Life and work in balance

We acknowledge the lives of our employees outside their time with us: lives that deserve attention, respect, and support, with life and work in balance.

Those lives sometimes make unusual demands, so we offer various leave options - paid, partly paid, unpaid or purchased to help our people respond to major life events, whether happy or sad. In the case of one particular happy event, we also provide childcare support; we are a family-owned firm, after all. In addition, our packages of travel and transport assistance can help to take the strain out of moving between work and home. Since we’re a global company, and it’s quite possible that the path you develop with us will take you to a new home, we may be able to help with relocation, too. 

On the other hand, if the stresses of life are starting to tell, our range of counselling and care services (including occupational health practitioners and clinical psychologists) can help to show a way forward, whether the issue is elder care, leadership stress, or social issues. Apart from our more formal support structures, we have designated health navigators, volunteer colleagues with specific training – to watch for signs of stress and offer confidential support. All our employees have access to online tools to maintain mental wellbeing. 

And we’re taking a careful look at what our physical business environment looks like, reimagining many of our facilities as collaborative working spaces. We’re following an activity-based model: creating spaces for the specific working needs of real people, with dedicated areas for lively cooperation and calm individual focus – allowing not just more efficient work but reduced stress.

We recognize, too, that the way people work has changed. Technology has made new patterns of work possible and, where they’re genuinely feasible, we see no reason not to consider them. We are not a remote company, and we do value the time our people spend working face to face. But flexible working, and a robust system to facilitate it, are now part of our way of doing business. Some roles can also fit into arrangements like job sharing, flextime, and part time work, depending on the location, and role. 

We see strengths in our differences, and we know that making space for them in our ways of working is a sound investment.