What's it like to work at Blackhall Engineering?

In our recent insight, 'The importance of being 'on board', Company Director James Blackhall discussed the importance of an effective onboarding process. In it, he explained how developing and championing a strong culture around not just the work, but the people, ensures that the right team members are not only found, but kept.

We learned that operations at Blackhall are based on family values, from honesty and openness, to teamwork and trust, and that the culture of the team is built on collaboration, by understanding and capitalising on collective strengths and thereby mitigating any weaknesses. This all starts with onboarding. “What you have to understand from the outset,” says James, “is that we are all flawed. There is no such thing as the perfect human. I think a lot of companies, when they're recruiting, struggle to clarify that this 'perfect employee' doesn't exist. So, we flip that, and say, 'okay, what are the values of this person that closely match with those of the business?' If the values match, then you pretty much have an employee who gets it and understands what you're trying to do.”

This is all very easy to say, but in practice, how do you gather that information from one or two relatively short interviews? After all, compared to the time that a potential new-starter is going to be spending with you and your team, the interview stage is but a drop in the ocean. Add to that that according to this article from the BBC “the fields in which hiring took the longest were engineering and research”, and finding the right people can quickly turn into a minefield of potentially bad decisions! Ant Butler, Director of Sales for Blackhall, picks up the question: “Somebody commented to me recently when we were looking to recruit, that 'that was the quickest and strangest interview I've ever had', because the questions we fired at him were so strange. But that's because we're trying to find out about them; you know, we'll ask some really weird questions to see how they respond, and for one thing, this tells us are they up for a bit of fun. Will they be open and honest about what's in their fridge at home? Ultimately, it's about finding that connection from the earliest possible stage. It's about relationship building – firstly, by seeing if people are on our wavelength, and then gauging to what degree their values align with our own as a business. After that, it's highly likely that we'll get on and that everyone will enjoy working together.”

So, the interview was a success and a starting date has been agreed. After that, it's time to get the new starter 'on board'. Each new employee is required to deliver two presentations to the Board of Directors, offering a fresh perspective on old challenges, and sharing their thoughts and ideas in the immediate days, weeks and months of their new term of employment. Add to this the assignment of a mentor, not to mention the opportunity to go out for lunch with James, and the best way to describe the onboarding process is an open-armed 'Welcome!'. At least, that's how James describes it, but it would be all too easy to say that, move on, and expect you to simply take his word for it. Which is why we sat down with two very recent new starters – Claire and Kian – to learn what their first impressions were, and just how well-founded James' belief really is in Blackhall's onboarding process.

“First impressions were that this was a very welcoming company,” says Claire, who works as a Fitter and Assembler. “And I mean to a point I've not really experienced before, because it's very family oriented, and that's on all levels, all departments and across the hierarchy.” Kian, who is currently splitting his time between Blackhall and his studies at college, agrees. “Being at college once a week, when I started, I felt like my Line Manager and even James really cared about what I was doing. They'd ask what I was up to at college, and with the 30-day report and 100-day Powerpoint that I presented to them, it all made me feel as though they have an interest in what I'm learning. It just made me feel like I belong here.”

“Kian delivered these presentations to the senior team, and at a young age of 18/19, it was outstanding - it was a pretty brave thing to do,” says James. Kian agrees, and admits “I was pretty nervous to do it”, but as James says: “It's an expectation that we put on everybody – it doesn't matter where they are in the business, and that's part of our new process.”

Interested to know whether or not the new process has galvanised the new starters to invest more of themselves in their work, I ask the question. “Yes, of course,” says Claire. “But then again, anything that's worth investing yourself into, I will jump straight into it, and Blackhall for me is definitely within that category.” This is because at Blackhall, investment goes both ways. There is always the opportunity to learn, and any ideas – no matter how junior the employee who has them – are listened to and often implemented. And when you know this to be the case, as a new starter, getting up and going to work suddenly becomes a very exciting prospect! “Every day, there's a learning curve,” says Claire, “and there's always a problem that needs to be fixed. Not so much in a negative way, but there's always a head scratcher that you have to put 100% of yourself into to find a solution, and I've been able to put a few of my own ideas into place. I've worked at Valve companies before, so I've already had a few ideas. For example, creating a little tool that makes fitting a bush in the body of a valve that little bit easier. It's things like this that keep you thinking and your brain working, which I love.”

And Kian? “It's the same for me with investing myself in the business. Again, back to the 100-day report, I actually put in there that I'd like to move around the business and have a feel for what it's like in different departments, and I feel like they've actually listened to that. In fact, I'm going to be going into the sales department soon, and I feel this just helps me get more invested into the business because people within the business listen to what I want.”

“I couldn't have said it better myself,” says Claire. “And the other thing is that if you have a problem, there's always somebody to ask. I've worked in places before where people believe that knowledge is power, and they don't want to share that knowledge. Because what if there's a Directorship coming up and somebody else knows how to do that? But that is not how a business should tick over, and I've not once seen it here. Say we've got six people in our department, and everybody just knows how to do one job, if I come off my motorbike and break my leg and I'm off for six months, nobody else can do my job. So, everybody should know how to do a little bit of everything.”

I ask Kian how he feels about approaching his Line Manager and more experienced colleagues. “I don't feel worried at all to ask them questions. I feel like my Line Manager always has me doing something to keep me busy and there's always something to learn. Certainly compared to the restaurant I worked in before, where it was more of a come-and-go part-time job, here I feel like I'm investing time in my future and being given what I need to do that.”

What it all boils down to, is a feeling of not just belonging, but of value. Claire reveals that despite having had quite a few jobs prior to assuming her position at Blackhall, never once has she been taken out for lunch by the Directors. At Blackhall at least, the days of Senior Members not saying so much as a 'good morning' to the team are long gone. Instead, socialising is very much part of the day-to-day, and this extends beyond the '9-to'5, with pizza parties and weekend walks to the pub. Even at the end of the year, when the tools are set down for Christmas, James and the board believe that a bottle of wine to say 'Thank you, now go and enjoy yourself,' can go a very long way.

“People are our biggest asset,” says James. “So, why would we not invest in them? We are, after all, a people business, and it's them that set us apart.” Right from those initial, quirky questions in the interview, the people at Blackhall are afforded everything they could need to grow and thrive. Each new starter is first welcomed, and immediately thereafter listened to. Their ideas are welcomed and often implemented, and when it comes to mastering one skill set or role, the chance to learn new ones is always up for grabs. Apply this approach to every single member of the Blackhall team, and it really is unsurprising that since developing and implementing the new onboarding process, the company has yet to lose a single member of staff. Finally, thinking back to what James said about there being no such thing as a 'perfect human', I'm reminded of a poignant phrase first coined by the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle. He suggested that in many cases, 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts', and while it's a phrase that most of us will have come across at some stage in our lives, it's one that, in Blackhall's case, could not be more applicable.