellbeing/Menopause in the workplace or email esg@tandem.co.uk.
Mental Health Employee Support We also highlighted the wellbeing support available to you as a Tandem employee, through our Employee Assistance Programme and Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA). You can find out more about these services in the Life at Tandem section in Tandem Hub.
r a w A
s s e ren
If you’re interested in becoming a MHFA, email peopleteam @tandem.co.uk
Ceri Stacey from the Cardiff office explains why she decided to become a MHFA; “I signed up for the training as I found myself increasingly involved in conversations with colleagues, friends and sometimes strangers who were struggling in many different aspects of life. I wanted to build on the support I was providing through a structured training programme to ensure that I was doing the right thing. The MHFA course increased my knowledge of signs and symptoms associated with a person who may be experiencing poor mental health. It gave me the confidence to approach, assess and assist those who may have concerns and offer a non-judgemental approach to addressing their fears. It also equipped me with the tools to recommended guidance, provide relevant information as well as encouraging additional support. The valuable skills I have learned have been used many times both in the workplace and outside of work.” Ceri also took additional training in this area and is now a qualified RSPH Level 3 Mental Health First Aider.
New Baby Loss Policy announced to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week (9−15 Oct) Last month also recognised Baby Loss Awareness week, and as such, we took the opportunity to announce the new Baby Loss Policy at Tandem as we make strides to further support all employees who may unfortunately experience baby loss. Full details on the policy can be found on BambooHR. Baby loss can be a devastating and deeply personal experience whether it happens to you, your partner or the surrogate having your baby. Unfortunately, baby loss happens to 1 in 4 people and yet is still seen as a taboo subject and Tandem recognises that it, like many other businesses need to do more to recognise the impact baby loss can have on our people. Steve McNicholas, Chief People Officer comments, “Tandem understands that for some, baby loss whenever or however it happens is a type of bereavement and getting the right support at work is crucial. We want our people to know we support them through their very best and very worst life events, and we’re committed to giving all affected colleagues the support they need. We are extremely proud to launch this new policy.” Visit Tandem Hub for full details and where to find the Policy.
Christmas party time is fast approaching and everyone should have all the details of times and venues for your office location’s Christmas party. It’s a time of year for everyone to get together, let your hair down and get to know your colleagues a bit better outside of the office. Our social committee members have been working hard to organise a great night out for each of the offices and we’re sure everyone will have a fantastic time. If you haven’t already, make sure you’ve confirmed your attendance using the form sent to you. We need final numbers ASAP! Remote workers If you’re not based from one specific office location or a remote worker, you can choose which party night you would like to attend based on your team’s location. If in doubt, or if you have any queries, contact internalcomms@tandem.co.uk. Final details for all parties will be sent out soon... so keep your eyes peeled!
If you haven’t yet received information, or have any questions then please see the contacts below: London, Piano Works, Wednesday 29 November – contact Holly Baldock Blackpool, Rooftop 525, Friday 1 December – contact Faye Reynolds/Clare Boothroyd Cardiff, Dirty Martini, Friday 8 December – contact Sara-Jane Gilbert Durham, Life Science Centre, Saturday 16 December – contact Louise Elms Manchester, Revolucion de Cuba, Saturday 16 December – contact Germanas Stefanovicius
! s t e P t c Pawfe National Cat Day 29th October
The Winners!
Gracie
Biggest Diva
Delilah Norman
Cutest Face
Last month on the
Socks
Best Co-worker
Best Sleeping Position
Runners Up
Tandem Hub, we celebrated our beautiful Tandem cats for National Cat Day (29th October). It was great to see all the lovely furry feline friends that keep us company and cause mischief at home.
Charlie
Tu li p
Pete
Leo
Congratulations to the winners of our categories, but really they are all worthy winners.
B ud dy
Bertie
S e br in a
ar e h o t t We wan ou! from y
utor... b i r t n o eac Becom ews, n r u o y s to Send us e i r o t s s and .uk o c . update m e tand @ k n a b one
One Bank
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