Best Places to Work 2009 - Winner
Biggest: Kensington Financial Management Consultants
There are not too many companies which can boast 100 per cent growth in a recession, but that’s the current year increase in turnover claimed by Kensington Financial Management Consultants.
As the privately-owned company operates in the debt management arena, a sharp increase in customer sign-up would not be too surprising during an economic crisis. Trafford-based Kensington offers individual voluntary arrangements, advice on bankruptcy and debt consolidation, and remortgages to 8,000 customers a month who are struggling to manage their financial obligations.
Stuart Parkin, managing director, who founded Kensington Financial Management in 2003, said the business has seen year-on-year growth from the outset and expects the company to grow by another 50 per cent by the end of 2009.
Turnover is expected to more than double to £8.8m in the year to June 2009 compared with the £4.2m in the previous year. In 2009/10, Parkin expects revenues to reach £21m on the back of a steep rise in the number of clients from 8,000 in 2007/08 to 16,000 in the current year and a target of between 25,000 and 30,000 next year.
Parkin said Kensington’s clients come from all walks of life and professions from factory and office workers, to doctors and bankers, showing that the debt-induced economic crisis has hit almost all sectors of society.
As well as its direct work with beleaguered borrowers, Kensington has established strategic partnerships with professional organisations, from home shopping and catalogue companies, to store card and credit card providers, banks and finance houses.
Parkin explained: “The role of these partnerships is to improve creditors’ bad debt provisioning and assist with the collection of monies owed. We help them to treat their customers fairly by offering a solution to pay off debts that is affordable and sustainable to the consumer’s financial situation — this benefits both lender and customer.”
The increased business has led to a necessary recruitment drive. Kensington employed 109 people at the end of 2008, there are now over 130 employees (most of whom are female) and the firm says staff numbers will increase to 220 by this winter.
Kensington also takes training and development of staff seriously, saying it works closely with training providers to ensure effective career development for staff members. Parkin believes this continuous training program ultimately help the business as it means the client gets a better experience by dealing with highly trained staff.
Paul Wynne, sales advising team leader said: “I have worked at the company for three years. You wake up in the morning and you’re glad you work there. You get really good incentives such as vouchers for shopping. I was on paternity leave and I got a lot of vouchers sent to me and a cake – they look after you as if you’re a member of the family. It’s a fantastic place to work.”
Employees who provided comments to the Crain’s survey said they were pleased with their career development to date at Kensington. One member of staff said: “As the company is growing, I feel that I am able to grow with it, along with the people in my team.”
Another commented that “Kensington provides a good positive working environment and the management teams on all levels create an atmosphere which encourages people to work to their best. They also handsomely reward success and great individual performance.”
Parkin said about the Best Places To Work Awards: “We are delighted to have won this award and are lucky to have such a strong team. Their hard work and dedication has contributed extensively to the continuous growth of the business. I would personally like to thank the entire team for their unfaltering enthusiasm and continued commitment.”
Runners-up:- PMI Health Group
Bigger: BJL Group
BJL Group is a longstanding independent advertising agency based in Manchester. It offers a broad range of services to clients across media such as TV, digital, interactive, press, radio websites, and it covers a range of sectors, from travel and tourism, to financial services, retail and FMCG.
There has been recent speculation as to the future of BJL’s longstanding client relationship with Bradford & Bingley, after the financial company’s parent announced last month it would rebrand all its UK businesses (which also include Abbey and Alliance & Leicester) under the Santander umbrella.
Despite this potential blow, managing director Nicky Unsworth said that BJL has “a lovely set of diverse clients” that includes ASDA, Pilkington and Eurocamp. “We don’t set out our stall for a type of client or a specific sector, and I think that’s one of the things that keeps us interesting,” she added.
The business has grown organically over the last 22 years and now employs 71 staff — a mix of long-term experienced employees and ambitious young talent, according to Unsworth.
“We started as a small team and have many long-serving staff who really form the core of who we are and our personality. We add to that with new recruits. People use the term ‘family’ to describe the team at BJL and when you visit our offices you very quickly get a sense of that.”
The business made a £1.2m profit on turnover of £9.4m in the year to June 2008 and Unsworth said the staff rightly feel part of that success. “When we have a big pitch the whole agency is involved, creating a really healthy atmosphere,” she said.
