Category: Chairman’s Blog

Back in June of this year I announced that we were bringing in a 4.5-day week in anticipation of moving to a four-day week by 2021.

I’m really passionate about this idea. We live in a modern age powered by automation. We should all be working less, taking better care of our mental health and spending more time with friends and loved ones.

Lots of people told me I was crazy. I said that we would see an uptick in productivity and employee engagement, and no decrease in service. They told me it was likely to put more stress on managers, and that lots of people wouldn’t take the extra half-day.

It turns out: I was right. And you were also right.

Today I walked around the office and spoke to people across every department about our Flexi Friday initiative. I wanted to know if they were taking the half-day, what they were doing with it, and how the system could be improved.

Overall, it’s been a success. People across all teams say it’s a major bonus of working here. New recruits told me it was a factor in their choice to work at BigChange. They couldn’t wait to finish probation so that they could also benefit from the extra time off.

“It feels like I get a proper weekend now,” said our HR director, Sonal. “It’s a big advantage of working here,” Julie from credit control told me. “The extra time off is more valuable than money,” said Isaac, 23, who joined us straight from university.

My straw poll today really brought home the dedication of my team. Tom, who works in commercial, said: “It encourages me to keep on top of things during the week but, if there’s work to be done, I won’t always take it.”

Sonal is meeting with all the managers next week to get a full report but said anecdotally that Flexi Friday has been well-received and there have been no complaints so far.

But there are issues with the new system. I worried that some of the customer-facing teams would struggle to take half days every Friday. That has been the case. Instead they take a half-day at other times in the week but it’s not the same.

Not everyone is able to go flexi. My head of professional services said that he’s told all his friends about it and they’re jealous – but he’s yet to actually take an extra half-day because he has too much on.

BigChange is growing so fast that some teams have just enough people to handle the workload. They simply can’t spare anyone on a Friday. Managers are handling the extra work of allocating resource admirably but there’s no doubt the extra employees absences put pressure on them.

One thing is clear: we need to recruit a lot more people. We can’t expect managers and teams to wholeheartedly embrace Flexi Friday without extra hands on deck. That is now a priority for me: there needs to be cover for every role. That’s the only way to make 4.5 days truly workable.

We are coming towards the end of 2019 and hurtling towards the New Year. I don’t have long to iron out the kinks before we move to a four-day workweek. But we are making progress, and there has been no detrimental effect on service or delivery. Hats off to the team for making this bold idea a moderate – if not runaway – success. And thank you to all the doubters for keeping my feet on the ground. If you have any advice on getting over these last few hurdles, get in touch.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

It’s not often that I attend an industry event and leave feeling as though my eyes have been opened to something completely new.

But at the recent Women in Logistics conference organised by its founder BigChange Director Ruth Wearing, I was completely bowled over by one speaker: Jennifer Swain.

She works for Clipper, one of the UK’s leading logistics companies. Clipper, like many British companies, is likely to be hit by staff shortages in the wake of Brexit. Unlike many companies, it decided to take decisive action. However, the action it has taken is truly extraordinary.

Clipper has created a Fresh Start programme to widen its talent pool and help support long-term unemployed people into work. The initiative was created in partnership with several charities, all supporting vulnerable, excluded, or disabled people who have struggled to find work elsewhere. Clipper has teamed up with the likes of MenCap, the charity for people with special needs, Scope, which helps those with physical disabilities, Tempus Novo, which works with ex-offenders, and Emmaus, a charity for the ex-homeless, to name but a few. These charities represent around 11m people between them: an extraordinary talent pool that has been almost entirely untapped.

Fresh Start is an incredible example of what’s possible when you marry corporate social responsibility with smart business strategy. It’s inspiring how they have tackled an issue – finding great people to do manual work – but done it in a way where everyone benefits.

It’s not easy to run a project like this. You need to make sure your offices are completely accessible to those with disabilities. You need to make sure you are able to support those with mental health issues or special needs. You need champions on the ground to mentor and guide new recruits. You need to be completely flexible, and allow people to work when they can. Clipper has achieved a Disability Confident Committed award for its approach.

There are a few firms out there doing great work like this. Timpson, the cobblers and locksmith chain, was a trailblazer in employing ex-offenders. Recycling Lives, the waste management company, a BigChange customer is another amazing business that supports the homeless, ex-offenders and the long-term unemployed into meaningful work.

Clipper has now employed many capable staff through Fresh Start. These people are likely to be incredibly loyal and long-serving because they have been given the opportunity to forge a career with a great company. I take my hat off to Clipper.

This has spurred me on to think of how we can do more to help people who have struggled to find work into a rewarding job here at BigChange. I have a vested interest in making this work: as the father of two children with special needs, it’s a cause close to my heart. They are wonderful young adults one does work for BigChange in a software testing role and my other son works on a care farm.

This country needs innovators like Clipper, who take a problem and find enduring and ingenious solutions. Let’s all join the charge.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO

I’m not surprised that so many Silicon Valley technologists have become advocates of the digital detox. The developers behind the likes of Facebook and Google have seen the impact that gamifying apps has had on the average phone user.

We are all addicted to our phones and we use them for everything, from email to photos to social media.

There’s even a new organisation, which was founded by ex-techies, called the Centre for Humane Technology, which is calling for the software giants to stop competing for our attention, and instead devote themselves to helping consumers achieve “Time Well Spent”.

I’m not going to wait for the tech giants to design an app to help me enjoy life. I’ve decided to take control.

I recently went on holiday to Cyprus. As readers of this blog will know, I usually struggle to switch off – even when I’m away with the family. So this time I started locking my phone away in the hotel safe. At 10am, it was gone, and I wouldn’t allow myself another look until 6pm. It stays in the room when we have dinner too.

As digital detoxes go, this was pretty ‘lite’ but I noticed it had a profound impact. I have been fully focused on my family. The conversation has been flowing. My wife and I have had a chance to properly unwind (although she’s still been using her phone, despite my best efforts).

When we went out for dinner in the evening, I noticed just how many people were absorbed in their phones. They would sit in silence, or speak in short sentences. That could have been us this holiday.

I realise it’s not easy to attempt a digital detox, especially as a entrepreneur with a growing company. But there are a few things you can do to make the process easier.

1.) Do it during the summer holidays

Have you noticed the volume of email dropping right down? That’s because a lot of people are taking time off to be with their children. Take advantage of a quieter August and plan your detox to coincide with school holidays.

2.) Get a PA

There is no way I would be able to detox without my PA. She handles everything urgent on my behalf. You need to be able to put down your phone, knowing that someone you trust can field emails and calls.

3.) Build digital detoxing into your company culture

You need to show your team that they are not expected to check their emails on holiday. Start by cutting communications in the evenings and on weekends. Lead by example, and don’t send emails out of hours. If you can delegate, other people will too. When someone goes on holiday, make sure there are processes in place that mean they don’t need to check in. When anyone is out of the office, there should be another person who can pick up the slack.

4.) Enjoy the detox

There’s no point locking away your phone if you’re going to hate every minute. Prepare yourself for the experience, and enjoy unplugging from technology. Take the time to have conversations with real people, and to notice the world around you.

I’ve become a digital detox evangelist on this holiday. When I see people round the pool on their phones, I’ve been telling them to put them down. They have had their revenge: when someone saw me writing this blog on my phone, they told me off.

Steve Jobs famously wouldn’t let his kids near the iPad. Bill Gates says his family has strict rules on screen time. If the world’s most famous technologists feared the impact of too much screen time, we should too.

Martin Port
Founder & CEO