Home of the Quarter – Our Group Support Centre
We want to recognise a group of staff who are essential to the operation of Avery Healthcare as a company, but who are often found working behind the scenes. So, for this issue our Home of the Quarter is our Northampton based Group Support Centre (GSC), following their fantastic teamwork (and competitiveness) at a team-building challenge with a twist.
ll of our Group Support Centre departments are there to help and assist with the smooth running of our care homes and retirement services. With over 60 locations for Avery and The Hawthorns combined, these departments work incredibly hard to ensure our staff across the services receive essential information, support and guidance to continue providing high-quality care for our residents.
We know how important teamwork is in the workplace. There must be good communication and collaboration to ensure efficient co-ordination between departments and locations. However, with the growth of the business also comes the growth of departments. With 50 staff now based at the GSC (plus many field and Operations staff), it was time for some inter-department mixing, and there’s nothing quite like giant costumes, water, foam and inflatables for building trust and improving relationships!
On 17th July, our GSC staff gathered for a fun ‘It’s a Knockout!’ themed sports day. The British BBC game show, which ruled the television during the 1970s and 80s, was full of school sports day style knockout challenges with a twist. Some of the highlights were giant penguin costumes, huge inflatables, soaking sponges, wacky relay races and enough foam to fill a bubble factory! It was a completely level playing field as teams competed and department barriers were broken down as GSC and field staff participated in this team building bonanza. Favourite games were certainly the Slippery Summit and the classic Fe! Fi! Fo! Fall! Nevertheless, one team had to win, and the ultimate victors of the day were the ‘Pink Cows’.
The sports day has helped to build trust, promote teamwork and encourage our staff to get to know other people outside of their departments, making the GSC a friendlier and more effective place. Thank you to everyone at the GSC for their hard work every day in helping the company’s continued growth and maintaining its standards for residents, staff, family and friends.
Article by Helen Bates, Marketing Executive, for Welcome Home Issue 11.
