IN 2023, WE RECERTIFIED WITH A SCORE OF 130.3.
130.3 is an outstanding achievement and something we should all be very proud of.
In 2019, ADLIB was one of a small handful of recruitment businesses globally that certified as a B Corp, our starting point was a score of 82.8. Our belief is that the B Corp assessment provides a structure, with clear measurement, to set clear improvement targets. Our initial certification was simply the start of the journey.
We set out our intentions through the publication of our annual impact reports and set the bar high. This approach and transparency ensured we achieved the focus and accountability needed to make improvements and reach our goals.
This impact report reflects on our recertification, what we have achieved, and provides a glimpse into where we head next.
GOVERNANCE – In 2020 ADLIB converted to a 100% employee ownership model. True stakeholder capitalism. Our recertification score acknowledges this transparency, from an internal perspective with regards to the day-to-day financial management, quarterly updates and access to the entire P&L. External publication of impact reports on social and environmental performance and commitment to our code of conducts.
WORKERS – We’re a people business in every sense of the phrase. Since our initial certification we have invested heavily into our team through numerous initiatives to build a stakeholder model that is fit for the long term.
COMMUNITY – At the centre of any community is a shared belief in attitudes and interests in common. For ADLIB, community covers a lot of ground. We support regional ecosystems, provide insight and advocate for international communities that are fighting for equality. The team have built their own communities from the ground up, we’ve supported community based projects that improve people’s lives, and play an active role within the B Corp community.
ENVIRONMENT – As a B2B service provider we store an increasing amount of customer and candidate data. Given our learnings from within the Green Tech South West community, we are increasingly aware that the life cycle of storing, processing, and transmitting digital information is an area that we need to pay significant attention to.
CUSTOMERS – In 2021-22 we aimed to improve our customer score by 10 points via the MotherBoard Charter. After long discussion with B Lab it was concluded that Mums in Tech are not recognised as underserved. Furthermore, the initiative is a not for profit, charging charter signatories an administration fee only and therefore no points were awarded. Our response was threefold.
The Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme, in partnership with Babbasa as part of the OurCity2030 initiative, is a stellar example of how BCI members can come together to fund and deliver a complex programme of internships and training to support some of the region’s most underrepresented young people.
After a successful pilot over the past few months with 14 brilliant agencies, we are now looking for more creative businesses to join our mission.
They will support the second cohort of interns during the next phase of this innovative project in 2024.
Agencies pay a one-off fee which covers:
Onboarding to the programme including guidance and templates around internship structure/workplan.
ED&I, mental health and neurodiversity training with a focus on working with young people from underrepresented groups.
HR support and mentoring from Bristol Creative Industries’ dedicated internship programme manager Clare Leczycki.
Recruitment and employment of two interns over six months.
If you are interested in taking part, email Bristol Creative Industries membership manager Alli Nicholas on alli@bristolcreativeindustries.com
Paula Newport, director of people and culture, Aardman Animations:
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If you are interested in taking part, email Bristol Creative Industries membership manager Alli Nicholas on alli@bristolcreativeindustries.com
Are you interested in exploring the latest recruitment challenges and how to overcome them?
Do you want to engage in insightful discussions with an industry expert and fellow professionals?
We are thrilled to invite you to a special recruitment roundtable event in collaboration with Bristol Creative Industries (BCI).
Presented by Liz Gadd, founder of Moxie and Mettle and Recruitment Bootcamp, this recruitment roundtable will give you the chance to explore some of the latest recruitment challenges.
The event will be held on the 15th of August 2023 and you will have the option of choosing between two time slots, 9:30am – 11am OR 12:15pm – 1:45pm. This is an in-person event, which will be held at the Engine Shed in Bristol.
The recruitment roundtable is designed to foster meaningful conversations and knowledge-sharing within a small group of participants (12 max) from diverse companies. Hosted by BCI Board Director, Heather Wright, the event will commence with a warm welcome and an introduction to Liz Gadd. Liz will then present some recurring recruitment issues and answer all your recruitment questions. We recommend emailing your questions ahead of the event to ensure they are answered.
As spaces are limited for this event, we kindly request interested participants to reply to this email promptly and secure their place at the roundtable. Early registration is encouraged to guarantee your participation.
Don’t miss this chance to be a part of an enriching recruitment roundtable, led by Liz Gadd, in partnership with Bristol Creative Industries. Whether you’re an HR professional, business owner, or recruitment enthusiast, this event promises to provide valuable insights and networking opportunities.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Recruitment Bootcamp is run by experts who can teach you how to attract the best talent for your business. Stay ahead of important issues and trends by signing up HERE.
