newsletter
Curated for you
Edition no
05
Founder's note In sitting down to write this, I was reminded of just how much this fantastic team has accomplished through what can only be described as exceptional circumstances. We started the year at great pace, but also with the understanding that easing of lockdown would bring new challenges as our customers moved their spend to IRL experiences. The year has seen many frustrations too, with the shelving of the enormous SAP CC project and pausing of the amazing work you’ve all done on Loyalty and Brand Refresh (to be continued in 2022 😊). We have experienced more change at Cult Beauty in the last 12 months than the previous five years and all under the Spector of COVID. You have not only taken these changes in your stride, but you have also excelled.Our ongoing work with Provenance not only won the Marie Claire Sustainability Award for ‘Best Use of Technology for Good’, but we were also the only retailer held up as best in class in The British Beauty Council’s Planet Positive Beauty Guide to avoiding greenwashing, launched at the recent UN Climate Change Conference. We also won Advertiser of the Year in the Rakuten Advertising European Golden Link Awards. Our ground-breaking Menopause campaign helped change Government policy which, amongst other Government support and services, will save millions of women who need to take HRT an average of £200 a year. We have shared our fantastic new Reproductive Lifecycle policy with companies like Moneysupermarket.com, Sweaty Betty and Face Gym, where it is being used as a template to evolve better workplace policy for thousands of women (and people with ovaries) across the UK. And, we have truffle hunted and sold record numbers of the best beauty products in the world. In August, we joined THG and for the first time in Cult Beauty’s history, we had not one outage for the whole cyber period. We smashed our biggest day ever on Black Friday, the DC picked 85,000 units and we turned over £4.3million, which is more than we did in the whole of 2013 and was the strongest YoY performance of all THG beauty sites! Our beautiful Edit boxes embody everything Cult Beauty is about, not least brilliant cross-departmental teamwork, and as a result has become a huge franchise - our customers snapped up 74,000 of them last year. A massive 120,000 people crossed their fingers (and toes) as they signed up for the hottest event in the beauty year – The Cult Beauty Advent Calendar. As a team, we raised a lot of Money for Charity - £162,500 in total - £42,500 via staff sales and fundraisers – with the business donating £60k to Beauty Banks, £40k to Beauty Backed and £20k to Wellbeing of Women, you can read more about the charities you supported in the Social and Charity team update (and while we are talking Social & Charity committee, I wanted to say a huge thank you for your help organising such a fantastic Christmas party this year).
I am so proud of what we are achieving at Cult Beauty, we are not just a bloody good retailer; we are changing beauty CULTure. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this happen, with an extra special thank you to the Tech and CS teams who have recently moved centrally within THG, we look forward to becoming your favourite client 😊. Every one of you deserves a huge round of applause and all the big, virtual thank you hugs that my broadband will convey. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you all a very merry (and healthy) Yuletide with your loved ones. And here’s to a really exciting 2022!! Best wishes,
Lex
A YEAR IN REVIEW: CULTure Collective Initiatives As 2021 comes to a close we would love to celebrate and highlight all the amazing happenings, changes and initiatives we have seen come into fruition over the last year based on your feedback.
WORK LIFE BALANCE We’ve heard when we saw there was mounting concerns around work life balance whether this be a feeling of ‘always on’ culture with an expectation to reply at all hours, too many meetings with no time for lunch or periods of focus or the overall feeling that we could do more within the company to support Mental Health. As a result you may have seen; Establishment of messaging in emails to signal the need not to reply if received outside of working hours Encouraged Meeting free hours three times a week. Normalised ‘focus time’. Teams can indicate on chat function when they are not available to respond immediately. Mental wellbeing day added to time off allocation. Individuals are now able to book this in PeopleHR.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
We saw that our external and internal communications were sometimes not meeting the high standards of DEI that we hold ourselves to and that are part of our values. Introduced the use of Pronouns in email signatures Ran Unconscious bias workshops with Fiona Daniel We launched our first-ever Black Business Month spotlight: A newsletter each week, Vouchers, Prick LDN & CB HQ plant collaboration Exclusive CB team discount codes Set up a ‘campaigns committee’ to ensure a diverse and inclusive approach to all campaigns. Engage different members of the business on topics that they can provide insight to.
