NewVoiceMedia
Baskingstoke, UK
Grade: A
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Summary: Overwhelming evidence that this is an amazing work environment from turnover of 5%, great opportunities for travel, rapid growth, perks galore, work/life balance, charitable giving, advancement, training and benefits. |
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Intro:
We offer staff opportunities to take part in charitable activities NewVoiceMedia connects businesses and organizations with their customers worldwide, so they can sell more, serve better, and grow faster. It puts clients in control so they can deliver a personalized customer service experience that powers their sales teams to keep on driving growth. We’re passionate about the products and services we provide and know that our employees are the driving force behind the company’s impressive and rapid growth. That’s why we keep innovating and improving our employee offering to make sure NewVoiceMedia remains one of the best companies to work for. We know that hiring, developing and retaining talented and dedicated people is the best way to keep improving what we do. In 2014, our efforts were recognized when we were nominated for one of the top British business awards (The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to work for). A staff survey revealed that 98% of our team members feel they can make a valuable contribution to the company’s success. Growing fast NewVoiceMedia is growing at a phenomenal rate. The company grew its international new business by 140 percent in FY’2016 and now serves more than 650 customers worldwide. Valuing our people Jonathan Gale, CEO, leads from the front when it comes to building a strong company culture that really allows staff to contribute to the business and drive its success and performance: “I’m very proud to have built such a strong company culture and team of dedicated, talented staff. Making NewVoiceMedia a fun and stimulating place to work is a core part of our strategy, and it has helped us to attract high-caliber people around the world. Hiring, developing and retaining the best people in the industry represents a significant source of competitive advantage that helps to differentiate us in our marketplace. The value we place on our culture and people was emphasized in 2016 when we were proud to win the 2016 Workplace Excellence Award, as presented by TMCnet.”
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Impact statements:
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Advancement Opportunities:
We have our own internal Learning and Development Academy. It’s a cross-company, multi-level innovative initiative that delivers training and coaching for every employee. Staff can benefit from general training as well as training that’s tailored to their individual needs. The company continually looks for new ways of providing advancement for employees; most recently offering ‘LinkedIn Learning’ and Polish lessons to all staff, as well as other ‘Lunchtime Learning’ opportunities.
We also encourage staff to keep looking outward to develop personally. If someone’s keen to take up an external course, we try to support them where that course brings benefits for the individual as well as for their work and contribution to NewVoiceMedia. In some cases, we can help with course fees and related costs.
Medical benefits:
- Life insurance
- Health insurance
We know that for our staff and their families, health is one of the biggest and most important issues. So we provide all staff – whether based in the US or the UK – with life insurance and health insurance. It’s a very competitive package, benchmarked to be in the top quartile of technology companies.
The cycle-to-work scheme that we support encourages staff to adopt a healthier lifestyle by getting exercise as they travel to and from work.
Other benefits have included complementary flu vaccinations, and massages, to help team members relax.
Community service/charitable causes:
- We encourage employees to participate in charity work through the NewVoiceMedia Foundation.
- We work with charitable organizations to formulate business plans
- We encourage staff to make the workplace as energy efficient as possible, from respecting the ‘lights out’ policy to installing the latest sensor thermostat technology.
- We run ‘Code Club’, a volunteer-run initiative designed to get children aged 9-11 learning how to code and finding out more about technology
- We are participating in Pledge 1%, whereby each employee gets roughly 20 hours of work time (or equivalent work profits) a year to allocate to charity work or causes. (Read more here).
NewVoiceMedia’s Foundation is the bedrock of our charitable activities. Through it, we leverage our people, resources and technology to help not-for-profit organizations. The Foundation works in three ways: through skills-based volunteering, by offering matched funding (of up to £1,000 for activities supporting initiatives dealing with terminal illness), and by directly taking part in fundraising activities (with a focus on helping people with communication difficulties). Employees are entitled to two paid days out of the office a year to carry out voluntary initiatives.
Our staff have been involved in a wide range of community fundraising activities. Some walked a night-time 26.2-mile marathon, raising over £5,000 for Cancer Research UK. Others cycled (25, 50 or 100 miles) in Nelson’s Tour de Test Valley, raising £2,000 for CALM, an organization that works to prevent male suicides, or climbed the three highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland, to raise £5,000 for CALM and MIND. Over the last festive period, NewVoiceMedia worked with La Casa del Las Madres to fulfill the Christmas wish list of two families.