In May we announced the 14 young people selected as the first cohort for the Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme, in partnership with Babbasa and 14 creative businesses from the BCI membership community.
Two months into the programme, which is aimed at young people from underrepresented groups, we’re sharing an update on what the interns have been getting up to.
Clare Leczycki, Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme manager, said:
“Our interns are two months into their first three month placement and we are delighted with the progress. Each of the supporting agencies are providing a 360 degree view of the different departments alongside bespoke support around the interns’ key areas of interest.
“I have the joy of spending Fridays with the cohort as part of the skills and training programme which is co-produced with the interns. Guest speakers come in to share knowledge and expertise on a range of topics. So far we have explored mental health and resilience tools and strategies, neurodiversity and uncovering barriers to work, how to speak to your employers about your needs, the power of networking and navigating live project briefs.
“The group is also working on a live brief which allows them to come together with a focus on their area of expertise. They learn from one another whilst producing a tangible product that they will be able to showcase at the end of their internship.
“I am blown away at how well the group has bonded, how they show up each week with great energy, ideas and commitment. I appreciate the time I get to spend with them.
“The journey for the interns and the participating agencies is far from straightforward. For the agencies, creating learning opportunities and delivering training whilst running a business and being ready to make changes to welcome people from diverse backgrounds to their organisation is a lot to manage all at once.
“For the interns, being a new person in a company can already feel quite daunting. Not really seeing anyone else who looks like you can feel quite intimidating, especially when you are so early on in your career.
“My job is to ensure everyone is having a positive experience, so it’s lots of listening, encouraging open conversations, building trust and nurturing relationships. There are lots of different needs to attend to and success looks different for everyone so managing expectations is key in navigating this project.
“Our aim is to create a space that empowers everyone involved to be open and ready to learn, to be comfortable with vulnerability, to share challenges across the team, addressing issues when they come up and be ready to respond and make changes when needed.
“Some days we get things wrong but I trust we are all here for the same reasons; to make long-lasting change to the creative industries by providing opportunities to these incredibly talented young people who need a foot in the door and a warm welcome when they step inside.”
Kayjay McDonald-Ferguson, who is interning at saintnicks, is regularly sharing LinkedIn updates with brilliant behind the scenes insights from the programme. Here are some of his posts:
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Three of the interns joined the Bristol Creative Industries board meeting to deliver a brilliant presentation:
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Laurel is an intern at ThirtyThree.
Amy is an intern at Halo.
See a video below or watch it on Instagram.
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Armadillo discusses being involved in the programme.
On the workshop during which the 14 interns were selected, Rob Pellow, executive technical director at Armadillo, said:
“Meeting the potential interns and working with them in the workshop was an unbelievably eye-opening experience. Nothing had prepared me for the level of passion, curiosity and dedication to finding work that energises them.”
Megan O’Keefe, senior account manager, added:
“I’m really looking forward to being part of this project. Having joined the workshop, it’s clear how engaged everyone was and how keen to learn. There were some great questions so I’m looking forward to having some fresh perspectives and input.”
He is an intern at Atomic Smash.
See the full post on Instagram.
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“We are thrilled to introduce Ahmed, the newest addition to the growing Newicon team. Ahmed has just stepped on board as our Software Development Intern, armed with an innovative mindset, enthusiasm, and a resolve to leave a lasting positive impact.”
“Last year, we shared our ‘Guide to a fair and inclusive workplace’, that hopes to address some of the hiring biases and challenges that are also preventing diverse talent from receiving and benefiting from opportunities. It considers where best to post job ads that will reach diverse audiences and how to write job ads without using gendered language. This tackles the practicalities of promoting the opportunities, but we were also looking for our opportunity to be able to provide an opportunity. Cue fanfare. This is when we heard about BCI’s new internship programme.
“We are thrilled to have welcomed our first intern, Sara Matloob, to the Mr B & Friends team. With a love of baking chocolate chip cookies, Jane Eyre and an interest in copywriting, idea generation and marketing we’re very excited to have her join the team.”
To stay updated on the Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Main image credit: Alli Nicholas, Bristol Creative Industries membership manager
Second image credit: Eljay | www.instagram.com/Eljaybriss | www.eljaybriss.co.uk
Access Creative College, Condense and LocalGlobe are proud to launch the second round of their funded scholarship focusing on bringing live events to virtual spaces, starting 30th October 2023 and running until mid-February 2024. The scholarship was created to respond to the growing diversity problem within the tech sector and in metaverse development, relating to a lack of women and people from minority ethnic groups.
“The gender equity gap in technology is higher than in any other sector, with women holding just 17% of technology roles in the UK.”
