Honesty Report 2019-2020
Consultants
Since the very beginning in 2008, we were born as a remote community of people living in different continents, with different backgrounds and trainings, joined by principles and values. A community focused on capacity building, empowerment, but also delivering flexible and customised solutions. Starting with 54 consultants in 2019, by the end of 2020 the network was composed by 47 consultants.
Through shared opportunities, knowledge, and management support, our aim is for our community of freelance consultants to:
- Gain more intellectual and social capital
- Develop a sense of belonging to a community of like-minded professionals so that they improve and expand their ability to support organisations interested in maximising their social value.
Wellbeing at work
As the pandemic swept the world in early 2020, our consultants were a little better prepared than others to work from home, as they had been working for 12 years remotely. But like everyone, they were not prepared for the severe impact of confinement, for feeling limited and restrained. So, like all, they needed support.
As the technical tools were already in place, we focused on providing emotional and psychological support. We innovated and changed. We did wellbeing sessions, virtual hangouts, we provided our consultants with new tools to cope. Overall, we recognised the importance of well-being in the working environment and therefore included it in our reconfigured Theory of change.
Thanks to the surveys we sent for this Honesty Report, we learned that consultants agree that Stone Soup aims to offer a fair and safe work environment to its employees and consultants. They also consider Stone Soup as a highly ethical company.
“I was looking for working less hours, having more flexibility with my time, having more ownership with my team, and being able to be more with my family and friends, and I found it with Stone Soup”
Consultant
How is our community of consultants feeling?
Following the Index for Wellbeing at work, the consultants rated their wellbeing working with Stone Soup at 0,82 on a range between –2 and +2. It seems that on the positives, consultants are mostly happy, excited and proud to work with Stone Soup. They do what they really like doing, engage in activities that express their skills, and develop abilities that they consider important.
On the flip side, working with Stone Soup leads most of them to feel at times distressed, anxious, worried and also frustrated. It is interesting to note that there is a clear distinction between principal consultants (average of 0,88 on the scale), who have been with Stone Soup for many years, and other consultants, who are still relatively new to Stone Soup and still have to absorb new ways of working, who average only 0,51 on the same scale.
Wellbeing At Work Scale
0,51
Other Consultants
Did consultants feel they improved their ability to support organisations?
Intellectual capital
79% of the consultants felt a real increase of their intellectual capital thanks to their participation in Stone Soup Consulting related activities.
Learnings happened most on:
- Impact Measurement and Management (89%)
- Facilitation techniques and capacity building (84%)
- General knowledge linked to the Social Economy (78%)
Professional network growth
- 75% of consultants agree that the organisation created professional networking opportunities
- 72% increased the quality and quantity of their professional network
- 86% did not attend events on behalf of Stone Soup, hence reducing further opportunities to enhance or broaden their relational social capital
Sense of belonging to the community
The Sense of Community Index for the overall community is at 0,78, on a scale between –2 and 2. Although the number is good, there is scope for improvement. Most positively valued aspects are:
- “I feel I can be myself when meeting or contacting other members of the Stone Soup community”
- “I feel like a member of the Stone Soup Community”
Less positively valued aspects:
- “I know who most of the Stone Soup community members are” (not all of them)
- “I interact with other members of the community on a daily basis”
“I feel like a member of the Stone Soup community”
Consultant
Sense of Community Index
Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date with our latests news.
We promise not to spam!
