newsletter
Curated for you
Edition n˚
founder’s note Welcome to your very first edition of the CULTure Collective news and the new home of my founder updates (I told you I’d be back ). For those of you that are new to Cult Beauty, this team is the second iteration of our representative employee group. It has been in the making since early Autumn 2020.
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I want to thank our Diversity and Inclusion consultant Fiona Daniel for lending us her expertise and guidance to this important project. Fiona has ensured we give this team the right support and grounding to be an effective voice for our most valuable asset- the people of Cult Beauty. This last year has seen us face some incredible challenges that continue to unfold around us. As we try to adapt to this ‘post-Covid’ world or rather live in the world with Covid, these challenges are not yet behind us. Combine that with typical ‘day-to-day stressors’, social issues and cultural change in the business, and it’s a heady mix for us all. This team has a very clear remit that I would like to reiterate here- they are not an extension of our HR Team, nor are they a place just to air gripes. With your input and participation, their mission is to put forward and help to implement solutions for some of the
challenges you face within the business. The CULTure Collective is the mouthpiece for you cooperatively, they will contribute to incremental wins to make Cult Beauty the best it can be. The team will work on three/four key focus areas for improvement - the ones that matter most to you as directed by the engagement survey, they will build a plan to deliver those and check in with you regularly to ensure they are staying on track. Some projects will be quick wins, while others will take a ‘slow-burn’ approach. In fact, one of the asks that came through in our first survey is you wanted better communications to feel more informed about what is happening in the business, and this is one of the new formats for that programme of comms. Thank you to every single one of the CULTure Collective who has stepped up and taken on these roles (over and above your day job) to help make a positive impact for all of us. Best wishes,
Lex x
meet the CULTure Collective! What is the purpose (why) and mission (how) of this team? Purpose (Why) Our purpose is to ensure the transparent, honest and effective two-way flow of communication between Cult Beauty employees and senior leaders. To shed light on the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ of the challenges and issues faced by the Cult Beauty team. From this process, we aim to implement tangible improvements for our people.
Mission (How) Our mission is to create a balanced, safe, empowering Cult Beauty for ALL team members. To actively contribute to making Cult Beauty all we dreamed it to be: Best-In-Class, Thrilling, Empowering, Productive, Inclusive, Safe, Informed, Creative.
How are decisions made? Items needing approval are fed into the People, Leadership & Culture Steerco (PLC) comprised of the senior leadership team: Alexia Inge, Steve Kirk, Alison Jones, Stacia Prince, Jon Bovard, Adam Nordin, Jenny Chiu, Rob Knott, Emily Bloomberg, Maxine Granville and supported by D&I Consultant Fiona Daniel.
Meet the Team The team is made up of individuals from across the business who have volunteered their time and support to drive the cultural change that matters most to Cult Beauty employees. PRIORITY ACTION LEADS REPRESENTING
EVENTS LEAD
Bessie Hitcham
Represents Buying & Merchandising
Marta Coluccia
Represents Customer Operations /Cult Concierge
Korede Banjo
Represents Content & Performance Marketing
Lydia Ball
Represents Content & Performance Marketing
EVENTS LEAD
Victoria Warner
Karim Jiwani
TREASURER
DEPUTY CO-CHAIRS
Hayley Jones
Denise Owusu-Manu
Represents Content & Performance Marketing
Represents Buying
Represents DC Operations
Represents Tech, CRM
Wonu Adeola
Represents Customer Operations
Iram Yasin
Represents Customer Service
CHAIR
Vicky Punshon
Represents Content & Performance Marketing
Alicia Hickey
Represents Finance + ALL
How to get in touch/raise an issue/give feedback: You can contact your team representative directly by email, have a call, chat or you can email the group on: culturecollective@cultbeauty.co.uk We will soon be launching an anonymous digital suggestions box when ‘Teams’ is fully up and running.
Initiatives The beginning of this year saw the launch of Cult Beauty’s first ever Employee Engagement Survey delivered through Peakon. The results of which have recently been shared with the business. Ahead of the survey going out the CULTure Collective was presented with some key themes that provided us with initial ideas of how to make some quick wins!
