During the pandemic, the London-based agency Joint created the “Working from Joint Experiment” as the first shot across the bow for what they saw as the evolving landscape of the post pandemic world. As an agency that’s always held mental health as an important cornerstone, they identified the critical factors that would profoundly influence their culture, overall success and impact employee’s mental health. And got to work.
Now we're out the other end of the pandemic, they were ready to establish permanent patterns of working that reflected the valuable lessons learned during the pandemic. So, they introduced a set of “Ways of Working” principles to reinforce the agency culture. These principles aimed to provide flexibility and support to employees in various life situations.
This week, I sat down with, Richard Exon, Founder at Joint, to highlight the importance of company culture and the reflection this has on employee’s mental health to honour our own mental health month.
Why is agency culture important to you at Joint?
At Joint, we don’t just have a business plan; we have a culture plan. And the right culture attracts the right talent, which ultimately leads to the best business outcomes. By having clear cultural processes in place, we are able to create an open, collaborative and flat-hierarchical system that encourages our team of creative and strategic talent to foster brilliant ideas at scale and at speed.
As we embarked on this year, we recognised that three pivotal developments could proudly influence Joint’s culture if we got them right. These developments included increasing our team’s in-person interactions at our London office, taking on more international briefs (to expand our thinking and experiences), and fostering the most diverse workforce we’ve ever had.
Could you please share with us your objectives to create or maintain a great agency culture that helps improve employee’s mental health?
Whilst we aim to work on an ‘All in/all out’ basis in our working week, we know life can sometimes be complicated. So, we take into account an individual’s personal life and circumstances. This helps us to offer everyone a way of working that suits their needs. For example, we make sure everyone knows they have flexibility when it comes to taking evening calls and are free to leave the office early. This ensures they get home in a timely manner and join later meetings from the comfort of their own home.
Whether you are a first time jobber, a parent of young children, an industry veteran with ageing parents or if you are dealing with something completely unique to yourself, we are determined to find a balanced approach to flexible working that aligns the interests of the business with everyone who works here. We aim to keep evolving and learning from the hard learned lessons of lockdown to continually make improvements and better Joint for our team.
Every facet of our agency, from our streamlined processes to our flat hierarchy and office layout, is designed to create a unique experience and a remarkable agency culture. This is instrumental in our ability to generate brilliant ideas and foster a positive atmosphere and improve our team’s mental health.
Does this relate back to your agency’s values? If so, how?
Absolutely. We are called Joint for a reason - we believe in the power of collaboration, both among our team members and with our clients. Our cultural aspirations are straightforward - we collaborate in teams with the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. Making collaboration a success requires a commitment to ego-free, empathy-led behaviour.
You have your ‘Ways of Working’ principles – could you please explain these and delve into how they help your culture?
To further reinforce our culture, we’ve introduced “Ways of Working” principles:
- Flexible Calls: Recognising time zone differences with our international clients and employee personal circumstances, we allow team members to handle later calls from home to avoid late commutes
- Late Office Work: If someone needs to work a little later in the office, they can come in later the following morning to maintain a positive sense of well-being.
- Family-Friendly Policies: We offer flexibility to parents and caregivers to accommodate childcare and school commitments
- Emergency Days: Life’s unexpected challenges can’t always wait, so we provide the flexibility to take emergency days when needed (and it won’t eat into employee’s annual holiday allowance)
- Friday Lunch: We treat our team to a delightful Friday lunch when we’re in the office
- Meeting-Free Fridays: Whenever possible, we avoid scheduling external meetings on Fridays
By cultivating a positive culture, we ensure our employees know they are supported, have access to flexible working and most importantly enjoy their place of work.
What have you done to ensure these objectives are achieved?
At Joint, we believe in taking concrete steps to fulfil our cultural objectives. We’ve encapsulated these principles in our comprehensive “Ways of Working” program. By committing to these principles explicitly and sharing them with the entire company, we’ve taken significant strides toward achieving our cultural goals.
How well did you do this? Can you share any results / findings?
The results for us speak volumes. Our “Ways of Working”principles have delivered remarkable results. Our team reports feeling clearer about their roles and what they can expect from Joint. During times of constant change and uncertainty worldwide, the clarity of our culture and our unwavering focus on it have been pivotal in retaining and attracting exceptional talent.
Our commitment to these principles translated into our best-ever year in terms of revenue, with a respectable margin.
We recently conducted a survey among a representative cross-section of Jointers, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. 100% of respondents reported positive impacts on their mental health, physical health and work-life balance. Additionally, 100% confirmed that they had utilised and benefited from at least two or three principles designed to facilitate international work, such as flexible calls and late office work.
At Joint, we believe in the power of culture and these results are a testament to our dedication to fostering a positive, supportive and effective agency culture.
