What Makes Boo a Great Employer? An insight into what we do behind the scenes

What Makes Boo a Great Employer? An insight into what we do behind the scenes…

We recently learned that we are finalists at the GM Chamber Excellence Awards 2024 and The Enterprise Vision Awards 2024, and as you can imagine, we are pretty happy about it! We thought it might be nice to share what we said in our awards application for Employer of the year. So here is what we said to secure a place in both finals…

A small (yet mighty) team who are powered by the belief that life is too short to be unhappy at work!

A world-class organisation providing internationally-recognised coaching and learning solutions. Founded in 2012, with a vision to deliver enjoyable and professional programmes, Boo has developed a reputation for delivering solutions tailored to its customers’ needs whilst living its values. With a wealth of expertise, Boo provides challenging, enjoyable and transformational development for learners on subjects including leadership development, workplace wellbeing and coaching.

At Boo we really care about creating the best possible environment for our team to thrive. We are so driven to create a healthy and happy workplace for our team because we believe that this is how all businesses should run. We recruit on values, start with strengths and nurture creativity – A great example of this playing out in our team was when we recruited our newest member of the facilitation team Cath back in October 2023. Cath came along to the assessment centre armed with (not wearing) her swimming costume and bobble hat to demonstrate her passion for outdoor swimming – feeling welcomed to bring her whole self to work. Roll forward a matter of weeks and both Cath and Amy, our Happiness Ambassador (actual job title) met for the first time by a local outdoor swimming spot and captured some incredible mermaid related photographs for a national Real Living Wage photo competition – which we went on to win! Honestly we promise it’s real! Take a look at this news article!

This year Team Boo celebrated 12 years of trading, having grown from a sole trader to a thriving small business with international reach. We believe workplaces can be happy nurturing environments, we believe in the power of coaching and we recognise the impact of leadership behaviour in all this. We are also determined to prove that you can be a profit-making organisation and a compassionate, socially-orientated employer. We are an accredited Living Wage Employer, and members of the Good Employment Charter and the Good Business Charter, and we’ve won awards for our work in championing these. We generate a ‘social time bank’ through our work, which we use to volunteer our time for anything from pro bono work, to sitting on panels, to packing Christmas dinners for people who might be struggling. We also take and distribute donations to our beauty bank. We’re also active corporate partners of a number of local charities.

Why does all this matter?

Because it all leads to employee happiness and we really do have a happy team. We feel cared for through our flexible and tailored approach to team and 1:1 time, our passions are championed, our strengths are celebrated and we get to bring genuine joy into our work – we don’t have to leave it at the door!

We all lead with kindness for each other, for our customers and for our wider communities – take a look at what Cath says about kindness here and if you still aren’t convinced by our approach then have a look here at how we have worked collaboratively with our team to create policies that really work for us and role model how it should be done by others.

Our approach to work and leave is about policies not perks – nobody has to ‘save’ annual leave in case of illness or emergency. The way we do business has contributed to the success of our business, because in showcasing a happy team that enjoy what they do with vibrancy and energy, we are proving to our customers that it can be done!

What works for us may not work for others and may need to be adapted as we recruit and grow. A summary of things that work for us right now.

Flexing working hours / location around the needs of the business alleviates the stress of juggling work with other commitments
Unlimited Paid Time Off policy – nobody needs to ‘save’ annual leave for sickness or caring responsibilities.
A culture of autonomy – employees trusted to make decisions reduces bureaucracy, meaning changes/decisions can be made faster.
A culture of connection – monthly team days to check in, share food / news and learn about company initiatives.
A culture of welcome – we use our passions within our work – e.g. Helen cares about the environmentleading on helping Boo be kind to the planet, Amy loves photography – documenting our work through that medium, Cath, a wild swimmer, brought her costume to interview.
We pay above the real living wage and staff have prepaid expenses cards, so nobody has to spend their own cash and wait for reimbursement
We have a dedicated mental health first aider and offer free counselling services
We have an incredibly supportive, outsourced HR provider (The People Shed) who really get us and provide flexible services that really meet our needs
We focus on strengths and each member of the team completes a Gallup Strengths assessment so we can all support each other to play to our strengths
A typical induction includes a wellbeing welcome pack, pointing out the gratitude jar and where we keep the chocolate 😊

What Makes Boo a Great Employer? An insight into what we do behind the scenes