ENGAGEMENT
We found there were not enough platforms to learn and do things that are not strictly work related and that there was not enough activities to socialise as a team. To help target change this we have; Began catering to celebrate religious festivals Lunch & Learns covering: BHM, Mental health, Menopause, Imposter Syndrome, Unconscious bias, Pride panel to name a few!
A YEAR IN REVIEW: CULTure Collective Initiatives Cont. REWARDS
You said we could do more to reward all of our amazing people that make Cult Beauty what it is, so we initiated: Quarterly £25 voucher for each employee Approved additional day off for your birthday. To commence January 2022*
COMMUNICATION We took steps to address our internal communications within the business as this was an area you said needed improvement. We worked with HR and SLT to agree on a cadence of communication: - Regular townhalls - Bi-monthly CC newsletter (you're looking at it!) - Open communication with CC team representatives into teams and the SLT
We wanted to thank all of you for your feedback, without which none of this would be possible. As always we encourage you to get in touch with the Collective with any ideas or thoughts you may have. You can contact your team representative directly by email, have a call, chat or you can email the group on: info.culturecollective@cultbeauty.co.uk
Time to have your say! Initiative Long-List: January-June 2022 Please vote on what you would like the team to deliver for the first six months of 2022. We also want to hear from you if there are other areas you would like the team to be focussing on. This could be anything that impacts your work at Cult Beauty that you would like raised. While we cannot guarantee the result nothing can be addressed if it's not raised in the appropriate forum. As a reminder to the remit of the team is as follows: What is the CULTure Collective? It is a group of employees who meet regularly to provide input and implement action in a range of areas from engagement to other issues affecting a company’s workforce and the employer-employee relationship. They are 100% employee-led. What is their Purpose & Mission? The purpose and mission are derived from the people who make up the business, informed largely by employee surveys as well as feedback given. 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 that 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, Welcoming, Safe, Informed and Creative. We will do this by: Keeping communication open, transparent and clear. Focussing on three/four key areas for improvement per year. Regularly checking in to ensure we are aligned with the wider business and our strategic goals. What is the remit of the CULTure Collective? 1. Review and understand the results of the employee engagement survey. 2. Establish 3-4 focused priority areas for action. 3. Consult widely with colleagues to understand issues and solicit ideas for solutions. 4. Develop and present an action plan to senior leadership. 5. Take ownership for the implementation of that plan. 6. Act as champions for The CULTure Collective and encourage diverse voices to connect and engage with the Collective. N.B. The CULTure Collective is not a replacement for HR function. They do not get involved with grievances or any other areas regarding Employee Relations such as pay, employee terms and conditions etc.
CULT QUIZ OF THE YEAR How Cult are you?.... (Answers are on page 8)
Question 1: How does Lex Sign off her emails? A) Love, Lex B) Best Wishes, Lex C) Regards, Alexia D) Thanks, Lex
Question 2: What’s the passcode to the daily stand up?
_________________________
Question 3: What colour is our Cult Beauty Nail Polish Statue? A) Orange C) Red
B) Pink D) Yellow
Question 4: Which one is not a meeting room? A) Yellow Room C) War Room
B) Red Room D) The Lounge
Question 5: True or False our cyber week campaign was called 'Gulity Pleasures' TRUE
FALSE
Question 6: What is Cult's mission statement? A) To cherry-pick the best beauty in the world B) To be the most trusted beauty retailer in the world C) To curate and market the best in beauty D) To be the biggest beauty retailer in the world
Social & Charity Committee A YEAR IN REVIEW: In their first year of existence the team put on: Two raffles Three staff sales One Fun Run One Nail day Tommy's Lunch & Learn And with your support, raised a massive £42,500! Which went to your chosen causes: MIND, The Survivors Trust & Tommy’s. Thank everyone for their generosity, this year was about learning, next year we’ll know our limits and be able to push them!
