Great for women, great for all
By Sally Pritchett
CEO
We’ve been ranked in the top 10 UK’s Best workplaces for Women (Small Businesses), alongside 330 companies including industry-leading and global brands. This achievement is a team effort, not based on management promises, policies and words on an entry form, but on day-to-day actions leading to genuine and personal team feedback through Great Place to Work’s independent employee survey. Data analysed looks at how well organisations have removed barriers to female career advancement and created workplaces where all employees can flourish, regardless of gender.
Whilst we’re delighted to have achieved this incredible accolade, our mission is to create workplaces that are fairer, healthier and happier for all – both at Something Big and in the organisations we support.
Our journey to this achievement hasn’t been about giving women special treatment. It’s been about driving a positive and inclusive workplace culture, for everyone, which means breaking down barriers for women in particular.
Regardless of where we want to be as a world and society, we’re not there yet. The world is still patriarchal, unconscious bias continues to be a challenge, there are still not enough visible female role models and gender pay gaps remain a problem.
‘”Parity in the workplace remains a work in progress.”
Great Place to Work
Positive change is visible on the horizon though. In the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women, 42% of C-suite positions are held by women versus just 28% in FTSE 350 organisations. Pay gaps are narrowing in the UK, with women earning 92p to their male counterparts £1, and companies ranked in this list have closed that gap further, with the UK average of female employees agreeing they are ‘paid fairly for what the work they do’ at just 53%, in the Top 5 UK’s Best Workplaces for Women a whopping 83% of female respondents agreed they were fairly paid.
The UK’s Best Workplaces for Women are also proof that delivering work/life balance is possible, whilst the UK average stands at 60% for ‘people are encouraged to balance their work life and personal life’ in the UK’s Best Workplaces for women, a significantly higher 84% of employees agree with this statement.
What are we getting right at Something Big to earn our 8th place ranking?
#Flexibility
Flexibility isn’t a buzzword, a policy or a broad commitment – it’s a huge undertaking that takes a team effort to deliver. According to GPTW’s report, 40% of women not working say that access to flexible work would mean they could take on paid work and 77% said they’d be more likely to apply for a job if it advertises flexible working options.
At Something Big, flexibility is a way of life. From changing and flexing working hours around ever-changing care arrangements to sabbaticals mean that work can fit around life, rather than squeezing life around gaps in work.
Our tip: Delivering flexibility successfully isn’t just about senior leadership commitment, it’s also about peer-to-peer support. Working alongside colleagues on different hours or shorter days/weeks can be tough, it takes empathy, great communication skills and respect for boundaries to make it work without sacrificing quality, productivity or pace. Support and nurture your whole team to make flexibility work for everyone.
#Appreciation
Everyone wants (and deserves) to feel appreciated. For women, this is especially critical, when outside of work their effort and contribution can often feel invisible and taken for granted. In the workplace, there’s a disparity between genders when it comes to feeling that management shows appreciation for good work and extra effort. 64% of men feel appreciated versus 58% of women. Unsurprisingly, this gap is closed in companies featured on this list, with both genders scoring equally and with higher appreciation levels, with both genders scoring a significantly higher 85%.
Our tip: Appreciation often costs nothing. We believe it’s as critical a component as other rewards are often overlooked or left to busy line managers who might not always have time. Set up structures that encourage regular peer-to-peer appreciation, celebrate awareness days like Employee Appreciation Day, even when budgets are under pressure try to make space for fun.
To find out more about what it takes to create a workplace where women can thrive, you can read the full report here or talk to us about our journey and how we’re helping the organisations we’re supporting.
Celebrating two years as a B Corp agency
By Sally Pritchett
CEO
As we celebrate our second B Corp anniversary, it’s a great moment to reflect on what has been a big year for Something Big.
We believed we were already living the values of B Corp long before the movement was even formed, so our expectations of how much it would impact our business were low. However, as the movement has expanded to over 2,000 businesses in the UK alone, and brand awareness has grown – with 38% of surveyed individuals recognising or having heard of B Corp – it has become hard not to get caught up in the excitement.
In fact, within the global B Corp community, the UK is the fastest-growing country with the highest brand awareness, although the movement started in the USA all the way back in 2006. It might be hard to pinpoint why this is, but what we can say is that as part of this growing community we’ve been caught up in a snowball of progress and impact.
Highlights from our second year as a B Corp agency
1. Speaking up
Having set out to help make workplaces fairer, healthier and happier, we’ve not only helped our numerous clients improve their employee communications, but have also inspired over 1,300 DEI, wellbeing, HR and communications professionals in our growing community through our series of free, virtual webinars. If you’re getting FOMO, sign up to our LI newsletter to stay in the know.
2. Forming alliances
Never ones to sit back, we’ve actively got involved in the B Corp community, creaing and driving a series of alliances with other great B Corp businesses, building partnerships and growing our network.
3. Always learning
Living our values to the max, we’ve been making mistakes and learning from them, check out our Impact Report where we share our learnings.
5. Measuring and tracking
We’re excited to have finally found a robust and sustainable way of measuring our full carbon emissions and a genuine way to move the dial on reducing them, thanks to Ecologi Zero.
5. Bigger goals
As we’ve gained our confidence, we’re keeping up the progress with some bigger plans to make a meaningful difference. This year we’ll be helping organisations engage their employees in their sustainability journey, continuing to support the DEIB agenda, and helping organisations provide better support for employees living with cancer. We’re only just getting started.
If you’re looking to partner with great people, experts in their field, who care about being responsible and looking after our planet, then we have the B Corp agencies for you… Find out more
How does being a B Corp make us a better business?
Beyond being better for the planet and our people, we believe being a B Corp has made us a better business to work with, from our clients to our supply partners. From better service levels to better relationships here’s what you can expect when you work with a B Corp.
Want to join us in our journey of making a meaningful difference?
Whether you’re looking for a new agency to work with, you’re another B Corp looking to join one of our alliances, or just want to keep in touch with our progress, talk to us.