Wolfenden Reviews

Thank you so much for such a detailed review, you’ve offered plenty of feedback which has been really helpful for us to evaluate as a board. Now we’ve had a chance to discuss your feedback I want to come back on your points hopefully to add some further context as to what you might be experiencing, and to let you know how we’re evolving our approach to make sure as many of the team have a positive experience as possible. Social events are organised in-line with employee feedback and planned through the shadow board. As you know, the suggestions for what the shadow board plan come straight from the team to ensure we have a range of activities to appeal to a variety of lifestyles and hobbies etc. Over the past few years, feedback and social event attendance has led to a decision sometimes to organise fewer but bigger events which has been welcomed by the majority of staff in the feedback we’ve received, but I’m sorry that’s not the case for you. It’s always going to be tricky for us to please everyone with these but what I can tell you is that we are working on a refreshed calendar of internal events that will bring lots of variety throughout each month moving forward. I’m really sorry that you’re feeling overworked, we absolutely don’t want anyone in the team to feel this on a consistent basis and I’d strongly recommend speaking to your manager if you haven’t already. I appreciate this might not be visible to you, but as a board we do review capacity levels on a weekly basis for this very reason. The recent testing of timesheets (due to end soon) has given us an even greater level of transparency on capacity across teams and we’re actively recruiting in-line with what this tells us. This is not to invalidate how you’re feeling, but hopefully to give some reassurance that this is something that is very much forefront of our priorities. With that being said, it's so important that you bring this up with your manager (or anyone on the board) as we would really like to fix this for you, certainly if you feel nothing has changed for a substantial period of time, as this is not how we want any member of the team to feel. As you’ve mentioned, we do have lots of processes across the agency, as any business does, which help facilitate our high-quality output and intended way of working for the benefit of the team. It’s an important point you raise about some perhaps not being followed as they should. We are an ever-evolving agency and we’re always open to iterating our approach for the better, it might be the case that some processes are replaced or have evolved into something else, and this might not have been communicated to you as effectively as it could have been. We have taken away an action to work closely with the leadership team to review all processes and ensure they are consistently followed by the team, so thank you for your feedback here. You raise a good point about the strategic board setting the shadow board agenda. This has been our approach so far as there have been specific areas we value the shadow board’s input in to help us towards our vision. We do always open the floor for suggestions from the shadow board on what we could focus on in the next session, but moving forward this could absolutely be more set in stone in our approach and we will more actively seek the shadow board’s support in shaping their focus. When looking at staff retention, it has been positive this year as you’ve seen – you mention this isn’t an accurate representation but it is a true representation of where we are today, and what we intend to maintain moving forwards. People leave, that’s just the way it is – and if you’ve worked in previous agencies, you’ll know that the churn rate in digital marketing can be higher than other industries. Sometimes there are things we can do to stop this, sometimes there aren’t. We can’t be everything to all people, that’s not to dismiss your concerns, but that is to say that where there are common concerns we have and always will address these, but there are some things that we are just unable to control. Every member of staff has an annual pay review, please do raise this with your manager or the board if this hasn’t happened for you. The conversation around promotions and pay can happen at any point throughout the year, as these are directly linked to an individual’s progression and we don’t want to stifle this in any way. Promotions may be pushed back if an individual isn’t hitting or exceeding set objectives, this is quite a standard approach to promotions and hopefully this is clearly communicated to you and you have a strong path towards where you want to be with plenty of support. Again, please do raise this with your manager or the board if this isn’t the case. Overall, it’s really sad to hear you feel the agency has lost its ‘spark’, and I truly hope this isn’t how more members of the team feel. We are more excited than ever about where we are and the plans we have moving forward. We are introducing some clarity around our vision which you and every member of our team is an integral part of, and I hope this will help to inspire and motivate you towards our collective goals, as every member of the team stands to benefit greatly from our journey. As a current member of staff, please do use our internal feedback touchpoints as much as possible so we can fix any specific issues you’re having, as we want to make your experience here is as positive and fulfilling as it can be. Thank you again for such detailed feedback here, it gives us a chance as a board to hold a mirror up to ourselves and our approach to see if we can continue to improve things for the better, and I hope we’ve given you some clarity and context on your points. Felicity

Thank you for taking the time to leave this review and helping us to understand your perspective, we appreciate the feedback and we’ve discussed your points as a strategic board. It’s so encouraging to hear that you resonate with our founding principles so strongly, as we have always prioritised these as we’ve grown and evolved as an agency, which is something we’re so proud of. The shorter working week as you mention (4.5 hours less work) directly stems from our founding ethos and we’ve been resolute in maintaining this flexibility as the agency has scaled. We very much feel that now more than ever, far from being neglected, we have anchored our decisions in our values, and structured our teams and processes in a way which makes us all accountable against these. However, as with any company enjoying growth, it’s an ongoing priority of ours to ensure our core identity remains clear and unconvoluted both internally and externally, and I’m really sorry if that hasn’t been the case for you. To your specific points, the temporary use of time-tracking software is firmly rooted in helping us focus on what matters, as per our values. The use of this software on a short-term basis will allow us to review where we can better focus our time on actionable impact for clients – giving greater job satisfaction to our team and even stronger results for our clients. We’ve been sure to give clear explanations to the use of this on numerous occasions, with the opportunity for feedback, so please do speak to a company director if you’re still unsure why this is being used or feel uncomfortable with it. Reassuringly, the majority of feedback from the team so far has been positive, with the benefits reaffirming the need for it. I’m really sorry if you feel pressured by deadlines, if you haven’t already – I really do encourage you to speak to your manager as we certainly don’t want anyone feeling this way. Capacity is constantly monitored and if we find we are reaching our capacity limit, we will begin recruitment. It’s important that you raise it if you feel time-pressured, time-tracking will also give us some clarity on where this could be an issue. As you’ll know from our quarterly agency updates, we review our pay against market averages regularly to ensure our salaries are fair compared to the industry and our salary review process is very thorough. This is clearly detailed to all members of staff and we have a number of feedback points and channels where any concerns can be raised, we will always review feedback and ensure action is taken, and that relevant members of staff are given clarity on what action is being taken. Should there ever be some disparity, we will fix it. Please do speak to your manager if you feel unfairly compensated currently and we’ll always be open to a conversation at any time to discuss how we can move you towards where you want to be. We’ve certainly taken your valuable feedback on board, and – along with feedback gathered from multiple touchpoints around the agency – we’ll review whether we can provide even more clarity on how our values play a part in the running and growth of the agency. As we’ve always said, we’re an agency that appreciates the feedback and involvement of every member of staff as much as possible, we’re always striving to be better and it’s so helpful to have these points to review and assess whether we can improve various elements. Thank you again and as ever, we’re always happy to discuss these points in person and ensure you’re getting as much satisfaction and enjoyment from your role as possible. Felicity