We believe that investing in our employees’ development is key to sustaining an engaged workforce and to supporting our collaborative culture. In the past year, we have continued to prioritise training and employee engagement to foster career growth, improve management capabilities and enhance the overall job satisfaction of our people.

Our ambition to be an exceptional employer of choice is supported by all of our structured learning initiatives and leadership development programmes. 

Promoting learning and development

Providing employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in their roles is fundamental to our success.

Sirius Academy, based in our Berlin office, remains the foundation of our training programme, and offers a combination of in-person and digital learning experiences which are tailored to individuals and teams. Our Learning and Development Specialist has played a vital role in ensuring the training modules addresses skills gaps and in creating and adapting content to meet individual, team, and business needs. 

In FY2024/25, we delivered a total of 1,894 training days across the Group, surpassing our target of 1,300 days.

Group training and development

To support leadership growth, we introduced the Manager Circle, a structured 10-step management development programme, under the Sirius Academy umbrella. All managers will participate in this intensive programme, which covers essential skills such as strategic decision-making, people management, and leadership development. Leading by example, the Executive Team and Directors were the first to undergo assessments in January 2025, with a required pass rate of 85%, reinforcing our commitment to high standards in leadership. 

Our investment in leadership development is rooted in the belief that effective managers are the key drivers of engagement and retention. As we continue to develop our learning offering, we have expanded our resources and tailored programmes to better support employees in managing their careers and achieving long-term success at Sirius. This has included additional content and resources being made available on our communication platform, Workplace, as well as pairing managers with a learning buddy to encourage ongoing knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer development. 

Building on this year’s success, the next stage of the Manager Circle will launch in May 2025, with a curriculum designed to further enhance leadership capabilities across the organisation, using more practical examples and cases.

Empowering through engagement

Engagement with employees remains a priority, supported by regular feedback mechanisms such as the employee survey as well as ongoing digital and other internal communication.

This year, we made notable strides in strengthening engagement across the Group. Our 2024 employee survey recorded the highest participation rate to date with 85% of employees taking part, reflecting our continued commitment to listening and responding to employee feedback.

The Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) showed an improvement, with 84% of employees stating they would recommend Sirius as a great place to work. 

Digital engagement has also advanced through our employee engagement and communication platform, Workplace, which is being transitioned to Workvivo. Insights indicate our colleagues’ engagement with the platform is exceptionally high relative to external benchmarks, with an adoption rate of 95% and a strong monthly active engagement rate.Team-specific podcasts are a further example of how we position and share our internal expertise. 

Over the past year, we have also continued to enable frequent in-person dialogue. Our Chairman regularly meets employees across Germany and the UK. The in-person and online CEO Forums have also provided a platform to discuss key issues, business development and wider company goals.

Evolving our successful People@Work initiative

Another important engagement pillar is our People@Work initiative, through which working groups have been established for colleagues to collaborate with a Board sponsor to address issues and opportunities highlighted in the employee survey. This has proved an effective method of delivering results, with over 30 initiatives identified and implemented across the business. We recently refined the programme to focus on three areas: People, Property and Performance. Several suggestions are being considered for implementation, including reducing company car speeds; challenges and competitions to promote environmental responsibility; expansion of the ‘Manage My Career’ initiative to support professional growth, and driving engagement with tenants. 

In FY2025/26, in alignment with our engagement strategy, we will be transitioning our People@Work initiative into Teams@Work, reflecting our increased emphasis on collaboration within and across business functions and geographies, strengthening team dynamics and cross-functional cooperation to drive business performance. 

Our people are at the heart of what we do, and our goal remains clear: to ensure that Sirius continues to be recognised as an employer of choice by encouraging a culture that supports growth and collaboration.