WORKPLACE CULTURE - ONSHORE AWARD 

A genuine Workplace of Choice is built long before anyone walks through the door. It starts with how a space is designed and governed. It is proven by whether every person who spends time there as employees, contractors, vendors, ad-hoc or visiting personnel alike, experiences the same standard of welcome, safety, and respect, regardless of their contract type or how long they'll be on site.

What good looks like, in practice!

An outstanding onshore workplace treats inclusivity and wellbeing as infrastructure, not initiative. That means:

Universal onboarding, not tiered onboarding. A contractor arriving for a two-week engagement receives the same clarity on site conduct, facilities, safety culture, and points of contact as a permanent employee with no separate, lesser experience for people who aren't on the core payroll.

Physical and cultural accessibility. Facilities, signage, break areas, and site logistics are designed for a genuinely diverse workforce with different physical needs, different shift patterns, different cultural and religious practices, rather than defaulting to a single "typical" worker.

Psychological safety across the hierarchy. People at every level, including short-term and vendor personnel, feel able to raise a safety concern, report a problem, or challenge poor behaviour without fear of it affecting their next contract or their standing on site.

Visible, active leadership. Inclusion and wellbeing show up in how leaders behave day to day. Positive behaviours such as, who gets credited in meetings, who's included in informal conversations, whose voice is sought out not just on a values poster in reception.

Wellbeing built into the working rhythm. This includes fatigue and workload management, accessible mental health support for transient and site-based staff, and a culture that encourages breaks and speaking up.

Measurement and accountability. The organisation tracks the experience of its whole onshore population not just permanent staff engagement scores and can show how feedback from contractors and vendors has changed something.
Why this matters for the award

The strongest submissions won't just describe a policy they'll demonstrate a lived, consistent standard that holds regardless of who someone works for or how long they're on site. The differentiator is inclusivity and wellbeing extended deliberately to the edges of the workforce the ad-hoc worker, the contractor, the vendor representative not just the people already inside the organisation's own structures. That consistency, more than any single initiative, is what makes a workplace one that people genuinely choose, and choose to stay in.

HOW TO ENTER

Complete each section following the guidelines and adhering to the stated word count. Once you have fully completed the form to your satisfaction, please click the submit button. Entries must be received no later than Friday 17th December 2026. For any queries, please contact oaa@mearns-gill.com