CIOT and ATT: Achieving 90% engagement through purpose

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) operate as two connected charities with a shared mission: to promote the understanding and practice of tax in the UK. 

Their work spans a broad spectrum; from guiding tax professionals through rigorous qualifications to working with the government on crucial tax policy issues, including advocating for those who might otherwise be overlooked, such as those who are digitally excluded for example older, or visually impaired. 

Employee engagement is woven into the fabric of CIOT and ATT. There is a strong culture of listening and action, where new initiatives and changes are developed with staff input. This collaborative approach ensures that employees feel a sense of ownership over the organisation’s direction, reinforcing their commitment to its mission. 

Before partnering with People Insight, CIOT and ATT worked with another employee survey provider for several years. However, they regularly review suppliers to ensure the best balance of cost, service and usability. When looking at the market, they were driven to find a platform that offered a cost-effective combination of actionable insights, robust question sets and continuity with their previous approach. 

One of the key advantages of People Insight for CIOT and ATT has been the ability to tailor survey questions and collaborate on refining them to suit their specific needs. This consultative approach has ensured that the organisation gathers meaningful data that directly informs action. 

Beyond question design, the People Insight platform itself has played a crucial role in the evolution of CIOT and ATT’s employee listening strategy. The introduction of results dashboards for managers has enabled local leaders to easily review results and decide how best to take action, while the independent and confidential nature of the surveys has reassured employees about transparency and anonymity. 

More recently, CIOT and ATT has explored the use of Prism, our bespoke set of AI-powered functionality within the platform, particularly for summarising open-text responses. While still in its early stages, the AI functionality has provided a valuable, unbiased way to analyse qualitative feedback quickly, offering an additional layer of insight alongside manual review. 

CIOT had a standout 2024 survey, achieving an employee engagement score of 90% and a robust response rate of 84%, earning them People Insight’s Outstanding Workplace Award for the second consecutive year.

This achievement is especially impressive considering the survey programme is internally driven by three CIOT and ATT HR colleagues, who manage both pre- and post-survey work, as well as all communications year-round. Rather than viewing engagement as an annual loop that resets each year, CIOT-ATT sees it as an ongoing journey of continuous improvement. 

Beyond engagement, the survey highlighted particularly strong results in key areas such as job meaning and impact, line management and inclusion. Employees reported a deep sense of purpose in their roles and felt that their managers were not only fostering good working relationships but were actively invested in their professional growth and wellbeing. 

Alongside these positive results, they’ve identified a key focus for improvement in 2025: enhancing employees’ understanding of the organisation’s strategy and direction.

While employees have a clear grasp of their own roles, there’s an opportunity to provide more visibility into the broader business model, the inner workings of the charity sector and the top-level strategic decisions that shape their work. Since much of this thinking is distilled into projects and tasks by the time it reaches employees, CIOT and ATT aims to bridge that gap, ensuring that staff feel just as connected to the organisation’s long-term vision as they do to their day-to-day work.

CIOT and ATT is looking to expand and refine their employee listening strategy, ensuring it remains engaging, inclusive and action driven. Key priorities include: 

🔹 Expanding their application of team-based feedback and action planning to ensure that leaders and managers receive well-rounded insights and live change support. 

🔹 Adopting a more video-centric comms approach for survey updates, engagement summaries and action plan progress reports to maximise engagement and inclusion. 

🔹 Widening the range of voices actively championing employee listening, beyond senior leaders or HR. 

🔹 Making charity wide action planning more collaborative across the workforce, rather than a top-down process. 

🔹 Applying AI to enrich communications and understanding

CIOT and ATT’s high engagement scores aren’t just feel-good numbers, they directly correlate with strong business outcomes, including: 

📉 Low sickness absence rates – Compared to other organisations, CIOT-ATT sees significantly lower levels of absenteeism, (with a sick absence rate of 1.88%) suggesting that employees feel supported, motivated and well at work. 

🔁 Low employee turnover – Retention rates at CIOT-ATT are far better than averages in their sector. They secured an incredible 95% retention rate in the last year indicating that employees feel valued, have strong workplace relationships and see a future within the organisation

CIOT and ATT’s journey with employee listening has been one of continuous evolution, trust-building and action-driven engagement. Their approach is deeper than a tick-box survey, fostering openness and keeping employees at the heart of every decision.

With the support of People Insight’s platform, CIOT and ATT has developed a strategy that not only drives engagement but also ensures it remains a continuous cycle of improvement. People Insight’s tools have enabled them to turn engagement metrics into actionable insights, helping to maintain momentum and focus throughout the year. This collaboration ensures that employee listening isn’t just a metric for CIOT and ATT, it’s a mindset that fuels their ongoing success. 

Organising an employee survey helps you to measure what matters most, uncover the real drivers of engagement and turn insights into action. By listening closely to your employees, you can improve the everyday experience at work, strengthen your culture and boost performance across the board.

Start your employee survey journey today and lay the foundation for a more connected, motivated and high-performing organisation.

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