People at Cambridgeshire
If you talk to anyone at at our Cambridgeshire site you’ll soon realise that we are passionate about what we do, and not just the science! We are passionate about customer service, the environment, excellence, and most of all we are passionate about people.
We recognise that it’s our people who make us so successful, so when recruiting we don’t just look for professional experience and academic qualifications. We seek out positive attitudes, challenging and enquiring minds, outstanding communication skills and creative and innovative approaches to problems, all wrapped up with an entrepreneurial spirit.
The 7 Es
- Excellence
- Empassioned
- Educational
- Empowered
- Ethical
- Entrepreneurial
- Environmental
Our 7 Es are at the heart of all we do. They are our Touchstone Values and are so important to us we have an awards ceremony each year to recognise individual and team achievements in each.
Training and development
As our people are at the heart of our Cambridgeshire site, we take their training and development seriously. There are many ways we do this, including courses, our own Training Academy, further education, on the job training, one-to-one coaching and mentoring.
We have our own knowledge management system where staff can share a wealth of information with their colleagues on a multitude of subjects. Lunchtime learning sessions give staff the opportunity to hear about a specific topic of interest by another member of staff or outside speaker. It doesn’t have to be work related and lunch is provided!
Communication
As an organisation with the goal of being the perfect company, we are truly committed to Investors in People (IiP) and excellence in people management. To ensure we capture all our people have to say, we have many communication systems which allow us to talk to our staff, listen to their views and share ideas. They allow everyone across the organisation to contribute to our success.
Benefits
At at our Cambridgeshire site it’s not just about work and pay. We have many additional benefits and ask ourselves "had fun lately?"
- Cake and fruit day once a month - free for staff
- Celebrations of company success for all staff, e.g. cake and champagne
- Volunteering day off (paid)
- Free tea and coffee and other kitchen facilities
- Visiting sandwich delivery
- TV, pool, table football, volleyball, 5 a side football
- Magazines in the staff room
- Other subsidized events, ten pin bowling, pudding club, wine tasting
- Lunch time quizzes, bingo and other fun events with prizes
- Free Christmas and summer parties
- Summer barbecue hosted by senior management team
- Monthly birthday lunches
- Staff prize draw every month - free
- Sherry and mince pies at Christmas, hot cross buns at Easter
- Lunchtime learning sessions on any topic, with free lunch
- Awards and recognition events, both for teams and individuals, ideas forum, two prizes a year of a red letter day, dinner at company expense for staff member and one other, other recognition from team leaders and managers
- Touchstone Awards, our very own Oscars event!
- Internal volunteering opportunities include our own English woodland project, school liaison creating excitement for science in schools, and on site gardening club.
Company differences
- Direct access to the senior management team, with director surgeries
- Improvements and suggestions web page
- Uncle Bernard – resident anonymous agony uncle
- Creativity and innovation sessions
- Networking and idea sharing with external organisations actively encouraged.
- Exciting working environment – in world-class laboratories and a stunning rural setting
- Open and friendly culture – Ask anyone…
- Public speaking and presentation opportunities – not just restricted to the UK