The Chartered Institute for IT (2023)
“Less than a tenth (8.5%) of senior leaders in UK tech are from ethnic minority groups, a sixth (16%) of IT professionals are female and a tenth (9%) of all IT specialists have a disability.”
Prospects (2022)
In early 2023, 4 young Bristol creatives embarked on the first round of this innovative and unique scholarship with very successful results including one participant, Olivia, being offered an Accounts Manager role at Condense upon completion of the course.
“Participating in the Condense Scholarship allowed me to broaden my horizons, learn some incredible new skills, and contributed to shaping my future. It has opened doors to endless possibilities for my career. The knowledge, practical experience, and networking opportunities gained through the program have significantly enhanced my opportunities in the tech industry.” – Olivia, Condense Scholar, 2023.
Applications opened in July for anyone over the age of 19, with 8 spaces available on this intensive programme that takes in 3D modelling, Digital Graphics, Realtime VFX and Virtual Worlds, all funded by a bursary of £1800. Applications from women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are particularly encouraged.
Click here to find out more and apply.
Noble Performs Celebrates Five Years in Bristol
Digital marketing agency Noble Performs is celebrating five years in Bristol with a record year in business for its team, who have broken the £1million turnover barrier for the first time.
Established in 2018, Noble Performs was started in Bristol by US West Coast agency Noble Studios and Mr B & Friends, with one on-the-ground employee – current managing partner Kate Sikora. Tripling the size of the business during the pandemic, with significant client wins including premium footwear brand Rockfish, and Bristol’s beloved St George’s concert hall, Noble Performs is hoping to double the size of its 11-strong team during the next three years.
Built on the same ‘Be Better Every Day’ ethos as its US sister company, CSR has been at the core of Noble Performs since day one. During the last financial year, the business donated £12,000 of digital marketing support to local charity Heart of BS13 as part of its ‘Noble Deeds’ initiative. Recently launched, this year’s Deeds programme will receive a 30% increase in funds in line with Noble’s turnover increase, to support a local not-for-profit or registered charity with its digital marketing performance.
“I am so proud of all the team has achieved during the past five years and being able to give back to the local community and create more employment opportunities for others at the same time is incredibly rewarding, said Kate Sikora, managing partner, Noble Performs.
“Bristol has been the perfect home for us – it’s a thriving city with some great businesses and networks, but what underpins this is a real sense of community and collaboration and a genuine desire to do the right thing. This really resonates with our values and we’re excited to see what the next five years brings,” she added.
To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the UK team took a trip to the US earlier this month to visit sister company Noble Studios in Nevada. The celebrations will continue in September in the UK with the ‘Be Better Bash’ – a party for employees and their families, friends and associates of the business, and Noble Deeds recipients past and present.
Ahead of the festivities, Noble Performs will also host a Masterclass, where speakers will be invited to share a quickfire twenty minute ‘Five things’ session on a diversity of topics from AI to ESG.
More details on the Be Better Bash and Masterclass, including speakers and how to register attendance, will be announced in the coming weeks.
2023 has turned into another milestone year for ADLIB.
To recap:
In 2019 ADLIB became a certified B Corp, with a score of 82.3.
In 2020 ADLIB became 100% employee-owned.
In 2021 ADLIB launched the MotherBoard Movement.
In 2022 ADLIB broke all of its records.
In 2023 ADLIB recertified as a B Corp, with a score of 130.3, invested into HeyFlow and proudly refreshed our brand to reflect who we truly are today.
We’ve said for a long time that ADLIB is so much more than a recruitment agency.
ADLIB is a true talent partner, we go beyond candidate acquisition, we’ve created business solutions that tackle inclusivity, health, well-being and retention head-on.
We care authentically about the planet. We track and publicly report on our footprint, working with suppliers to support the regional business community.
All of which needed translating into our refreshed brand. From the look and feel, we opted for sustainable risograph techniques that reflect the business to perfection, whilst technically ensuring lean UX, negative space and page weights were priorities throughout our website build.
With our propositions growing at pace, geographical reach expanding into the US and influence happening at the government level, there has never been a better time to join ADLIB and make a difference.
BRAVA today announces the appointment of professional voice actor and performer, Sally Bailey, to the coaching team
Sally has been a professional voice actor for the last 11 years, working at a high level across narration, commercial and characters. Her impressive career spans over 30 years across radio and TV, starting as a breakfast presenter on Galaxy 101, moving on to co-host the network evening show, Core/Music Control, for GCap Media plc and then co-hosting the breakfast show for Capital FM, South Wales.
