Janet Leighton (Timpson) - hiring ex-offenders, the importance of employee happiness, a business with no marketing department

Timpson has been a fixture on our high streets since 1865 in the UK. In recent years, they've received acclaim for their approach to hiring ex-offenders. Now, 10% of their workforce have been given an opportunity after a criminal conviction. A unique 'upside-down' company, Timpson eschews many traditional business practices. For example, they don't have a marketing and communications department. In this episode we meet Janet Leighton, Director of Happiness at Timpson. She discusses:How she’s gained a reputation for being ‘bonkers’How her natural optimism gives her resilienceHow important it is to be yourself at workHow belief in people and being kind and considerate is a key to maintaining optimism in the face of challengesWhat has kept her at Timpson for 20 yearsHow Timpson functions without  a marketing and comms team How to get an email reply from James Timpson, the CEOTimpson’s unique ‘upside down management’ style Her road to the role ‘Director of Happiness’How happiness isn’t soft and fluffyTheir radical ‘in-house’ approach to everythingThe day to day of a ‘Director of Happiness’, including what Janet was dealing with on the day of recordingHow Janet deals with colleague issues from financial risk, to suicideThe importance of colleague wellbeing in business performanceHow she feels the solution to financial wellbeing is not necessarily as simple as paying people moreWhat led Timpson to pay for colleagues family funeralsTimpson’s work with offenders and their approach to recruiting ex-offendersWorkers joining the company via ‘release on temporary licence’How best to support ex-offenders entering the workforce How they don’t use CVs and are only interested in ‘what you’re doing today, and what you want to do tomorrow’The state of UK prisons Some of the success stories from the prison recruitment programmeHer offer of help to any business who’s interested in starting a programme for people with prison lived experience Janet on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-leighton-8109891a/Visit: https://www.timpson.co.uk/Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/Want to appear? Email [email protected]: ⁠standingongiants.com⁠