Measuring satisfaction:
- Quarterly staff surveys
- Chatter
We conduct staff surveys every quarter, with detailed questions on a wide range of employee satisfaction drivers, so that we really know what’s working for our team members (and what’s not).
Our company’s ambitious growth targets and success also rely on the executive team, who are very ‘visible’ to staff. They encourage team members to make comments, observations and suggestions at all times.
We also use ‘Chatter’ (an online collaboration tool) as a way of sharing ideas and to help monitor performance, changes in systems, and also staff satisfaction.
- We have state-of-the-art facilities
- We make space for relaxation and socializing (de-stress rooms, games spaces)
- We monitor noise levels, temperature, light and hygiene to make sure everyone’s comfortable
- We have telephone booths for ‘don’t disturb’ calls
- We offer free lunches and a wide range of healthy drinks and snacks
- Team members have easy access to the exec team and CEO
We know that the physical environment makes a big difference to people’s everyday satisfaction, so we work hard to get it right. We’re always open to new ideas and suggestions from team members too.
Creative meeting places:
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Verbier, Switzerland |
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Chewton Glen, UK |
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San Francisco |
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Sydney, Melbourne and Perth |
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Singapore |
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Paris |
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Copenhagen |
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Poland |
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Edinburgh |
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Our London team has held meetings at the London Mathematical Society and Arsenal soccer stadium. |
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In July we hosted a conference at AT&T Park in San Francisco – Home of the SF Giants! |
But these are just the places we know formal meetings are held. On a day-to-day basis, team members find their own creative places to meet informally and share ideas and information.
Perks:
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Membership of Wentworth Golf Club, part of a private health resort |
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Free food and drink in the office, and celebration of key holidays/festivities, such as pancakes in the office for Shrove Tuesday and chocolate at Easter |
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‘Taste Card’ membership, for discounted restaurant meals |
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Every year, the company’s ‘Peak Performers’ get a week’s all-expenses-paid holiday to Verbier, Switzerand, where they can enjoy a series of skiing or snowboarding lessons! |
Fun:
Jonathan has brought team members together for some fun social events to celebrate what they and the company have achieved. These have included:
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Darts, table soccer, corn hole, ping pong, video games |
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One-off fun events to celebrate achievements or attract new candidates |
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The company Christmas party |
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A summer BBQ |
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A quiz night |
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A local Octoberfest event |
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The world-famous Hampton Court Palace Flower Show |
We work hard to promote a fun and creative atmosphere across the company, where everyone is motivated to perform to their best. Our CEO is very engaged with all team members. He takes time to get to know new people and have fun with them.
Our executive team is always sure to tell team members how much they and the company appreciates their hard work, and regularly celebrate special efforts or achievements. For instance, at the end of Dreamforce week (for which we are a sponsor), we organized a fun and relaxing party in the office to thank everyone who had worked so hard to make the event a success.
Thanks to the atmosphere we create, fun is a daily feature of our workplace. There’s always a game of ping pong or darts going on, and the occasional game of corn hole!
We also apply our fun, innovative company culture to recruitment. We wanted to find an unconventional way to showcase our office to potential candidates. So we turned our humble San Francisco workplace into a traditional English pub for the day – complete with bar games, soccer memorabilia and plenty of Union Jack flags!
How corporate vision is communicated:
- Through the induction process for new staff
- Through regular meetings and briefings
- Through the executive team being ‘visible’ and easily accessible to team members
When new people join our team, our CEO, Jonathan, holds a session to present the vision and culture of the company. Although this is part of the induction process, it’s also a training opportunity. Jonathan clearly sets out what NewVoiceMedia expects of its team members and how they can contribute to the company’s overall growth and success.
Jonathan also addresses everyone in the business on a quarterly basis, to summarize our progress from the last quarter, look to the coming quarter and relay any corporate updates.
The executive team is very ‘visible’ and accessible to staff on a day-to-day basis. Putting the company culture into practice, they constantly encourage team members to meet their goals and objectives to support the corporate vision, and to be the best they can be.
