Aug 6, 2023
The Access Group (UK) Response
2yAt Access we love feedback, and we also love data. They help us to continuing making Access a great place to work. However, there are several untruths in this review, which don’t give an accurate view of working at Access and we believe it’s important to highlight these, so everyone can make informed decisions when either considering working at Access or doing business with us.
1. Feedback – there are no fake positive reviews on Glassdoor, and we have never financially incentivised colleagues to post reviews. As I’ve said, we love feedback. In addition to listening to Glassdoor feedback we also survey our employees every month to find out how they think we can make Access better every day and the feedback we receive from our employees is reviewed and responded to every month.
2. Reward - we review our pay and benefits annually and a lot of focus is given to ensure that our reward offering is competitive and scalable across all of our geographies as we continue to grow our global footprint. Following on from feedback we received from our employees, we’ve been able to introduce a number of great enhancements – a few examples include a new, enhanced maternity package that was rolled out this year in the UK, a more affordable private medical insurance so that more of our employees and their families can join, as well as a number of new benefits in some of our overseas locations.
3. Our aim is to ensure that our employees are healthy and happy at work. If there is a need to take time off due to illness, we work with that individual to support their return to work. In addition, we offer a very competitive leave policy which can be enhanced through the purchase of additional holiday as well as an extra two days if employees choose not to take up the all-inclusive weekend away (see point 5 below).
4. Wellbeing – we pride ourselves on ensuring everyone here can take control of their wellbeing with our own Wellbeing Hub. In the hub you can access 24/7 wellbeing help and support, the Headspace App, our Employee Assistance Programme, along with a wealth of wellbeing resources and experts. And we recognise that not all wellbeing is mental or physical, so we also provide financial wellbeing support for anyone who needs it.
5. Big Break – the Access weekend away is open to anyone who wants to take up the offer of an all-inclusive paid break away with colleagues. This is an opportunity to get together with colleagues who you may have only worked with virtually due to the global nature of Access, and to have fun – which is at the heart of what we do. Those who prefer not to go receive two additional days leave to spend doing what they love.
6. Culture / Diversity – diversity and belonging (along with wellbeing and giving) are at the core of who we are. Hiring for diversity means we can bring a wealth of diversity of thought and behaviours into Access and pay that forward to our customers and communities. We aim to ensure that everyone can bring their whole, authentic selves to work, and we celebrate all communities which make up the Access family. Our entire Board is also not 50+ white men –check out our awesome Board members here: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/about/our-management-team/. You can also check out more about our brilliant culture in our People Report here: https://pages.theaccessgroup.com/People-Report-2023.html.
7. Acquisition – we have a comprehensive and robust acquisition strategy which ensures that colleagues brought into Access are fully integrated and welcomed and new products are used to provide the best software solutions to our customers. We pride ourselves on being trusted by over 100,000+ customers to solve their biggest software challenges. We have also put measures in place to understand how people are feeling with a focus on their integration experience as well as Integration Champions, integration buddies and face-to-face welcome events. As always, the integration experience is difficult for acquired employees and is a different way to join a company and we recognise and acknowledge that. However, 60-65% of our organisation has come from an acquisition and they are still here! Access isn't for everyone - hired or acquired - but we pride ourselves on our culture of caring, innovation and constant improvement.
8. Data – along with feedback, we use data to continually improve Access. We are proud that our eNPS scores (these are scores benchmarked across the tech industry from our employees which indicate if they feel Access is a good place to work or not) are high. Our eNPS in Wellbeing is in the Top 10 and 29 points above the tech industry benchmark; our eNPS for Diversity and Belonging is also in the Top 10 and 28 points above the tech industry benchmark. Our overall global eNPS for engagement puts us in the Top 12% in the tech industry. Our aim is to be in the Top 5% - which I have no doubt we will reach.
No organisation is perfect; and we admit that we aren’t. However, we have a ‘learn-it-all, not know it all’ mindset and want to continue to grow, learn and make Access even better for all the brilliant, diverse talent who come to join us. If you have a growth mindset, want to take every opportunity offered to you and make it happen in a growing, global organisation where you can bring your whole self to work, then please do reach out to one of our recruiters to find out more. We would love to hear from you!