North East HR tech provider wins Conscious Employer award

HR technology providers Hive, one of the region’s fastest-growing businesses, has been recognised for its strategic approach to employee retention, engagement and wellbeing.

Newcastle based Hive has been named Organisation of the Year at the UK’s Conscious Employer Awards. The Conscious Employer Awards celebrate the incredible work organisations undertake to develop a productive and happy workforce.

John Ryder, CEO at Hive said: “We’re honoured to be recognised for the work we do to make Hive an amazing place to work. Our whole business is geared towards helping organisations create positive employee experiences for their people, which we can only achieve when our own people are engaged, healthy and productive.”

Hive is an employee feedback platform and people science consultancy; partnering with organisations to improve employee engagement, experience and performance.

Hive takes care to engage its own workforce in creative ways – the company has an office dog policy, provides benefits to promote wellbeing (such as flexible working and unlimited holiday allowance), and facilitates group learning with employee-led ‘lunch and learn’ sessions.

John Ryder, CEO at Hive added: “We don’t have the fanciest offices, we don’t have ping-pong tables or any sort of faux-culture. We have something that is much more valuable and I’m excited about getting to a point where we’re famous in the North East for being THE place to work if you’re the type of person who wants to use their talent for good.”

The Hive workforce is growing rapidly (with 26 new members of staff recruited since July 2018) and boasts a retention rate of over 90.4%. This growth in workforce numbers has led to the company leasing 4,400sq ft. office space in Broadacre House, Newcastle city-centre, which they will move to in June 2019.

The company plans to increase its headcount from 35 to 44 by the end of 2019 and will continue to prioritise employee wellbeing in order to attract the best talent from within the region.

Alongside this award, Hive was shortlisted as one of the top ten fastest growing early-stage tech companies in the North of England and Scotland at GP Bullhound’s 2019 Northern Tech Awards.

Hive was also a finalist for the Small Business Award at the North East Business Awards.

The company started trading in 2016 and now partners with 100 organisations nationwide – including River Island, Northumbria Police, Hermes, Travelodge, Sheffield Hallam University, Brewdog, Gateshead College and Tarmac Group.