Luton - a council that CARES
During summer 2019 hundreds of our employees participated in workshops, focus groups and roadshows to redesign our council values. This was the result...
Collaborative - we work as one team, producing great results for Luton.
Ambitious - we're determined to improve lives every day.
Respectful - we are open, honest and embrace difference.
Empowering - we trust our own decisions and those of others.
Supportive - we help each other to reach our full potential.
An authentic set of values can support our vision and goals, helping to make us more productive by focusing us all on delivering our priorities.
Our values will:
- underpin the way we operate as an organisation
- influence our choices and our behaviours
- provide a golden thread running through everything we do
Our values are being incorporated into every aspect of our working lives, and at every level - from council leaders signing a commitment to uphold our values, right through to values-based training.
There are already so many examples of how our staff 'live the values' every day.
Collaborative
There's been an unprecedented amount of collaboration between teams across the council throughout the COVID-19 pandemic including:
- staff stepping up to work in other areas of the council such as customer services, to help those most in need of urgent support
- bringing together organisations such as Age Concern, Luton Foodbank, Discover Islam, Chaul End Eatery, Safer Luton Partnership and countless others to help with shopping, hot meals and support for key workers and our most vulnerable
Ambitious
Our plan that ‘Luton will be a healthy, fair and sustainable town, where everyone can thrive and no-one has to live in poverty by 2040’ is an ambitious one, but it’s a plan that we're determined to bring to life. All corporate, service and team plans now contain objectives to meet this goal.
Respectful
Ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion is a core council priority - we provide compulsory training on unconscious bias and promote the elimination of overt and covert discrimination.
Empowering
Our ‘gender pay gap’ is much smaller than most public sector employers, and we have a 'grow your own' approach to developing internal talent, from apprenticeships and mentoring to our Career Pathways programme. We even have a leadership framework for those that want to move into management.
Supportive
The level of support from and between individuals and teams has made us very proud as a council. We've heard so many personal stories of kindness, loss, resilience, innovation and joy, from our staff and customers alike.
Nicola Monk, Corporate Director Inclusive Economy, said: "We all need to really consider what the new values mean for us, our teams and our services and ask ‘how can we change the way we work to bring these new values to life?'.
"These values will now guide the behaviour of all our people. They'll influence strategic and operational decisions, helping us to set the organisation apart from others, to really demonstrate that Luton ‘CARES’."