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What makes a great workplace? Is it the people? The location? The management? A mix of everything?
In celebration of ‘International Week of Happiness at Work’ our team helped us to compile the top 10 reasons that Unique IQ is a great place to work.
1. The location
We’ve been very lucky to find an office in an idyllic part of the UK, the Worcestershire countryside. Surrounded by rolling green hills and farmland, our software development team are often seen at the window taking a quick break to photograph the local deer or buzzards flying overhead.
One of the team states “The location is beautiful; it feels like we work in the countryside”
2. Relaxed atmosphere
Here at the Unique IQ office, silence and a standstill is rare between the hours of 8am and 6pm – either someone is on the phone, a meeting is in progress, or the development team is stringing together a symphony of code on their keyboards.
But even with all the hustle and bustle, the atmosphere remains relaxed with the mixture of casual chats, breakouts of laughter or Kate, our resident ‘90s expert, bursting into song when Wet, Wet, Wet comes onto the radio.
Our relaxed atmosphere has the perfect combination of hard work without the stress of an overly busy office; helping us to focus on the high-quality products and services we have become recognised for.
3. Work/life balance
The focus on staff happiness and keeping a healthy working environment is seen right from walking through the front door. Everyone takes an interest in each other, both professionally and on a personal level.
We work together to keep deadlines in check, and in turn we keep our stress levels low and productivity high. Support is shared across the company, for everyone, by everyone.
4. Opportunities
There are many reasons someone would look to join a company; opportunities are one of the biggest contenders.
Here at Unique IQ opportunities are everywhere, whether that’s developing a new skill, sharing ideas, trying new code or showing off your ability to tackle the summer invasion of wasps with nothing but a small tumbler, we love to share our skills.
We also offer professional opportunities, including an apprenticeship scheme. We currently have two apprentices with us, Bruno and Oskar, who have both settled into the team. Check out our ‘National Coding Week’ spotlight post for an insight into their experiences so far.
5. Teamwork
Henry Ford once said: “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
Teamwork is considered the ultimate goal within a number of companies, with 3 out of 4 employers considering teamwork ‘very important’.
Our in-house teams, consisting of marketing, sales, development, client support and management all share their own ideas within their own sections, before coming together to create the perfect mix that is Unique IQ.
We have the right mix of team members and conditions for teamwork to thrive. We place a heavy importance on understanding people’s values and working styles when we recruit, and we have a mix of ages, life experiences, senses of humour and even accents in the office who all help to create a harmonious workplace.
6. Openly shared success
David Lynes, Managing Director of Unique IQ says: “Aligning the workplace with a positive and enthusiastic workforce, really helps to make a difference. Unique IQ wouldn’t be where it is now had it not been for the driving force behind it: the people.”
So far this year we have shared the success of:
– Increasing our staff number by a whopping 44%
– Celebrating fantastic feedback from new and current clients, such as “you are a dream company to work with!”
– Receiving multiple award nominations, including two being selected as finalists for two prestigious care awards
– Tripling our annual profit and almost doubling our new clients on file
– Watching our products move outside of the UK into Switzerland, Ireland and the US
All of this couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work, passion and shared teamwork of everyone in Unique IQ.
The progress and growth Unique IQ has made over the last 18 months is phenomenal and we are very excited to see what the future holds in store for us.
7. Leading, not managing
Not all workplaces are fortunate to have the position of Managing Director held by someone who is first and foremost, a leader. Here at Unique IQ, gone is the stereotypical portrayal of a grumpy old man in a suit who sits behind his desk and barks orders, instead, step in David Lynes. Our smartly dressed, happy, young leader who will throughout the day venture up the flight of stairs in our office to communicate and connect with his team.
Leading by example, David takes effort to ensure we are all happy with our roles. He welcomes ideas, opinions and suggestions for the software we create and is always happy to put some time away during his busy schedule to chat with one of his team.
“David has given me the opportunity to show my strengths, whilst helping me to develop new skills.” Heather, our Digital Marketing Executive
Here at Unique IQ we are lucky to have both a manager and a leader in David and it truly helps to make it a great place to work.
8. The purpose
From the start, Unique IQ’s mission has always been to help make the lives of others easier, especially focusing on those within the home care industry.
Our staff members all share the drive to create software solutions to help others; from reducing administration processes to helping support people receiving care, we are passionate about putting people first.
Having a place to work, and a job that leads to making a real difference in someone’s life makes dragging yourself out of bed on the coldest of winter mornings worth it.
9. Interesting job content
The term ‘no day is the same’ could become the slogan for Unique IQ. Every day is very different, whether it’s code-based, client queries, a bug causing an ‘all hands on deck’ scenario or something completely different, there is never a boring day in the office.
Thanks to such a collaborative process, and how every product we create is different from one another it helps to make an interesting role for everyone within the team.
10. Modern & cutting edge
Anyone working in the 21st century will appreciate the importance of modern technology within the workplace. Whether this is a mobile phone, your desktop computer or the business landline, they all make a difference to how your day may play out; there’s nothing worse than trying to complete work for a 5pm deadline on a computer that is crashing and restarting every hour.
We all share an interest in the latest tech, which does trigger the ‘Windows vs Apple’ discussion, at least once per month.
Our development team continuously improve their knowledge and keep up to date on the revolutions within the coding world and how these can be brought into our products. We are fortunate to have access to technology that is both modern and reliable, which in turn helps us to create our innovative software solutions.
What makes your workplace great? Share your thoughts and comments on our social media pages, we’d love to hear if there are any ideas we can try within our workplace.
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