There’s also a strong social culture with regular functions and an enthusiasm to participate in charity events — for example last year a group from the office ran the Manchester 10km. There are also yoga classes for staff and a masseur regularly visits the office.
Charlotte Thompson, a director at BJL, said: “We recently did a 10km run in Abersoch and took part in an It’s a Knockout competition the week before. We do a lot of things together and I really thing everyone is very supportive of each other. It’s a great, fun place to work. It’s just the right size where everyone can get to know each other but it’s big enough so we can make an impact on the market.”
On a professional level there is an emphasis on training. As a member of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, BJL gets involved in the training courses organised by the trade body and has its own graduate training scheme. Unsworth said: “We send people on courses as well as running them internally and there’s a lot of on-the-job training too. People tend to stay here because of the atmosphere and the work, but even those who leave go with a great CV.”
She continued: “We’ve got some real characters in the agency and I think that’s important in the creative industry. They help to give the office its unique personality — people says they feel the sense of personality and character straight away when they come here. They understand what we are about.”
Wining this award is particularly special to Unsworth. She explained: “The sorts of awards we usually enter and are successful in are creative awards, recognising the work that we do. This accolade is important as it recognises the spirit of the agency rather than the output. And it’s great the people who work here acknowledge that sprit too.
“Everyone knows it’s a tough market at the moment, but that makes it more important than ever that our employees enjoy coming into work.”
Runners-up:- The Hut
Big: Citypress
Citypress provides clients with strategic consultancy, media relations, reputation management, corporate communications, content production and digital marketing.
It was founded in 1961, and has offices in London and Manchester, where it has a team of 30 consultants delivering tailored programmes in both digital and traditional media.
The business recognises that a key ingredient in its continued growth is that it provides its employees with an exciting, professional and learning-based environment, according to spokesperson Vanessa Fox. She said the business’s high staff retention rate (employee turnover of just 3 per cent last year) is testament to its staff focus.
Training is also taken seriously and is seen as an important part of staff development with regular internal and external courses and training, including workshops led by directors on key skills, and a recent professional digital training course for 20 employees provided by digital marketing community E-Consultancy.
Fox said: “We prefer to ‘grow our own wood’ by recruiting at executive level and developing employees into senior consultants and directors, as is the case with five of our seven most senior directors. People come to us for a career in communications, rather than a job.
“We try to rotate consultants around different teams where possible, to ensure they develop a well-rounded set of communications skills which are applicable to both consumer and business brands.”
The firm also rewards employees fairly for their achievement and commitment through a performance-based bonus scheme, which includes every member of staff, linked to appraisal objectives agreed at six-month intervals.
In addition, they are given access to a company-funded independent financial adviser, benefit from regular company-funded team building and social events and a range of other benefits depending on length of service and position. These include free iPhones, sabbaticals, private medical insurance and pension provision.
Marianne Morgan senior account manager said: “I started here straight from university six years ago at the bottom and if you do a good job and show you’re working hard then everyone is really supportive. The other great thing is that everyone cares about doing a good job. Everyone works together and shares ideas.
“There’s no fussing about. If you need to take an afternoon off for a doctors appointment or if you’ve got a plumber coming around then it’s very flexible. There’s also lots of training and you’re constantly being developed and supported in the way you’re working.”
New recruits to Citypress cite the business’s combination of stability and ambition as one of the reasons they were attracted to the firm, and the company has focused on this aspect in the last 12 months, according to Fox.
“We’ve ensured no single client represents more than 10 per cent of our total fee income, protecting our profit margin from budget volatility, and diversified our client book by sector, size and ownership structure. Similarly, we have no debt and significant cash balances, and run the business on healthy margins. We’ve continued to place equal focus on retention and new business, securing over 10 new retained clients and losing none.”
Operationally, the business has restructured in the last year, moving away from the conventional business-to-business/business-to-consumer split and rebuilding sector-led teams. Senior appointments in the last year have also increased the percentage of experienced consultants, with a quarter of employees at director-level.
Runners-up:- Mediaedge:cia, IAS B2B Marketing
Nearly Big: Cuckoo
“A new breed design and digital agency,” is how sales director Steve Wheatley describes Salford-based Cuckoo. The agency was previously known as Walsh Simmons and had been in business for more than 20 years before managing director Justine Wright took 100 per cent ownership in September 2008.
It proved a catalyst for change and she rebranded the business to Cuckoo. Wheatley said: “With the name change we wanted to reflect the business as it is now — making a vivid statement about its future rather than its heritage.”
