The Big CompuMeet 2023 - Becoming a World Class Employer

Owen Napier, Computeam CEO, shares his thoughts on this year's Big CompuMeet held at the Village Hall in Solihull. A brilliant day of team bonding, collaboration, recognition, and goal setting... 

Like many companies, Computeam makes extensive use of Microsoft Teams to bring our geographically dispersed workforce together on a daily basis. We have lively chat groups, online collaboration in video meetings, weekly video calls amongst departments and a live monthly “all staff briefing” involving everyone. 

Despite all this, there is no substitute for bringing teams together in person, and for the past 5 years, we’ve done just that by hosting a Big CompuMeet in a central location. This year, we brought everyone together at the Village Hotel in Solihull for an unforgettable event!

"The key things that set apart a World Class employer from an Outstanding employer are a willingness to take communication and a sense of ownership over the company’s objectives"

Educate and inspire

Each CompuMeet has three main objectives: to educate our staff, to inspire them to improve, and to build rapport and understanding amongst all our people. We use the day to share updates on our strategy, consult with staff in workshop sessions and to recognise high performers with a coveted Computeam Values Award. We also fund an evening meal and an overnight stay for anyone who can commit to sticking around afterwards, which provides a unique opportunity for people who work at different ends of the country to spend time getting to know each other.

With over 80 staff, this is now an expensive undertaking, but we still see an incredible ROI from running the event. This year’s theme was about how we become a “World Class” employer, an elite designation taken from the influential Best Companies Index, and one which we are actively working towards achieving in 2023. 

The key things that set apart a World Class employer from an Outstanding employer (our current rating) are a willingness to take communication and a sense of ownership over the company’s objectives to the next level by actively consulting with staff. Last week, we did just that, asking staff to consider what we should stop, start and improve on to make their jobs more rewarding or efficient. There were thoughtful and balanced contributions from the room, and an interesting debate in the post-COVID world about whether higher pay, or more focus on well-being and work-life balance was more important to them.

"Recognising those people who’ve made an outstanding contribution in support of one of our key values is always my favourite part of the afternoon!"

Rewarding outstanding contributions

Another important part of a CompuMeet is ensuring that high performance is recognised and rewarded, without making others feel left out. On a personal level, recognising those people who’ve made an outstanding contribution in support of one of our key values is always my favourite part of the afternoon, but the cherry on the cake this year was seeing the genuine support and affection that each award winner was held in by their colleagues.

The sense of goodwill in the room at the end of the day was palpable, and so many people have commented to us since on how much they got from the day. Despite the size of the bar bill at the end of the meal, we will continue to invest in this flagship event that brings our people together as we strive to be a world class employer.

Owen Napier
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)