S O M E OF T HE F EED BACK W E RECEIVED WA S 1
Receiving emails outside normal working hours and feeling there was an expectation to respond.
2
Not having time to take a lunch break due to meetings being booked in back-to-back throughout the day.
3
Not having time to focus on completing tasks.
We took these points to the PLC and suggested:
1.Email Signature addendums We have agreed email signature wording that sets expectations around response time, which you can now include in your emails to signpost your expectations to others around response times to your email outside of their normal working hours. All line managers in the business have committed to having one of the options listed below in their email signature, which we hope will help people feel they have more control over their work/life balance and remind them that there isn’t an expectation to reply outside of their working hours. We encourage everyone to make use of a signature to encourage more work/life balance across the business. As always, there are times where we may need to work outside our normal hours given the nature of the business however, we hope the introduction of these signatures will help in minimizing people feeling there is an expectation to reply. The options are listed below, please ensure you are sticking to these options only so we can ensure there is consistency in communication across the business.
OPTION A
OPTION B
OPTION C
OPTION D
I occasionally work at irregular times. If this email arrives in your inbox during times outside your working hours, I don’t expect you to read, action, or reply to it until you are back online.
If this email lands in your inbox outside of your working hours, please only respond when you are back online.
Sometimes I work outside of normal working hours; please feel free to reply when is most convenient for your own working hours.
Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside your working hours.
To install: Outlook>>File>>Options>> Mail>>Signatures
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2. Meeting-free times Since working remotely, our diaries have all become meeting-filled monsters! To encourage more meeting-free time and give you time to focus on tasks, or simply to take a walk or a proper lunch break if you choose to, it has been agreed we will introduce ‘meeting free times’ Monday, Wednesday and Fridays between 12pm and 1pm. The company will look to build on this, starting with how we can run more effective meetings to free up more time. The leadership team is working towards putting the right structures in place to respond to the additional challenges presented by working remotely. If you have any ideas, you would like the Steerco to consider please let your representative know. This initiative will come into effect the week commencing 29th March 2021.
3. Focus Zone’ Chat status The ‘focus zone’ status will let your colleagues know that you are concentrating on tasks and working through your to-do list and so may not be immediately available to respond on chat. Please bear in mind that there are times in which your line manager may contact you with an urgent request and you may need to respond sooner than later.
To utilise it in Teams 1. Go to your icon, click ‘Appear away’ or ‘Be right back’ to activate the yellow clock 2. Set Status message as ‘Focus Zone’ 3. Tick the box that says ‘Show when people message me’
to Yoga or not to Yoga There have been some discussions about the two weekly yoga slots that the company provide. These sessions were brought in some time ago with the intent of helping you carve some time for yourself, an excuse (if ever one was needed) to close laptops no later than 6 pm every Monday and to encourage you to take 30 min during your day each Wednesday for you. The invite will be re-circulated, and we will assess the uptake over the next eight weeks. We need your feedback to see if you find this company offering beneficial to decide if we continue with it, drop it or replace it with something else. We would love to hear your suggestions on this, please let us know. SESSION TIMES Monday 6 pm- 1 hour Wednesday 12 pm- 30 min culturecollective@cultbeauty.co.uk
we’re recruiting! The CULTure Collective is looking for two new team members: Secretary The Secretary undertakes the writing of the minutes, organising and coordinating meetings and other operational matters. They play a vital role in keeping order and ensuring the CULTure Collective are well organised.
Communications Lead Take the lead on all of the communications of the CULTure Collective activity, sharing outputs across various channels to ensure the business is kept informed of our initiatives and updates.
If you are interested in either of these roles or just want to find out more please email: Alicia.hickey@cultbeauty.co.uk
We hope you will view these initiatives as positive first steps and are very keen to hear your feedback on the impact (positive or negative) that they may be having on you as individuals and teams. We will be checking in with you in the coming weeks. Any and all feedback on the contents of this newsletter or otherwise please get in touch. Sincerely, Your
THE CULTURE COLLECTIVE
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