The IWFM Impact Awards recognise the best work in workplace and facilities management across the UK. This year, Encore has been shortlisted in the People Development & Talent Retention category — one of five finalists competing for the award. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on 8 October 2025.
Getting to the finals isn't something that happens by accident. It's the result of a deliberate, multi-year investment in the people who are the most visible face of Encore on every estate we manage: our site-based teams.
The challenge we set out to solve
Between 2020 and 2025, Encore's on-site workforce grew significantly to over 470 employees, spread across estates throughout the UK. That growth created a very real problem: site-based staff - concierges, building managers, team leaders - often felt isolated from the wider organisation. Career progression was limited. Retention was under pressure. And the structural reality of service charge funding meant investment in these teams couldn't simply be signed off centrally.
These weren't abstract HR concerns. Site staff are who residents see every day. They handle the day-to-day friction of estate life. The quality of their work - and their connection to Encore - contributes directly to the resident experience.
What we built
Our response was a programme we called Building Better: Estate Operations Reimagined. It wasn't a single initiative — it was a structural change to how Encore develops and retains its site-based workforce.
The programme introduced transparent career frameworks for every site-based role, with clear progression routes for those wanting to progress a site-based career. For the first time, estate operations employees had a visible path forward that didn't require moving into an office.
We made professional qualifications accessible to all site employees - funding IWFM, IOSH and NEBOSH centrally, removing the financial barrier that had previously put formal accreditation out of reach. An online Learning Hub now provides on-demand training that works around shift patterns and 24/7 operational constraints. In 2025 alone, almost 2,000 training sessions were completed - with every employee finishing at least one, averaging 10.6 hours per person.
We appointed a dedicated Estate Operations management layer - Operations Managers who visit sites weekly or fortnightly, run monthly one-to-ones with Building Managers and bring something tangible every visit: recognition, problem-solving, professional support. We created peer learning groups, a Building Managers' WhatsApp network, and recognition programmes specifically designed for teams who can't attend all-staff events or take an ad-hoc day off.
And where operational constraints made standard benefit packages unworkable, we found alternatives to design recognition that works around shift patterns.
What it means to be shortlisted
The IWFM People Development & Talent Retention category recognises organisations that have made a genuine, sustainable difference to how they develop and retain people — not incremental change, but a demonstrably different approach that has delivered results.
Jason Grieve, Estate Operations Director at Encore, said: "Being shortlisted for this award reflects the commitment of everyone involved in the programme to Build Better Estate Operations - but more than anything, it reflects the site-based teams themselves. When a building manager has been on the same estate for two or three years, residents notice. They know who to call. They trust the person who answers. That continuity is what turns a well-managed building into a place people genuinely want to live - and it only happens when your people feel valued enough to stay and grow. That's what this programme set out to create, and seeing it work is what we're most proud of."
What happens next
The IWFM Impact Awards ceremony takes place on 8 October at Grosvenor House Hotel, London. We are one of five finalists in our category.
Whatever the outcome on the night, the programme continues. Encore's next steps include expanding the proportion of site staff holding professional qualifications, growing the Estate Operations management team through in-house progression, and broadening peer learning structures to additional site-based roles.