Opinion: Beaverbrooks’ heritage and values are key to shaping its future

Fast-forward to 2019, and the 100-year-old company that started as Adlestones before being renamed Beaverbrooks is still in the hands of the same family, with chair Mark Adlestone now sharing the day-to-day running of the business with me as managing director.

While the national retailer with 71 stores and nigh on 1,000 employees has undoubtedly been celebrating this achievement and using it as an opportunity to reflect and look back, my focus is on building momentum and keeping the business relevant and profitable for the future.

“Taking the helm of a successful 94-year-old family business was a daunting yet exciting prospect; I was determined to make an already strong business even stronger”

I joined Beaverbrooks in 1998 straight from university. At the time we had 32 stores and ecommerce didn’t exist. I was attracted to the business by its culture, values and beautiful product.

The first time I met Mark (grandson of one of the original founders) he told me that Beaverbrooks was a meritocracy and if I worked hard and got good results, I would have a strong career. Fifteen years later, Mark asked me to become CEO of the company.

Taking the helm of a successful 94-year-old family business was a daunting yet exciting prospect; I was determined to make changes for the better, to make an already strong business even stronger.

Engaged employees

Beaverbrooks has always put people at the heart of what we do, and I made it my mission to prove that being a great employer translates to the bottom line. In order to do this, I identified that we needed to be clearer with expectations and increase levels of accountability.

I believe that empowered, accountable teams produce higher levels of engagement and better results.

We set a clear strategy to build on our foundations; the values with which the founding brothers started the business – taking everything that worked well and making it even stronger.

We relaunched ‘The Beaverbrooks Way’, a commitment to our purpose of enriching lives through our focus ’On Profit, Our People and Our Customers’. It’s more than a strategy, it’s a way of thinking and a company ethos by which all decisions are made and everyone in the business works within.

“It’s less about managing from the top and more about taking people on a journey with us to ensure high levels of engagement”

An open and honest culture is critical at Beaverbrooks. We are transparent, which means communicating key business decisions and the rationale behind them. It’s less about managing from the top and more about taking people on a journey with us to ensure high levels of engagement.

Six years on, and a promotion to the board of directors, I’m proud to say that we’ve just come off the back of our five most consecutive profitable years – our average profit is now over £13.5m a year.

We’ve featured in the Best Companies to Work For list for 16 consecutive years, and this year were named the 10th Best Company to Work For in the UK. We also won Retail Week’s Best Place to Work and Community Retailer awards. These achievements demonstrate the link between employee engagement, accountability and financial results.

Beaverbrooks’ 100th birthday marks an important milestone and an opportunity to celebrate with our colleagues, our customers, our suppliers and the wider community. This year every colleague gets their birthday off, with an extra £100 (after tax) to spend on their special day.

For 100 years we have focused on charitable activities; it’s in our DNA. We donate 20% of retained profits to charity and, since the year 2000, have donated in excess of £13m to over 750 different charities.

As standard, we match-fund every penny raised by our colleagues for charity, but in our centenary year, we’re double fund matching – so charities will receive three times the original donation.

I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved as a business. By respecting our heritage and values, staying true to our purpose, and adapting to the continually changing retail landscape, I’m extremely confident in Beaverbrooks’ future.