Sally moved to voice acting full time in 2012 and has voiced hundreds of commercials for clients including Pukka, GAME, Costa, Coca Cola, Thornton’s and Cartoon Network. Her TV presenting credits include a series of animations on historical figures for BBC Bitesize and documentary narrations for Channel 5 & Everyman.
Sally will join principal coach, Melissa Thom, as senior commercial coach at BRAVA.
Melissa Thom, CEO and founder of BRAVA said:
‘We are delighted to welcome Sally to BRAVA. She has been a colleague for many years and the breadth of skills and expertise she brings to our offering as a professional voice actor and performer, is impressive. She has exactly the right approach as an educator and is a genuinely lovely individual. Sally will help us develop our offering to provide personalised training in voice acting, at the highest level.’
Sally Bailey said:
‘I am over the moon to be joining the BRAVA team. Being a voiceover is one of the best jobs in the world and working with people embarking on their career is both tremendously exciting and a complete honour.’
To find out more about BRAVA go to www.brava.uk.com
We are super excited to be bringing MotherBoard events to Bristol!
When: Wednesday 19th July 2023.
What time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Location: Huboo, 41 Corn St, Bristol BS1 1HT
Drinks and pizza provided.
Speakers include:
Rav Bumbra, Founder of Cajigo
Rowena Innocent, SVP Engineering at Ultraleap
Chloe Allan, Technology Manager, Just Eat
David Maher Roberts, Managing Partner of Digital DNA & Founder of TechSpark
Join us for the first Bristol MotherBoard community event! This event will be a networking event, with a panel talk starting 7.30pm.
With 50% of women leaving the industry by the time they are 35, we will be asking the important question “how we can retain more women in tech”.
We will offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.
If you have not been to one of our events before, MotherBoard is a community, event series and charter for everyone who believes we need more support for women working in the tech industry. We encourage everybody to join who is interested in understanding more about how to drive inclusion in the workplace.
Please RSVP to confirm your place.
The world of work has changed in a post pandemic world, both in where people conduct their work but also how. The side hustle has developed into an increase in people working in a contract or freelance capacity in their day-to-day jobs, giving them extra flexibility in their lives and essentially becoming their own boss.
Many industries have been tapping into this resource for decades but for other business leaders this is a new experience with pitfalls to avoid.
Contract and freelance arrangements offer numerous advantages; expanding to meet workflow demand, bringing in specific skill sets, reducing the risk of hire and much more, the list of benefits are endless. However there are many other things to consider when taking on a contract/freelance placement.
Rates – One key consideration is the difference in rates between contractors/freelancers and their permanent counterparts. Contractors and freelancers can command higher rates because of their experience but also because the hidden costs of employment are worked into the rate, sick pay, holidays, pension, ENI and equipment. When evaluating the costs based on the actual number of days worked, the gap between the two options begins to narrow significantly.
Tax Implications – With IR35 legislation very much in the news over the last couple of years this can create hesitancy for clients wanting to engage with contractors. IR35 is an area of tax legislation designed to reduce tax avoidance and application of IR35 is intended to identify legitimate contractors and ensure all parties are taxed appropriately. IR35 has been around since 2000, so it’s not new legislation. It has been in the news because there has been a shift in the responsibility from the worker to the client, of who determinates if the role is inside or outside IR35. This in turn determines what tax needs to be deducted at source by the party paying the worker. There are caveats and exceptions for this where you are either a small or large company. A more detailed statement on the changes to the legislation can be found here.
Roles inside IR35 can be less attractive to workers who operate as a Limited Company, if the rate isn’t adjusted to take into consideration the extra income they will effectively lose.
Oscar Dixon-Barrow is an Associate Director of the International Creative Recruitment agency mustard jobs who have been operating for 14 years placing contractors/freelancers within thousands of firms, shares his expertise.
“Hiring contractors and freelancers can feel like a complex process, but it shouldn’t” said Oscar Dixon Barrow, Associate Director at mustard jobs “Our aim is to simplify this process for businesses, providing them with advice on compliance and access to top-quality talent. We are committed to helping our clients make the best choices when it comes to engaging temporary professionals. But don’t set yourself or the contractor up to fail. Make sure you have a clearly defined set of tasks/project to complete, be able to provide guidance and resources to someone, who might be dropping into your business at short notice, the information they will need to complete the project. And then ultimately there will be some questions you will need to answer on the size and scale of your business to determine if the changes in IR35 rules apply ”
In conclusion, taking on a contractor or freelancer can be particularly rewarding to hire at pace for niche skills, flexibility, short-term, and the management of workflow peaks and troughs, but navigating the tax implications can require additional awareness. This article just scratches the surface but if you’re looking for more advice or guidance on hiring contract across the creative and design industries, then reach out to mustard jobs.
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