Podcast Episode 16 is out: Donald Moore from One + All

Podcast

By Lukas on 5 Jul 2023

One + All make children’s school uniforms, brilliant quality ones too. When you dig beneath the surface at One + All though, you’ll find a seemingly never ending list of ‘little bit radical’ changes and initiatives. 100% employee owned, certified B Corp, pay differential limits, certified carbon neutral…the list goes on and on. It wasn’t always like this though, the man that sent One + All on its journey to being a more radical business is Donald Moore. In this conversation he discusses:

How he’s proud of ‘not being very bright’ as it has led him to keep things simple in business
His distaste for traditional economics and business schools
How he’s always viewed getting fired as inevitable
The moment in the wake of the 2008 financial crash triggered a complete shift in company strategy towards a people-centred approach
How the shift increased profits five fold as well as customer and colleague satisfaction
Employee ownership and how it works
How to prevent your business from ever being sold against your wishes
His campaigns against ‘fat cats’ and executive pay
How they approach ‘reward’ at One + All, giving proportionally more benefits to the lowest paid
How supporting their team with financial wellbeing set them up to cope with the cost of living crisis
His campaigning on poverty and how misunderstood the issue is, including by B Corp companies
The reality of poverty in the UK today, from children pretending to eat at school, to the surprise items that are the most shoplifted
How all employers should pay the real living wage, but also take an active interest in what their lowest paid are dealing with on a daily basis
How he hates the term ‘HR’