Keeping it casual at Beaverbrooks

Beaverbrooks has a great reputation for treating its staff as an extended family, and for generally being a great place to work. The relaxed structure and Enriching Lives staff campaign has won them the loyalty of their staff (plus Retail Employer of the Year at this year’s UK Jewellery Awards, see picture, and The Sunday Times’ Best Company to Work For) and it really is refreshing to witness.

I was reminded of this when I emailed one of the directors at Beaverbrooks this morning. He is off sunning himself, as I found out from his out of office reply, which came complete with two kisses at the bottom. Whenever I email any of the top-level staff at Beaverbrooks, and they are out of the office, I get a similar reply. Once I was even replied to with a joke. Brilliant.

And this relaxed ethos goes far beyond a quirky out of office reply. I’ve seen emails sent between shop staff and directors and there is no pretence or stiff management talk, communication flows easily throughout the business. And one director told me he was considering taking his job title off of his business card as they place little importance on the hierarchy and lots of importance on working as a team.

A lot of staff at Beaverbrooks have been there for years and will no doubt continue in their service. This is common with smaller retailers, but to have such a low staff turnover at such as large organisation is truly impressive, and perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the one big happy family mantra that makes Beaverbrooks such an attractive retail jeweller to work for.