Telephone answering service organisation Moneypenny ensures that it offers its employees a welcoming and friendly work environment, supported by a strong wellbeing agenda.
The organisation was launched in 2000, and, having outgrown its original offices in Wrexham, moved into new headquarters nearby in September 2016. The move to the new workplace, which includes a pub, canteen and sun terrace, was in response to the organic growth the business has seen since its inception, and also to accommodate growth of its client base and workforce in the future. The new building was designed to be a 'happy workplace', a key business focus for the organisation. Ceri Henfrey, head of operations, says: “We recognise that having happy employees equals having happy clients, and part of happiness is health. We see those two things as being inextricably linked.”
Healthy workplace
The move to the new building presented opportunities to drive forward Moneypenny’s workforce wellbeing agenda, explains Henfrey. “It’s something we’ve really embraced and has kept us busy over the last few months. It’s had amazing feedback from some of the teams,” she says.
As soon as the new building opened, Moneypenny introduced free fruit and free breakfast in the morning. Many employees get to the building early to enjoy socialising with colleagues over breakfast, says Henfrey.
The organisation has also utilised spaces in the building for a variety of exercise classes, such as Zumba, Pilates, clubbercise or boxercise. “The feedback I get is that people are doing classes they wouldn’t dream of doing in a gym, [or] they haven’t got time to do when they’re at home, so it really is making a difference to their overall health and wellbeing,” says Henfrey.
Alongside its health and wellbeing initiatives, the organisation also looks to support employees' downtime with its fully licensed on-site pub, the Dog and Bone, which is operated by staff volunteers on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Birthdays are also celebrated at Moneypenny. Every employee has a birthday budget of £15, which their team decides how to spend, whether it's on cake, a present, or both. Henfrey says: “That’s a nice thing we do that helps create who we are as an organisation.”
Holistic wellbeing
Moneypenny ensures that all aspects of an employee's wellbeing are well-supported in the workplace, and recognises the importance of supporting a person's home life as well as during their time at work. Every member of staff, after six months’ service, receives access to an employer-paid health cash plan. “Where I feel that gives us a lot of benefit is that through that plan we can offer services which we may not accommodate inhouse so we’ll go to the true experts, CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy] for example,” says Henfrey. “As the person responsible for our Working Life team, it enables us to support people confidently and point them in the right direction.”
The organisation also supports employees that may have financial needs with an interest-free loan of up to £2,000. Employees are eligible to apply for the loan after six months' service, and it can be used for whatever they need. Henfrey says: "It enables us to help people so much more that we've got that at our fingertips; it enables us to really support people."
Wellness bonus
Shortly after Moneypenny’s 500 employees moved into its new offices, the organisation reviewed its wellness bonus that is available to all members of staff. Previously, employees were paid £100 every six months if they had no absences during that period. However, the employer wanted to better reward employees for being in work for their colleagues and clients. It also recognised that it had one employee who had never been off ill in 15 years. After review, Moneypenny added an accelerator to the bonus so if an employee is absence-free for six months they receive £100, then after 12 months this rises to £200, before reaching £400 at two years. After that, it is paid at £400 every six months. “Our wellness bonus is a nice way of saying ‘thank you for being here’, for people to spend on whatever they like” says Henfrey. “We automatically pay it every six months, and encourage people to get in the ‘treat yourself’ mindset so they see it as a bonus rather than contributing to the mortgage [for example].”
She adds that this approach has not resulted in a culture of presenteeism. "The risk with it was that people may come in when they really shouldn't and spread their germs everywhere; that hasn't happened which is great, people are very sensible."
Employee communication
Moneypenny uses the social media platform Workplace to communicate details of all of its benefits to employees and to encourage feedback. “We’ve been using that since January and it’s made such a difference to our ability to communicate everything, particularly benefits, because [we] can attach documents on there, [employees] know where to look and they can also ask questions and talk about different things they can claim,” says Henfrey.
Being able to communicate quickly and easily to employees is important to Moneypenny, as well as receiving feedback, good or bad, because it means the organisation can respond in a timely and efficient manner. Moneypenny operates a flat organisational structure with an open-door policy, says Henfrey. “We spend a lot of time talking to the teams, and Workplace enables us to see [employees’] ideas, thoughts and suggestions,” she explains.
Moneypenny’s plans to grow and yet keep a small-business feel is an idea that resonates in its benefits philosophy. “The most important thing is that [benefits are] meaningful and that they’re relevant to as many people as possible,” says Henfrey. “We really listen to our team members in terms of what they want, what’s useful to them, and make sure that relevance is high up there and is in line with our culture.”
At a glance
Moneypenny is a telephone answering service that takes messages and transfers calls for clients. It provides services for small businesses and large corporates. It has been in operation since 2000.
Moneypenny has 500 employees with an average age of 32. Its workforce is 91% female. This year, 44 employees are celebrating 10 years' service at the organisation.
Business objectives
- To focus on developing deeper and broader relationships with clients.
- To look at the latest technological advancements that can be brought to market to benefit clients.
Career history
Ceri Henfrey, head of operations, joined Moneypenny in early 2016. Henfrey’s role has a broad remit and covers the day-to-day running of the business: she looks after the HR, or Working Life, team, training and development, as well as the building and facilities. Previously, Henfrey held similar roles at Bupa and Santander. “We are growing this business and we want to grow it in a way where we can build upon the success we’ve had so far and get larger, yet still have that small business feel,” she says.
The benefits offered by Moneypenny
Pension
- A stakeholder pension scheme with a 2% matched contribution from the employer.
Healthcare and wellbeing
- Health cash plan for all employees; employer-paid at basic level.
- Free breakfast.
- Free fruit.
- Free on-site exercise classes.
- Wellness bonus.
Work-life balance
- 25 days' holiday, increasing to 29 after four years’ service.
- Part-time work is available on a case-by-case basis.
- Discounts at a local nursery.
Other
- Subsidised lunches.
- Discounts at a large number of local businesses including hairdressers and opticians.
- Birthday fund and off-site lunch.
- Organisation parties.
- Employer-paid ice-cream van on sunny days.
- Moneypenny interest-free loan up to £2,000.