It’s been a significant 12 months for the creative company, whose core markets are financial services — Manchester-based Cooperative Financial Services is a client — hospitality and leisure.
The consumer and business-to-business agency opened its digital office way back in 1995. It produced the first commercial website for The Cooperative Bank, Blackburn Rovers and laterooms.com. “Digital has been a big part of what we’ve done for a long time,” explained Wheatley. “We’ve always known it was an absolutely necessary media and we recognise we have a strong heritage in the sector.”
“The digital element of the business continues to grow and when you look at the people we brought into the business last year, they were mainly on that side. We recognise that the channel is still expanding, and clients recognise it too.”
With a headcount of 15, Cuckoo is not a large company by any means, but a decent-sized creative agency nonetheless. The management puts great emphasis on treating their people well and say the employees make the office an engaging and encouraging place to be.
When Wright took over the business last year she sought to change its working culture, according to Wheatley, recently launching a share option scheme for senior staff, allowing them to take a more active role in the business. There has also been a “vast” amount of training and development available to all staff.
“In addition, all the senior management team been involved in online profiling to identify our personality traits and assess our role in the team dynamic,” Wheatley said. “It helps to understand your strengths and weaknesses when you manage a team. If we are to fulfil our objectives and goals, we’ve all got to work well together. Ultimately, we want to be a better business with highly trained and engaged, motivated staff.”
Ollie Thomas account director said “It’s a fairly small team and everyone getting on together is one of the most important things. We are all individuals but we’ve all got the same goals and we’re all focused on customer service. We try to do as much as we can outside of working hours. If someone fancies a drink after work such as to celebrate this award win then they’ll rally the troops.”
Turnover in the year to January 2009 was £915,000, a rise of 20 per cent on the previous 12 months. Profits were up 150 per cent, said Wheatley.
“We need to be successful and sustainable. We are trying to grow and be lean, focusing on the core objectives of giving clients effective efficient service,” he added.
The Cuckoo team is a mix of experienced staff and new talent, and Wheatley says they are key to the company’s success. “Our clients tell us that not only do we deliver but we are interesting people to be involved with — we share the values of our best clients. As much as we understand we’ve had a transformational year as a business, it’s extremely important for us to get this accolade. We are thrilled to get positive feedback from our people. Our plans for sustainable growth are dependent on them and it’s really encouraging for us to know we are doing the right things.”
Runners-up:- Digicomm BCS, Lakestar Media
The Sponsor said..
Simplyhealth is delighted to be one of the headline sponsors for the first Best Places to Work Awards. As a leading organisation focused on helping businesses to look after the health of employees, we believe it is important to recognise the contribution that employees make to our businesses, especially through these difficult times.
It is fantastic to see businesses in Greater Manchester strive to become Best Places to Work. When employees nominate their places of work it indicates a company’s commitment to employeewell-being. We pride ourselves on working with businesses like these to develop a happy, healthy workforce which in turn can have a positive impact on sickness absence, motivation and, ultimately, productivity.
We wish all the finalists the very best of luck.
James Glover
Corporate sales and marketing
director, Simplyhealth
The Sponsor said..
All of us at Ramada Manchester Piccadilly are proud to host the inaugural Crain’s Manchester Business Best Places to Work.
From a hotel perspective, we subscribe to Crain’s and find the news and information it contains — in particular the weekly Crain’s List — to be very useful for our sales activities and knowledge of the city marketplace.
It is critical in this day and age to effectively minimise the time taken to analyse and absorb what is going on. Reading Crain’s on a weekly basis allows us to do just that, with focused, fresh news and information presented in an innovative way that can help us make informed business decisions.
Another reason we are proud sponsors of this event is that following an £18m investment programme, our conference, event and meeting rooms are in an even better position to offer exceptional space solutions for modern corporate demand.
From an intimate boardroom meeting through to a large scale exhibition or banquet, The Ramada Manchester Piccadilly can offer options on space, layout, price and package. With 280 bedrooms, great value residential packages are also available to accompany your conferencing needs.
All bedrooms have been refurbished and are perfectly equipped for the business or leisure traveller with features including flat screen televisions, internet access and climate control.
Whether or not you have attended an event with us before, we are here at the heart of the city centre ready to look after your future business with care, attention to detail and pride.
Stephen Beech,
General manager,
Ramada Manchester Piccadilly
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