Initiatives Update Birthday day off: Approved!!
From January 1st 2022 you will be able to book your birthday off as an additional days' holiday through PeopleHR. - Normal managerial approval does apply and business need requirements do apply. - If your birthday falls on a wk end you can take the nearest Friday or Monday in lieu.
SPOTLIGHT ON DIWALI With Seeta Ashra We are throwing it back to when we caught up with Seeta from our Social Team where we talked about all things Diwali CB: Tell us what is Diwali? Seeta: So this is not a straight answer as this depends on where you are from and your beliefs systems. I want to mention as well a lot of people don’t know that the Jains, Sikhs and Hindus all celebrate Diwali. I want to mention as well, which a lot of people might not know is that the Jains, Sikhs and Hindus all celebrate Diwali. As well before we have Diwali we have Navaratri which is like a pre-Diwali celebration and runs for 11 days. Speaking historically, the most common story of Diwali is about Lord Rama and his wife Sita and a story of good vs evil. So paraphrasing there was a war and Rama was exiled and upon Lord Rama’s and his Brothers return his wife Sita was captured by an evil god Ravana. Rama was successful in defeating evil and in celebration the villages lit a path of candles to celebrate everyone’s safe return. The festival usually runs for five days. Diwali is like New Year's eve, and the day following New Years day where we have our big lunches and share food. CB: What does the celebration symbolize for you? Seeta: In the Indian community Family is a priority and this festival is a reason for togetherness and community through sharing food and sharing gifts. It is a time to get together and celebrate the end of our Calendar year represents the beginning of a fresh year. CB: How do you celebrate? Seeta: So basically, it is a day where we come together and share, and ‘food hop’ where we go from place to place sharing the company of loved ones and settle for dinner where we cook up a storm. We also visit the temple on the day. So pretty much Diwali is what you make it. CB: Do you have a favourite dish or is there anything traditional you associate with the day? Seeta: We go heavy on the desserts, love anything that is deep-fried with lots of sugar and dairy. We will have lots of little sweet snacks throughout the day. But there’s no traditional dish per se for the day. CB: Do you have a favourite memory or part of the celebration that is your favourite? Seeta: The fireworks, because it is at night, and everyone is cold and cosy and as we don’t do it often, we love to go all out on the fireworks to celebrate. CB: What is one walk away piece of Diwali you would want everyone to know? Seeta: Hinduism is such an accepting free flowing religion and going and learning and celebrating our knowledge and culture and the fact that there is not only one version of Diwali and that there are many versions of the celebration. As a culture, we are so much more than what you perceive and being able to educate yourself to the many layers and differences especially within our varying population who celebrate their heritage from so many different parts of the world.
Quiz answers! Q1: B) Best wishes, Lex Q2: 380913 Q3: D) Yellow Q4: C) War room (trick question- this used to be the name of the lounge!) Q5: True Q6: B) To be the most trusted beauty retailer in the world Don't forget to vote on initiatives for H1 2022!!
Get in touch You can contact your team representative directly by email, have a call, chat or you can email the group on: Info.culturecollective@cultbeauty.co.uk
A reminder of your reps...
BUYING Bessie ( Priority Action Lead) Hayley (Treasurer) CONTENT + PERFORMANCE MARKETING Vic (Priority Action Lead) Lydia ( Priority Action Lead) Korede (Priority Action Lead) Julia Colman (Comms Lead) CUSTOMER OPERATIONS Wonu (Priority Action Lead) CUSTOMER OPERATIONS + CULT CONCIERGE Marta (Events Lead)
CUSTOMER SERVICE Iram (Events Lead) FINANCE + ALL Alicia (Chair) MERCHANDISING Janine (Secretary) TECH + CRM Denise (Deputy Chair)