We are delighted to announce that we have been named as a finalist for the 2018 Suffolk Business Awards, which occur yearly and are hosted by the East Anglian Daily Times.
Sponsored by Birketts and Pure, we are fortunate to have been chosen to be in the top 4 for the ‘Best Employer’ category, showing that we value, reward and invest in our employees and you can find the criteria for the award here.
Why Did We Stand Out From The Crowd?
We currently employ 26 people and are one of East Anglia’s largest marketing agencies in both turnover and staff. But how did we get here from 2 employees in 2013? For us, our success lies in how we have attracted and retained local talent in East Anglia and the reason why we applied for this category.
Best Employer Eastern Region Survey
As part of our award submission, our entire team took part in taking the 2018 Best Employers Eastern Region Survey. What was great about this is that it gave us the chance to understand our employee engagement levels and also benchmarked our business against others in the region.
From this survey, it proved objectively that we are promoting a positive culture and are being clear about what we value as a company and that this resonates throughout the organisation. Below you can see what our employees currently view about StrategiQ.
Providing Direction With Strategy & Values
Firstly, each quarter we hold a company strategy meeting that is away from the office and lasts the entire day and the whole team is included. In these, the directors provide transparency regarding StrategiQ’s direction and goals, and the whole team is given an opportunity to engage in a SWOT analysis and provide feedback on how they are getting on. This is why we feel we continue to achieve our benchmarks. Last year, we not only met our turnover target but have almost doubled in turnover since perfectly outlining our employee dedication to the company and its growth.
“I love our company strategy days and always leave motivated and inspired to help the company move forward. I’ve never worked in an environment where the directors are so open and honest and a team of people who are so engaged in the objectives.” – Chris, Developer
Embracing and Developing Leaders
In addition to providing a clear mission, vision and values to our employees, we feel we also stand out because of the amount of effort we put into upskilling our team and are heavily invested in their learning and development. As part of this, we have a yearly Personal Development Plan (PDP) for each employee, which is reviewed monthly and contains an allocated CPD training budget of £1,000 for each person. We also work with our employees to help them set personal and professional goals that will not only help business growth but also help them achieve their aspirations.
“I love working at StrategiQ because it feels like my destiny is in my own hands and we are actively encouraged to set goals for ourselves and the flexibility is there for us to achieve whatever we want to achieve – no glass ceilings!” – Yasmin, Designer
Due to this, many of our staff have his or her own personal brand, unique skills and advanced specialisms that they increasingly progress through training sessions, courses and industry events. More importantly, they are also buying houses, cars and travelling around the world.
Improving Communication Via Insights Discovery
In 2017, we invested in Insights Discovery profiles with the sole purpose of helping the team understand why their colleagues behave the way they do in order to improve communication. This has significantly increased self-awareness and promoted effective relationships across the entire business. We recognise that different personality types need certain things to flourish, such as more organisation, clarity, communication or even more responsibility. This has helped to guarantee that we create a positive, inclusive environment where everyone understands and values each other’s diversity.
“As a growing team working in a fast-paced environment, emotions can run high. Helping everyone understand why they behave the way they do and more importantly how they and their colleagues like to be communicated with, has really helped us work together to create a supportive culture!” – Andy, Director
Showing Recognition With Our Monthly MVP
We offer bonus and salary increase opportunities because we want our whole team to succeed. As part of this, we use a project management software system called TeamGantt to accurately audit employee activity and results, whether it be around project work with clients or professional development.
However, probably one of our most unique and consistent employee benefit programmes is our MVP award. Since we started in 2013, this information, as well as nominations, have contributed to our monthly ‘Most Valuable Player’ (MVP) award, which is our in-house way of recognising those who go ‘above and beyond.’ The winner receives a free ‘duvet day’, plus a night out on the company card (with a set spending limit!). This is a key reason why the StrategiQ family is a group of hard-working individuals who perform with commitment, ownership, responsibility and excellence at all times.
“I have now been in full-time employment for 5 years and StrategiQ is my third local agency within this time. I can honestly and proudly say that StrategiQ is without a shadow of a doubt the best employer I have had in this time. Neither of my two previous agencies have come close to showing the passion and desire for bettering and rewarding employees like StrategiQ does. It is the first agency I have been at where I feel like I genuinely matter as a valued member of the team in the present, and in the future.” – Charlie, Paid Search Specialist
What Happens Next?
We will be attending the Suffolk Business Awards’ ceremony on the 5th of July at The Hangar at Kesgrave Hall in Ipswich, where we hope to take home the prize! If you would like to learn more or want to buy a seat to accompany us, please get in touch!
We are also currently hiring a new web developer and senior marketing consultant and you can also download our How We Value Our People fact sheet, and if you are interested get in touch.
