September 19, 2025
NatWest Proves Listening to Employees Pays Off at the UK Employee Experience Awards ’25
NatWest has been recognised with the gold award in the Best Employee Insight & Feedback category at the UK Employee Experience Awards 2025. The win reflects how the bank listens to its 63,000 employees across the globe and translates their feedback into real improvements.
Mark Heywood, Head of Performance and Recognition at NatWest, explained that success came from making employees active participants in shaping solutions rather than passive respondents.
“I think the key thing we’ve done is really listen to colleagues. We’ve engaged with them, asked great questions, got their feedback, but more importantly, co-created the design of our solutions with them. They’ve been an active part in not only telling us what needs to happen, but testing it in life and giving us feedback. Every iteration, we go out, get colleague feedback, change things when needed, and then we go again,” he said.
The bank’s approach consists of continuous loops of listening, testing, and refining. Through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and well-structured polling, NatWest is able to identify themes that reflect employee needs and expectations. The result is a deeper understanding of what really matters to staff across such a large organisation.
The award is a recognition of both method and mindset: creating the right environment for people to be honest, and ensuring the organisation acts on what it hears.
“When you ask questions and get feedback, you’ve got to be seen to be acting on it, because that breeds a culture where colleagues believe their input makes a difference,” Heywood added.
See the full list of winners here.
