About Finders Keepers

The company has 3 values: Expert, Dynamic, Scrupulous Expert: continuous learning via two Directors being members of two bimonthly peer support groups (Cranfield BGP Alumni group and the Property Academy Leadership Group); speaking at local events; taking part in Sunday Times National Awards as judges to keep in touch with best practice; contribution to industry trends as spokespeople to trade press and national media; proximity to planning legislation via the MD being a Steering Group member of his Neighbourhood Plan. Dynamic: constantly pushing new ideas into the organisation. Other new innovation includes their own bespoke Property Inspection iPad app to streamline arguably the most valued part of their Property Management. Sourcing of new developments and opportunities such as the 24 apartments they bought and furnished for clients in Reading. Scrupulous: honesty and integrity when dealing with clients; fair judgements during the settling of any minor or major customer complaints; walking the walk each day in their demeanour and treatment of colleagues.

Sustainable wellbeing for employees comes from the everyday experience of the workplace, for example the manager, the workload, the culture and working environment, the hours of work and the customers’ attitudes. Linked to the workload, they want to give their staff confidence and by asking them all to do an industry qualification (called the NFoPP Level 3 Technical Award) they empower them. This means they can handle customers’ expectations with less stress. In 2016 the company is moving to a finish time of 4 pm on a Friday. They had a business need to be available to their customers after 5pm, their current finish time, and so they will work until 5.30 pm Mon – Thurs and then finish at 4 pm on Friday. This gives staff a head start to their weekend and provides motivation through the week.

Team events/meetings happen every day at Finders Keepers. Every office has a team meeting first thing in the morning, to focus the team on what is happening, what the priorities are, where they are against target. They also use these meetings to celebrate success; probationary periods passed, promotions, exams passed, first year anniversaries -all rewarded with a bottle of wine and a card. On three occasions a year, they have a staff meeting - two breakfast ones and one annual lunch one where they take all the staff to a venue. At the breakfast ones, they have a 'fun' team exercise followed by an update on business activities and awards for staff who go above and beyond in demonstrating their values - these nominations are from their peers. At the annual staff meeting, after an update on the year's success, they reward long service, and the 'best' in class, again nominated by their peers. There is usually a gap in these meetings in the summer to allow for their busy seasonal period but this year they decided to bridge the gap with a shortened version of the quarterly meetings, in the form of a Pimms party by the river, this took the form of a quick update, awards for their values but the main focus was a huge thank you to the staff for their hard work.