Perceptions are no longer reality - Consultant The Gap Partnership Employee Review

I read your comments with sadness. Your perceptions couldn’t be further from the vision we set out to achieve when we started the business and continue to strive for every day. Seeking feedback from the people who work here currently, I consistently get comments in direct contradiction to your views and the results of our annual culture survey indicates we are significantly above industry norms. One of our greatest sources of satisfaction as business leaders is the number of people who have achieved personal growth professionally and financially in sharing in the success that we have created together. I have never heard anyone encourage someone to lie here, in fact we have invested so heavily in our governance policies and internal training we have been commended by regulators for leading the industry in best practice. As a manager, there is no strength in being ‘conniving’ or ‘tactical’. Negotiation as a discipline is about psychology. You describe ‘playing mind games’ with a negative connotation – it is true that people negotiate with people and as such understanding human behaviour and emotion are at the heart of our philosophies and teaching. Understanding the other party’s perspective and level of satisfaction is key to a successful deal. Building trusted relationships in a commercial arena will always give a better outcome. Integrity is everything! It is core to the values we live by. Our Consultants come from a wide range of backgrounds and the vast majority have significant negotiation experience before joining. All have an absolute passion for the subject and gain negotiation experience very quickly here. Many are exceptional trainers who follow a clear structure to ensure consistency of quality and delivery that our clients value. A small number are unable to achieve our quality standards although our extremely low attrition rate for Consultants is market leading. We have a population of 60% men and 40% women. We have female representation at all levels of our business, many of whom have been with us for many years and life circumstances. Our attrition levels for men and women are similar, as are our culture survey results. We know that all employers can improve in this area, and so continue to explore how we can do this too. Your comment about needing legal advice when you leave is inaccurate. We do have a very few examples of employees leaving disgruntled, but these are extremely rare and we take each very seriously. The vast majority of those that leave stay in touch and several people have returned. We would welcome the chance to discuss your comments and try to make things right if possible. I would welcome your call personally.