The Brinkworth Balance

Working in recruitment for the interiors sector and for anyone who reads my articles, will know that I’m passionate about informing companies on how best to attract new talent and retain existing employees. So when I heard about a design company who was offering their employees an additional 12 days leave a year I had to find out more.

Since January 2023 Brinkworth has given all their staff the last Friday of every month off work as paid holiday – an additional 12 days off a year, on top of the employee’s existing holiday allowance and Christmas office closure.

I was intrigued, and wanted to find out why Brinkworth were implementing this and the impact it has had on their employees to date, as well as on their clients. Lucy Porter, HR Manager at Brinkworth kindly agreed to meet up to discuss this over lunch.

Lucy explained that the idea to offer everyone in the business the last Friday of every month off took a lot of thinking and discussion across the board of directors over a number of months; taking time to assess how the way they worked as a company had changed since Covid. Lucy discussed that after everyone moved to home working during Covid, naturally the team had become accustomed to flexible working and more attention was being paid to work/life balance, so as a company they wanted to offer some flexibility but to be fair to all parties.

Taking the opportunity to assess the company’s benefits, which included hybrid working, the directors were keen to strike a balance for all employees and offer something that would impact every team member’s work/life balance.

During this process, at the end of last year, I clearly remember Lucy reaching out to myself to discuss how Brinkworth’s benefits compared to other design agencies and what they could offer to not only attract new talent but retain staff.

The idea to offer an additional 12 days off to all their staff was carefully considered but also sparked debate about the impact on their clients – what if they need to deliver a presentation on that date? What happens if a client wants to arrange a meeting to discuss work or organise a site meeting? When I posed this question to Lucy, she was very clear saying, “The heart of this decision comes from allowing our employees to re-charge and if they wish, utilize the day off to go to galleries, museums and exhibitions, which will only enhance their creativity, this is only going to be advantageous for our clients.”

The scheme had only been running for the previous 3 months when we met up and she said it’s great overhearing designers in the studio were organizing trips together to the Tate on the Friday they had off. However, some employees took the time to catch up on much needed ‘life admin’, which we all know can build up and cause stress in itself.

A topic that Lucy and I naturally gravitated towards when we were discussing design company benefits was: why now? Why are benefits more important than before? We both agreed that there has certainly been a generational shift, where projects and after-work drinks on a Friday are no longer the biggest selling points for designers entering into the industry when looking for a new job opportunity. It was important for Brinkworth to understand the wants and needs of their current and future employees.

I personally believe that Brinkworth has made a very bold, impressive move and something that will pay dividends in the long run in retaining staff and attracting new talent.