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The Arthur Webb Challenge Cup
We believe in the power of collaboration and encouraging our colleagues to put themselves forwards and have a go at making the Society a better place for our members. We do this through colleague driven projects as part of the Arthur Webb Challenge Cup. This is an annual event paying homage to the great Arthur Webb, who was an awesome guy (with a great moustache) and a key figure in our Society for 59 years. Arthur was always having a go and making things happen and helped make the Society what it is today. The challenge is all about working collaboratively to try and make Nationwide a better place for both our members and colleagues.
Each year we focus on a different letter of PRIDE, encouraging projects that help us tackle one of our pressing business priorities.
Over the last 4 years, we’ve had 374 teams take part in the challenge, who have delivered some impressive projects and made a massive contribution to the Society through hard work and determination.
We’ve seen our teams break down barriers and drive their ideas into action and deliver many benefits for our members and colleagues – so many in fact, that we couldn’t list them all. Here’s just a few highlights to show what our teams have achieved over the past 4 years.
Putting our members and their money first
In the first year our teams focused on how to put members and their money first by:
- creating a good chunk of sustainable cost savings
- introducing a more efficient mortgage underwriting process to improve offer timescales and exceed completions plans
- saving 1,925 tonnes of carbon emissions, 19.6 million litres of water and 276 trees by replacing disposable cups with mugs in branches
- improving our website to help members find out if they're likely to be accepted for a loan or credit card before applying
Rising to the challenge
In the second year our teams focused on responding to the daily changes we face from the world around us by:
- improving everyday processes to give colleagues more time to spend with members, saving over 100,000 hours in total
- introducing a case ownership model which made the process 10% more efficient for our members
Inspiring trust
In the third year our teams focused on improving our service to members and each other by:
- launching the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme across around 650 branches, training colleagues to support members with hidden disabilities
- introducing quiet hours across the branch which was particularly beneficial for members with sensory conditions such as autism or head injuries
- running a pilot of a tool that enabled more colleagues to support members faster
Empowering each other
In our fourth year, we focused on shaping the Society of the future by building on what we achieved through the pandemic by:
- building a process mining tool to help us be more effective with our processes and make positive changes
- talking about menopause and how we can support colleagues impacted directly and indirectly
- upskilling our mortgage teams to enhance the quality of service we provide all customers
- building an app that empowers colleagues to connect and collaborate by location, interests, topics and more
- empowering our colleagues to have legendary conversations with members around managing debt to become savers
The Arthur Webb Challenge Cup is about changing the way we work – driving the kind of culture, where we all feel empowered and motivated to step up and have a go, and to do something which makes our Society a better place.
It just so happens that as well as delivering impressive improvements, the teams who take part are also in friendly competition for a super shiny cup and a prize, as well as knowing they made a difference.