Newydd ~ Olwen Thomas

"The training event on flexible working for our line managers was excellent and the feedback from the event was very positive"

Newydd Housing Association spent a year working with Chwarae Teg on the Agile Nation project and during that time we received so much support from them on good practice as well as practical help in reviewing our policies and procedures

Newydd Housing Association provides affordable high-quality accommodation for people in Wales.

Established in 1974, the organisation has become one of Wales’ leading housing associations, providing accommodation for rent and sale as well as a number of other housing related services. They employ 75 people.

Keen to improve staff morale and obtain support in reviewing their existing HR policies and procedures, Newydd engaged with Agile Nation’s Evolve programme.

Olwen Thomas, Human Resources Manager at Newydd, said:

“Newydd Housing Association spent a year working with Chwarae Teg on the Agile Nation project and during that time we received so much support from them on good practice as well as practical help in reviewing our policies and procedures.”

How we helped

As a result of Newydd’s involvement with Agile Nation they now have a full set of up-to-date HR policies and procedures including the tools to monitor progress and development.

The benefits to Newydd Housing Association,
Senior Project Officer, Cathy Kennedy, said:

"It was brought to my attention that Newydd had a disproportionate number of older employees with few younger graduates. Through implementing a focused recruitment drive, they successfully recruited more graduates. The abandonment of an enforced retirement age has also proved a great benefit, creating the opportunity for more experienced employees to train up new staff.

I facilitated an awareness-raising session on flexible working which provided managers with the knowledge and tools they needed to confidently manage staff with flexible working patterns"

Olwen added:

"The training event on flexible working for our line managers was excellent and the feedback from the event was very positive. In particular, managers enjoyed the opportunity to share their own experiences with other line managers, talk through perceived difficulties when managing flexible working and learn how to manage flexible working in an effective way.”