A Decade of Rapport
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Our Culture
Rapport is many things to many people, but nobody would disagree that our positive and inclusive culture is what makes us special. The diversity of our employees is one of our greatest strengths, and we are committed to ensuring that every person has equal opportunity and is treated with dignity and respect. We welcome everyone, whoever they are and however they choose to identify.
We are proud to foster a supportive environment for our ambassadors, where wellbeing and mental health is discussed openly and at the forefront of everything we do – we have developed an ever-evolving, extensive wellbeing programme.
Rewarding Development and Career Pathways
From humble beginnings in 2012, training programmes were almost exclusively on classroom learning for reception and call service teams. The Learning & Development and award-winning people team have recently launched a virtual training studio, stepping into the future, and leading the way addressing personalised learning needs. Creating client consultancy projects that address ‘one team spirit’ and performance requirements across multiple service partnerships, whilst also supporting the growth of the Rapport brand globally. Alongside core service skills, health and wellbeing, inclusion, personal and professional growth, the team are always looking forward at hybrid learning opportunities to support the ever-changing environment.
We’re all about career progression, and just last year, we promoted 69 people and facilitated 31 internal moves – filling 25% of vacancies internally. In addition, we’ve also hired back 30 ex-Rapport ambassadors, and our ‘Refer a Friend’ scheme has bought in 31 hires. Best of all, is proof that our Leadership Development Programme is a success with 65% of graduates either being promoted or transferred to a more challenging role within the business.
Award-winning
Our status as a multi-award-winning company is testament to the dedication and hard work of all our teams and ambassadors. From winning Front of House Team of the Year at the Foodservice Cateys in 2013, we’ve gone on to win a host of awards for Remarkable Services, Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion, Wellbeing, and Management. We’ve been recognised in the Caterer’s Best Places to Work in Hospitality six times, won five Cateys and experienced an incredible journey with the UK’s Best Companies – starting with a one-star accreditation in 2014, which increased to two stars by 2017. In 2020 we earned a place on the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For list and last year we achieved the much coveted three-star status and number two spot on the UK’s Best Large Companies to Work for 2021.
Challenging times
The pandemic presented us with new challenges which we took on with aplomb, we adapted our services to the rapidly changing world Many of our ambassadors continued to travel into our client sites every day to go above and beyond their usual duties to assist during these challenging times. We moved our learning and development programmes from in-person to virtual in unprecedented time, adding courses focussed on financial, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Determined to keep that Rapport spirit, we doubled down to keep ambassadors engaged with countless initiatives and activities, including charity efforts, recognition, weekly company-wide zoom meetings, competitions, and so much more. The “Rapport Assist” website was also created for ambassadors who had left the company, by offering training and support that would help them in the future, such as CV writing. We advertised all our vacancies on this website first to give our ambassadors first choice.
Engagement and Recognition
Engagement and recognition are highly valued at Rapport and our annual Rapport Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding achievements across categories which reflect core brand values. These included: Create Rapport, Be Brilliant, Innovative Spirit, Walk Tall and Stronger Together. Leadership, Client Feedback and Best Newcomers are also recognised.
May 2015 saw the launch of the Rapport WOW! Awards to accommodate the growing number of ambassadors, and the need for a monthly rewards programme to capture the remarkable acts and celebrate them in a timely fashion. Such was the number of wonderful stories it led to the conception of a Rapport Inspire book (which sits in the British library).
With an ambition to improve the whole sector, Rapport introduced National Receptionists’ Day in the UK in 2012, now known as International Receptionists’ Day after joining forces with its US counterpart. In 2014, National Telephonists’ Day was launched by Rapport and ComXo, and has since been celebrated by businesses in a wide variety of sectors. New industry award, Corporate Receptionist of the Year (CROTY) was born in 2019 to specifically recognise receptionists working in the corporate sector.
Going International
International expansion was the next logical step and in 2015, Rapport made its way over to the US starting in New York and growing across other key cities – Rapport in North America is now 400+ ambassadors. In 2016 Rapport UK became UK and Ireland, when a client utilised our services across the water. Asia Pacific was next with Hong Kong added in 2019, our reach in Europe extended to Switzerland and subsequently Denmark. With the addition of Australia and India, Rapport is very much a global organisation.
Thank You
All the awards, contracts and international trips are incredible achievements, but when you strip Rapport back to its very essence, it is clear what the spirit of Rapport really is.
Our people.
We are so grateful to all our ambassadors who bring with them their own their culture, their individuality, and their aspirations. The diversity of our ambassadors is our greatest strength.
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