Officially a Very Good
Company to Work For
Officially a Very Good
Company to Work For
Officially an Outstanding
Company to Work For
Officially an Outstanding
Company to Work For
Officially a World Class
Company to Work For
Officially a World Class
Company to Work For
Officially a Good
Company to Work For
Officially a Good
Company to Work For
Officially a Global*
Good Company
to Work For
Officially a Good
Company to Work For
Globally*
There are call centres and there is The Call Centre. Save Britain Money is that call centre, the one BBC3 made a documentary series about. A cult hit, it attracted 5m viewers (400,000 were expected) and made stars of several employees, including the firm's founder and chief executive Neville “Nev” Wilshire, a charismatic boss who cites Napoleon and John Wayne as his leadership models. “It used to take me half an hour to go round Swansea market on Saturday morning. After the show it took up to three hours,” says Wilshire of the time-consuming attention his newfound celebrity status has brought. But while Wilshire enjoys doing the documentary — filming for a second series is almost in the bag — his company is more important. Besides, he explains, being on TV “was detrimental to business”, with his public profile attracting unwanted attention, and fines, from the Information Commissioner's Office, causing him to lose a contract. Dismiss at your peril Save Britain Money as fit only for fly-on-the-wall documentary japes, however: this is a thriving business employing 488 people with revenues of £51m and profits of over £11.5m in 2013. The company provides energy-efficiency surveys and installations, renewable energy advice, pensions, mortgage reviews and fuel switching. Almost everyone is based at its bright and airy headquarters on a retail park just outside Swansea. Founded in 2005 with a workforce of six, it has employed 1,000-plus in its pomp. And ex-heating salesman Wilshire nurtures his employees, most of whom are in their twenties. In an area where the local paper has reported that almost 25% of people use food banks, Save Britain Money helps fill the employment gap left when the coal mines and factories closed. Tea, coffee and sweets are never far away thanks to Hayley Pearce's trolley. Pearce was not always the tea lady, Wilshire explains: “She was on the phones and was distraught because she wasn't selling.”Instead of sacking her, he created her a new role, and seeing her “going round, happy as a flea doing what she does” is one of his proudest achievements, he says. Telephone agents at Save Britain Money have the arduous job of cold-calling people to inform them of the company's services, earning a basic salary of £11,323 for 33½-hour weeks. But while their work can be stressful, the ebullient culture keeps everyone smiling. Assistant team leader Chris Jones explains: “Cold-calling is not the easiest job, but once you start to get into it, your personality begins to show.” Jones, who won the company's first employee of the month title, says the hard work is worth it because Save Britain Money is a nice place to be. “It feels like a big family, people are on your side.” Staff say colleagues go out of their way to help, giving the top score among mid-size firms for this measure, 86% positive. “What drives us most is the buzz of the call centre,” says Jones, who once came in dressed as an Oscar statue for a themed social event. His boss, Wilshire, spills the beans: “He was in Budgy Smugglers, sprayed gold!” www.savebritainmoney.co.uk
My organisation encourages charitable activities
Earlier in the year Save Britain Money's CEO challenged a member of staff to organise a memorable event in a brewery. The night was superb with over 80 members of staff attending and some of their in-house DJs were on hand to provide the entertainment. With beer on tap, plenty of food and the token karaoke machine, the night was a great success.
My team is fun to work with
Save Britain Money have a Green 12 scheme, which is a performance management scheme which sets benchmarks for their new starters over a 12 week period. The aim is to allow staff to develop within the organisation and provides tailored support and 1-2-1 coaching for those in need. They have an improved retention rate and they feel that this is a direct result of this scheme.
I have confidence in the leadership skills of my manager
Save Britain Money have strong relationships with local schools which involves fundraising and the invitation for classes to join them to experience a day in the life of their business. They are also sponsors of their local rugby team and as part of their partnership they are sponsors of the RWE community programme. This programme is available to all schools in the Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Bridgend area and is used to develop their oracy, literacy and numeracy skills through investigating various aspects of rugby activities. Off the back of this pupils learn about them as sponsors and spend time visiting their offices where they let them experience key areas of their business, meet the staff and take part in 'new starter' sessions.
My organisation encourages charitable activities
Earlier in the year Save Britain Money's CEO challenged a member of staff to organise a memorable event in a brewery. The night was superb with over 80 members of staff attending and some of their in-house DJs were on hand to provide the entertainment. With beer on tap, plenty of food and the token karaoke machine, the night was a great success.
My team is fun to work with
Save Britain Money have a Green 12 scheme, which is a performance management scheme which sets benchmarks for their new starters over a 12 week period. The aim is to allow staff to develop within the organisation and provides tailored support and 1-2-1 coaching for those in need. They have an improved retention rate and they feel that this is a direct result of this scheme.
My organisation encourages charitable activities
Earlier in the year Save Britain Money's CEO challenged a member of staff to organise a memorable event in a brewery. The night was superb with over 80 members of staff attending and some of their in-house DJs were on hand to provide the entertainment. With beer on tap, plenty of food and the token karaoke machine, the night was a great success.
If you like what you see here and would like to know more about working for a
3 Star
organisation, simply click the link for further information about careers with
Save Britain Money
.