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DON'T FORGET TO EAT YOUR PUMPKIN. There's nothing scarier than loads of food waste the day after Halloween. Not even accidentally hitting Reply All to a company-wide email to ask for a spare towel (sorry, Emerson). If your hollowed out pumpkin has managed to survive that tealight, chances are you could turn it into a fancy dinner. The legends over at Hubbub have lots of recipe ideas for your pumpkin insides and outsides here: https://lnkd.in/eq7easyA Our Sham is roasting the seeds after acing our pumpkin carving competition. And he's convinced his boss he should do it on work time because 'the extra protein will help him sell more smoothies'. Definitely adds up.
BREAKING COFFEE-RELATED NEWS Our coffee machine broke and it was awful. Meetings felt 223% longer. Yawning increased by 638%. The phrase "Is it working, yet?" was repeated 18798 times and lost all meaning. So when our new coffee machine arrived, our Charlie celebrated the only way he knows how. With a big red ribbon. A bigger smile. And an even bigger set of garden shears.
We've partnered with Plumm to make sure everyone who works here has access to mental health support whenever they need it. A “workplace mental wellbeing solution”, Plumm offers 1:1 video therapy, chat therapy, wellbeing courses, and guided meditations. Helping people with any tricky situations they might be going through, Plumm's therapists can also help with personal development and growth. Something we personally need to work much harder on.
This is Ellie and Tim. They’re our 2022 scholarship winners. They got to spend a couple of weeks in Kenya with some NGOs to give them a helping hand on behalf of our independent charity, the innocent foundation. The scholarship is open to everyone across the business but only a lucky few who have a great skills-match with the projects get to go and do really important stuff. Click the link below to read a bit more about what they worked on.
WE'VE REDUCED OUR GENDER PAY GAP BY 3%. Our combined median pay gap for all innocent UK employees is down from 9.7% in 2021 to 6.7% in 2022. And while we’re really proud of that, we know that there’s still a lot to do to get it down even more. Click on the link below to find out more (it's a real page turner).
Yes, we might make little drinks, but we also have big dreams. And one of our biggest dreams is to make innocent a great place to work. A place where a diverse bunch of people can thrive. That’s why we want to do our bit and help level the playing field. Hiring can be tricky business. Reaching the right people. Giving everyone a fair chance. Removing our unconscious bias. There’s a lot to think about. That’s why we’ve turned to the really clever people at Black Young Professionals (or BYP for short) in the UK. The legends at BYP Network are helping us work out our blind spots, figure out where we can do better, and hold us to account. We’re hoping that all of this will add up to a future where recruiting a diverse group of talent is second nature. With the big dream (told you we had a lot of them) being that innocent accurately reflects the communities we work in. We know there’s still lots more work to be done. We reckon this is a great first step, and we’re glad BYP are coming along on this journey with us. And not just because they pack great snacks.
Our new public holiday policy means anyone can swap around bank holidays to suit their lives. Perfect for religious holidays like Eid, celebrations, or just days you want to take off to do nothing at all. Click the link below to read a bit more about it.
LET US SHOW YOU AROUND OUR OFFICE Hello and welcome to Fruit Towers. Your tour guide today is our Laura. You may also call her Happy Giltour or Tour: The Goddess of Thunder. No money is needed but please feel free to pay her as many compliments as you’d like. You’re also completely free to pay us a compliment for coming up with those really great puns. We’re really proud of our offices and the people who’ve made them what they are, so we just wanted to show it off a bit. Creating a workplace that reflects innocent’s culture didn’t happen overnight. From running events and wellbeing programmes to handing out ice-creams to keep everyone cool when the heatwave struck, our culture team (C-Team) always makes sure that we’ve got everything we need to do our jobs. There’s a reason we call them our office superheroes. And not just because they wear their pants on the outside of their trousers. No-one knows why they do that. So, please enjoy the tour and like we said, tips are absolutely not necessary. But nice comments are welcome. They can’t hurt our mid-year review coming up.
This is May and Nina. They’re two of our very talented talent partners who are part of our very talented talent (or recruitment) team and are responsible for hiring the talented people who work here. (Sorry, we just wanted to see how many times we could say the word “talented” in a sentence.) They’ve been working really hard to increase the diversity of the people who work at innocent. And a big part of that, is learning what others are doing to help achieve their inclusion & diversity goals. That’s why they went along to Diversity & Inclusion in Grocery Live last year. It’s an event where lots of different companies share all the exciting things they’re currently doing in this space. One of those things, that we’ve stolen with pride (along with some free pens), is giving candidates who reach the second stage of the interview process, a chance to have a private and open chat with anyone from our affinity groups. If you go through free pens quicker than you can say “smoothie”, you can join us at the event again this year: https://diversityingrocery.co.uk/di-in-grocery-live-2023
We're really chuffed to introduce a new fertility friendly policy to Fruit Towers. Since January 2023, our Fertility Friendly Workplace policy allows us to be truly supportive of all families – including those currently trying to build one. Going on a fertility journey can put people under a lot of pressure and it can take a toll on both your mental and physical health. Which is why we want to be as accommodating as possible. As well as supporting those with identified fertility issues, the policy is also there to help give same sex couples and solo parents the opportunity to start a family too. We’ve also made some changes around the office too. There’s a dedicated quiet area to take any sensitive phone calls. A wellbeing room anyone can use if they need to take medication or injections. And we’ve installed a medical fridge to keep important things separate from the main fridge. Because nobody wants their important medication stacked next to our Jenny’s two-day old tuna sandwiches. We know there’s lots more to be done, but we reckon this was a great start. Cheers, innocent
