Coffee & TV

• Derek Moore, Chief executive and co-founder

Since the beginning of 2021, we have offered paid internships to encourage young diverse talent or those from under-served communities into the industry. We currently have two paid interns in artist roles. We also have four senior members of our team who currently volunteer regularly, with the Creative Mentor Network, Educational Development Trust, Seeds and Bloom.

Lockdown changed the dynamics of how we were able to offer training – that’s why we have a set budget for professional development and skills-based training for every member of our team to use online. We are members of BIMA, a community of businesses working in digital, media and tech.

 

BIMA works to drive innovation through knowledge sharing and developing talent, giving our team the opportunity to attend peer learning networks and virtual masterclasses.

Our strong, happy and thriving company culture is integral to our success, so communicating effectively while working remotely has been a key focus.

Apart from quickly adopting a schedule of regular meetings, including socials, we have also introduced an internal community system for our whole team.

Staff expect to work the hours needed to produce the best results for our clients. This inevitably means doing some hours outside of the traditional 9-5 window. But we always make sure they get that time back at the end of a project.

Our staff have a healthy work-life balance. Projects and clients can be demanding, and there may be periods when they will have to work late and sometimes at weekends, but our producers do everything in their power to avoid that.

We can’t change the fact that great work is hard work, but we can ensure everyone gets time and space to recharge.

With regular communication and by spending time together. This was a lot more frequent before Covid, but even now we organise staff trips, holidays and parties at least twice a year. We recently took the whole team for a three-day retreat in the Cotswolds to reconnect and relax.

All staff participate in the company profit-share scheme. This gets paid at the beginning of the summer and just before Christmas, so people have a little extra to pay for holidays or Christmas presents.

Sometimes, though, it’s the little things that show reward and appreciation, like a takeaway meal or a chocolate hamper.

As a certified B Corporation, we have passed the test of having the highest standard of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. We have a carefully crafted set of policies to lay out clearly the expected standards of behaviour and the process to call it out should any transgression occur.

Yes. We use a system called Culture Amp to measure all aspects of our culture and identify ways we can make it even better. We also have feedback systems, from formal external surveys to casual Zoom polls and one-to-one interviews.