How 2024 Best Place to Work, Digital Radish, rebuilt with ‘the happiness priority’

Objectives

Our vision was to create the place where the most talented people in B2B would want to work. To achieve something so big, we had to rethink the success criteria of the agency, with objectives that went deeper than the financial, including: creating memorable experiences where our people have the best working time of their lives; supporting our employees to have a meaningful impact on the world; and delivering our most original work.

We would monitor and measure these objectives through our proprietary happiness analytics, client and employee net promoter scores (NPS), retention rates, feedback, and award recognition.

The approach

Our approach, and every decision as part of it, has been guided by our proprietary happiness analytics that consider everything from innovation, team development, wellbeing, CSR, work/life balance, and many other criteria.

With this, we developed five core principles that underpin our culture and inform initiatives that would create unforgettable experiences for our people, our clients, and our community.

First, 'The happiness priority': our guiding principle for everything we do. Our business decisions are based on happiness analytics. This influences the small, everyday things, like our weekly team lunches, and also major events like our annual all-expenses-paid holiday to celebrate our success together (Portugal, Ibiza, and in 2024, Menorca).

Sceond, 'Freedom, not control'. We trust our people to do the best work in a way that works for them. That starts with flexible working but goes far beyond, making it possible for every Radish to work wherever they choose in the world — from Bondi Beach to an ancient village in Malta. This freedom is crucial to our people having the best experience of their lives, professionally and personally.

Third, 'Radical empowerment'. We challenge traditional, accepted thinking around hierarchies, decision-making, and feedback, removing time-consuming bureaucracy and empowering the right people to make the right decisions. That also means never using the word "mandate" and giving ‘live’ feedback, not just every six months at performance reviews. An example of radical empowerment is our Spark initiative, a Dragon’s Den-style concept where anyone can pitch any idea to gain financial support and time to bring it to life, encouraging creativity and innovation beyond the job role.

Fourth, 'Originality through individuality'. Recognizing that one size never fits all, we believe in individualized wellbeing and development. That means everyone has their own budget for wellbeing and development, to use on anything from gym memberships to mentoring. This nurturing of individuality helps to make sure we are an inclusive workplace and affects everything from our Pride fundraising parties to our LGBTQ+ awareness and allyship training.

Fifth, 'The importance of purpose'. We bring meaning beyond B2B through our Roots of Change CSR group. One of the highlights of this has been our work with Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Here, our team brings its love of innovation to children through the metaverse. We hold VR sessions that enable young patients to experience a different reality beyond the hospital doors and encourage movement, play, and creativity.

We support our Radishes in their individual passions, too. For example, for an employee walking the South West Coast Path to raise funds and awareness for meningitis, we are sponsoring her time off work, accommodation, and equipment.

The outcome

These initiatives have had a direct impact on the happiness and experience of our employees, resulting in an eNPS score of +86 — that's +72 above the industry average (+14) — and employee retention of 94%.

By creating the best experiences for our people, we have successfully empowered them to create their best work, showcased in the originality they’ve brought to B2B marketing. For example, delivering thought leadership through song, launching a recruitment app with a giant green dog, and camouflaging employees of a hospitality tech company with body paint.

This has also affected the way our teams work, with our team independently rated against 30,000 other agencies as 26% higher for proactiveness and 26% higher for responsiveness and commitment (as rated by Relationship Radar Audit).

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