Podcast Episode 26 is out: Janet Leighton from Timpson

Podcast

By Lukas on 22 Nov 2023

Hiring ex-offenders, the importance of employee happiness, a business with no marketing department…

Timpson has been a fixture on our high streets since 1865 in the UK. In recent years, they’ve received acclaim for their approach to hiring ex-offenders. Now, 10% of their workforce have been given an opportunity after a criminal conviction. A unique ‘upside-down’ company, Timpson eschews many traditional business practices. For example, they don’t have a marketing and communications department. In this episode we meet Janet Leighton, Director of Happiness at Timpson. She discusses:

How she’s gained a reputation for being ‘bonkers’
How her natural optimism gives her resilience
How important it is to be yourself at work
How belief in people and being kind and considerate is a key to maintaining optimism in the face of challenges
What has kept her at Timpson for 20 years
How Timpson functions without a marketing and comms team
How to get an email reply from James Timpson, the CEO
Timpson’s unique ‘upside down management’ style
Her road to the role ‘Director of Happiness’
How happiness isn’t soft and fluffy
Their radical ‘in-house’ approach to everything
The day to day of a ‘Director of Happiness’, including what Janet was dealing with on the day of recording
How Janet deals with colleague issues from financial risk, to suicide
The importance of colleague wellbeing in business performance
How she feels the solution to financial wellbeing is not necessarily as simple as paying people more
What led Timpson to pay for colleagues family funerals
Timpson’s work with offenders and their approach to recruiting ex-offenders
Workers joining the company via ‘release on temporary licence’
How best to support ex-offenders entering the workforce
How they don’t use CVs and are only interested in ‘what you’re doing today, and what you want to do tomorrow’
The state of UK prisons
Some of the success stories from the prison recruitment programme
Her offer of help to any business who’s interested in starting a programme for people with prison lived experience