Welcome to the family

By Ben Brocklesby, sales and marketing director at Origin.

Business growth is something that every company strives for, but as you grow, you mustn’t forget your roots. At Origin, we think of every employee as being part of the family and pride ourselves that this ethos runs throughout the whole organisation. It is important to us that we maintain this culture, no matter how fast we grow.

Origin has over 270 employees and continues to grow. In fact, we have employed 49 new members of staff since the beginning of the year. When we recruit, we look for people that   share our culture. Everyone is given a full induction presentation that gives an insight into the size, growth, values, an insight into every department and product, as well as a tour of the facilities and welcomed to Origin in the monthly newsletter.

People might think that saying we have a ‘family ethos’ is just words, but we really are different. About 30% of our workforce is related to each other in some way shape or form, so it is an unusual, yet fantastic, environment to work in. Whether related or not, we try very hard to make sure that this culture spreads to everybody, allowing them to feel like they are part of it. This nature ensures that people take an active interest in the company’s performance and encourages flexibility across departments when collaborating on projects.

As any organisation grows, it risks a breakdown in one-to-one contact between departments and between differing seniority levels. With this in mind, the senior management team walk around the business at least once a week to keep in touch with the staff and remain accessible at all times.

Key cross-department relationships are encouraged, both on a social level and also organisational. The more the different teams can work together, the more efficient and effective Origin becomes. We have recently implemented a ‘no eating at your desk policy’ to encourage social interaction among colleagues. It allows them to get to know one another as people, as well as colleagues. As the famous saying goes: a happy worker makes for a productive worker.

Increased sales, greater productivity and more partners than ever before has meant that we have had to move our headquarters to new premises. While this is fantastic news on a business growth front, there was a worry that we might lose the culture we worked so hard to create. So, we implemented a few measures to ensure that this wouldn’t happen. The new offices are open plan to encourage interaction between teams, but contain hanging sound barriers for those that need peace and quiet. Plus, the directors’ offices are based right at the heart of the space, with an open-door policy to all those that work there.

Origin’s successes can be attributed to its quality products, unrivalled lead times and the gold-standard service it offers its partners. However, none of that would be possible without the incredible people that we have working with us. They share our culture, they help us innovate, they ensure we offer the very best products each and every time, and they make working at Origin a real pleasure.  

www.origin-global.com