Empowering employees:
- All employees can work flexi-time
- Managers can work compressed hours or days
- Team members can make their own schedules where the work tasks allow
- Generous vacation policy
Flexi-time is available to all employees, while managers have the option of working compressed hours and days. This means that if a parent has a particular commitment with their families in the afternoon, they would be able to fulfill that commitment and make up the work time on another day.
Many of our team members can make their own schedules. In sales, marketing and consultancy, for example, goals are target-based and not dependent on being in the office. Team members working in customer support and development tend to work fixed schedules to meet customers’ needs, so these team members are often office-based.
Self-organization allows team members to take on many of the functions traditionally performed by managers. The role of the manager is to ensure that these functions are being performed to the best of the team’s ability. Managers use the Career Planning framework to help their team members determine their long-term direction and thus the support they need to get there. This is reviewed at least monthly during regular 1:2:1s. The tactical needs of an employee are also reviewed during each 1:2:1, to ensure that they have the support they need to be effective and thrive.
- Chatter
- Social media
- Traditional channels
- Announcements during CEO quarterly briefing
As we’re in such a fast-changing industry and environment, we use a collaboration tool called Chatter to update all team members about special recognition for the achievements of an individual or team. We also use a range of social media as well as traditional channels for communicating success and recognition.
Jonathan also highlights top performers at the company’s quarterly update briefing; after which, further details are circulated to all staff via email. These top performers will be in the running to win a place on the Verbier trip.
Self-organization allows team members to take on many of the functions traditionally performed by managers. The role of the manager is to ensure that these functions are being performed to the best of the team’s ability. Managers use the Career Planning framework to help their team members determine their long-term direction and thus the support they need to get there. This is reviewed at least monthly during regular one-to-ones.
Ensuring well-being:
Standard working hours are published in the company handbook. Some team members work a 35-hour week while others work a 37.5-hour week. Employees do sometimes work longer than the standard hours, reflecting the team’s passion and determination to keep fueling NewVoiceMedia’s growth and success.
With so many of the team having shares in the company, there’s an added financial incentive to maintain this fast-growing and hugely successful business.
- By promoting a good work/life balance
- By offering free counseling to all team members
- By offering flexible working or home working to meet childcare or other family commitments
- By giving people regular opportunities to express their creativity and contribute ideas for how we can do things better
- By offering subsidized gym and golf club membership
- By organizing lots of fun social events
- By promoting an organizational culture that values its staff and their families
Jonathan, our CEO, is an evangelical leader who has a passion for making NewVoiceMedia a world-class environment to work in. His engages easily with people at all levels, and truly believes the company is bigger than the sum of its parts.
We work hard to promote a good work/life balance, offering flexible working and home working when people need so they can meet important family and social commitments.
We encourage people to lead active and healthy lives, through subsidized gym and golf club membership, and a cycle-to-work scheme. We provide ‘de-stress’ activities and spaces if things are beginning to get on top of people. We offer free counseling to any team member that needs extra support.
We regularly give team members the chance to contribute their creativity and ideas. ShipIt days help to engage all team members in finding solutions to problems in their team or elsewhere in the company.
Longevity:
Retention rates have been impressive, particularly for managers. Ashley Unitt, our Chief Scientist, has been with us for an amazing 14 years. Jonathan, our CEO, has been with us for 6 years.
The company was recognized in the first-ever Forbes 2016 Cloud 100 as one of the world’s top 100 cloud companies, now serving more than 650 customers worldwide. Team members and managers feel inspired about where we, as a company, are heading, and want to stay a part of it.
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Closing company statements: NewVoiceMedia has a reputation for being a brilliant company – a global market leader in our field – with great prospects and ambitions. We are always looking for qualified candidates with world-class talent and ambitions to help us achieve continually outstanding results. What better recommendation as to why the best people should join us than what our team members say:
Finally, the best people will always want to be part of a winning team. NewVoiceMedia has received numerous nominations and awards in recognition of its outstanding achievements in such a short space of time. These include the Stevie Awards, The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 and Forbes 2016 Cloud 100. |
Back to the entire list of TMCnet 2016 Tech Culture Award winners.