Investing in our team’s learning & development with the launch of Centrick Academy

Centrick is very much a fast-paced business by nature; nevertheless, we pride ourselves on our strong family-values, which help to nurture an authentic social dynamic and vibrant team culture. During recent years, the industry has weathered many changes due to new legislative measures and the unexpected impact of COVID-19. As a result, this has reinforced the notion that as a business, we have to continue to move with the times to be successful and to stay ahead of the competition.

In the spirit of this flexible attitude, here at Centrick, we have embraced and implemented a wide variety of technologically advanced systems across the business to work more efficiently and productively. This includes everything from our CRM system and HR system; through to our employee benefits programme and a specialist virtual applicant tracking system – not to mention our rebranded website and the introduction of virtual viewings for a number of our properties.

To continue to attract the best candidates, we recognised that we needed to overhaul our pre-existing systems. This meant being proactive in our approach to creating new opportunities for our employees and providing them with ample options to upskill. After scouring the market for a suitable learning and resource platform, we came across HowNow, which we are thrilled to be launching in the next few weeks, under our own banner of Centrick Academy.

Its content is curated from all across the web and across our current learning resources. It is also continuously updating, meaning it’s fresh and engaging for our team. It also allows us to measure the team’s skills, track their learner progression, identify knowledge gaps and to discover our internal experts and their specialities.

As well pairing up well with our budget and current business size, HowNow provides us with the ability to build Centrick-branded content so that we can continue to train and upskill our staff to the best of their ability. HowNow also offers SSO integration and a Chrome extension; allowing us to seamlessly weave it into our current systems. For further functionality, we’re particularly excited about the Microsoft Teams integration that has been made available, an app that’s integral to day to day work at Centrick.

We have a culture of growth and learning running through our core at Centrick

Following the end of a national lockdown during the summer, 70% of our workforce is still working remotely to adhere to suggested government guidelines; as a result of this, it’s become increasingly clear that the landscape of office working will be forever changed. Thus, we are choosing to embrace flexible working and hope that this partnership will both engage and challenge our teams wherever and however they work. HowNow enables us to train our staff remotely via Zoom and Teams; plus, HowNow is optimised for both desktop and mobile performance, meaning it can be easily used by both commuters and remote staff alike.

Centrick HR Director, Gemma Powell said, “We have been searching for that ideal software that provided flexible, curated and targeted learning and development support to our team and HowNow fit the bill perfectly. We have a culture of growth and learning running through our core at Centrick, a cornerstone that is held by all team members, from apprentices through to directors. We constantly strive to attain new heights, innovate across our business and develop both as individuals and as an enterprise. By launching Centrick Academy powered by HowNow, we hope to aid in that endeavour for years to come.”

We envisage that Centrick Academy will also allow us to improve the social aspects of the business alongside enriching the knowledge of the team, by providing a unified way to share content amongst each other. This will help to solidify our strong team dynamic despite the many recent changes to how we work. Above all, we are delighted to be pushing ahead with this new initiative even during these most turbulent of times, helping all of the team own their professional development and get the learning and development they need and want.

To learn more about HowNow, visit https://gethownow.com/