Our MD Julian Thompson reflects on the previous year and shares his goals for 2023

The last year feels like a hurricane, whether we have processed it or not, with a year of more pressure and stress to catch up on time lost during the Covid years. From personal missed family events or lost time with friends, school functions and exams to businesses working harder to catch up on pre pandemic performances.

The natural by-product of fighting a hurricane is exhaustion, so I’m not really surprised to hear so many people including myself, tell me how utterly tired they have felt throughout the year, while our immune systems have continued to fight off various coughs and colds. So, we must be gentle with each other and take time to remember how much we have been through over the last few years.

As a business we made a miraculous recovery from Covid saving over a half a million pounds in overheads during the first year of Covid and have continued this trend of running a tight ship ever since, now slowly rebuilding where we left off and we are beginning to see the fruits of this hard work. Teamwork has never been more important to help us get through these years together and I am immensely proud of our team and all we have achieved together.

Our finance department gets slicker each year improving efficiencies with smarter processes or systems, analysing and reporting on information to help us increase profitability. We moved the Amesbury and Bristol offices to nearby fully serviced branches saving half the rent this year and the industrial sectors across the business have performed very impressively too compared to previous years. Our permanent recruitment has also been strong this year and something we plan to develop again in the year ahead, with demand for this increasing due to the national skills shortage. Quality and compliance remain an integral part of daily businesses processes and I’m pleased with the way our team prioritise this activity.

In recruitment we are privileged to meet so many different splendid people and play a small role in their lives, often providing a steppingstone to their next destination. It’s not until we take some time to breathe for a moment and reflect on the year gone by that we can truly appreciate these pivotal moments. One of these moments were highlighted in a review we had from a member of the team at Wiltshire Council thanking us for the great work we did supporting several refugees from Ukraine and Syria into work locally so they can start a new life with their loved ones.

There are special people in my team who have been with me for many years and continue to have a significant impact on my professional and personal life. There are also some newer people who have joined us over the last year, watching and learning from colleagues around them, all pulling together in the same direction so that we can achieve shared goals.

I love nothing more than to see people around me succeed in life, reaching new goals such as passing a driving test, buying a home or new car, booking that fabulous holiday, getting married, having a baby, or progressing in their careers with new qualifications and promotions. This year I am pleased that we have been able to support internal staff through new qualifications including ILM, health and safety certifications, as well as a few internal promotions and have apprentices working towards their?MREC qualifications. As an employer I am extremely privileged to witness these life events closeup and help people achieve them, watching them grow in confidence transforming into a stronger better version of themselves.

We also have some very experienced and steady people in the team who consistently deliver a great service to the business, shining very brightly by helping other people grow and I’m glad to have them by my side, working together to overcome challenges or supporting them through a tough time in their lives.

I’ve met new people this year who have enhanced my life too and feel especially grateful for the supportive peers in?TEAM?where we share knowledge of best practice as independent recruiters, and I was delighted to be invited to become a regional Director for them this year. Joining a special early morning?BGG networking?group on a Friday has been another source of great new friendships with like-minded business owners, where we share referrals or chat through a business-related problem with someone who might have more experience.

What does 2023 hold for us?

In the year ahead, we will remain mindful of the looming recession, but we will be focussed on working with the team to develop a new vision for the business, succession planning, leading to less involvement from me in time as well as developing a more empowering management style to help our colleagues achieve greater goals. I’m looking forward to our team day in April when we will share these goals together and discuss a potential fourth office, I have my eye on!

As, with all businesses we must remain ahead of the game with new technology, and we continue to investigate the latest CRM improvements from specialist suppliers in our industry. We will boost our Healthcare and Driving divisions with additional staff resources and welcome an opportunity to speak to people who might be interested in our joining our team across these sectors.

I’m also very mindful of the cost of living and would like to help my staff as much as possible with this, so a pay review is very much on my mind as well as balancing this with other rising costs in the business such as energy which has more than doubled for us together with everyone else. We are also investigating recruiting candidates from abroad and working with legal sponsorship specialists to help explore these opportunities for our clients.

My Personal Goals

For years now I’ve used this time of year not only to reflect on the year gone by professionally but also to consider the year ahead and how best to achieve personal goals using a framework across core areas in my life. I’m happy to share some of this with you and hope this provides some encouragement to do this for yourself - It’s said that we are nine times more likely to achieve our goals when they are written down!

Health:

Some of you will know that I gave up alcohol completely for almost two years as well as introduced a strict exercise routine working with a?great personal coach?which significantly improved my mental health too. I’m a creature of habit and love a good routine so will continue this regime and do my best to maintain sub 85Kgs, including four early morning weight training sessions, two bike rides with my loyal buddies aiming for 60 miles per week and 10,000 steps per day.

Adventure:

We had an epic year of adventure in 2022 following my favourite band the Red Hot Chili Peppers to various gigs around the world to celebrate my 50th birthday. This may be hard to top but I’m pleased that I already have tickets booked to see them in June in London again. My youngest son is taking a trip to Japan when he completes his shoe design course at Uni this year and would like to climb Mount Fuji, so we will be taking him for a long overdue training trip to climb Ben Nevis where I plan to do the famous picturesque steam train trip from Fort William. Perranporth, in Cornwall has crept into my heart over the last 23 years of visiting, making friends with various locals and I look forward to this trip with the family at the beginning of the summer holidays. We try to visit one new country each year and would like to treat my wife to a trip for our wedding anniversary, so look forward to researching this in the months ahead. I achieved a long-term goal to pass my motor bike licence in 2022 and would like to take my enhanced police safe riding course this year to build on this in 2023.

Relationships:

None of us are getting any younger and I am increasingly conscious of this with my parents so would like to spend more time helping where I can and especially persuading my dad to retire, which won’t be easy!

Children of course also need parental support, no matter how old they get, and I know my wife talks about an old lady she once heard saying that at last she could rest in peace after getting her youngest son into a nursing home. My boys are growing up and I feel super proud of the young men they have become, taking control of their futures in different ways with new careers, setting up home or reaching out to explore the world. I will continue to provide this support in guiding conversations and being there when things go wrong.

It's no secret that my daughter is the apple of my eye and at almost 14 years old, I’m mindful of how much she needs our support to navigate the complex world of school and adolescence. I love watching her play sport from hockey to running, sailing, and climbing she is always willing to try something new, often underestimating her own ability. She is incredibly creative and famous for making amazing cupcakes as well as great at DT, which I like to think she gets from me! I will be supporting her with GCSE options this year and helping her deal with confrontation, which she is starting to get better with.

My wife is like the buttons that holds it altogether in our home and supporting me behind the scenes professionally. Making sure I give her time to walk and talk (a LOT) as well as helping in the home is key to keeping her love tank topped up. After nearly 30 years of marriage, we know each other well and I feel incredibly lucky to have her by my side navigating the roller coaster of life together.

Professional Development:

Professionally I was pleased to be invited to join the executive board of TEAM as a regional director in 2022 and plan to invest more time learning from my peers in this group as well as sharing my knowledge with new recruits to our 33-billion-pound industry and the other business owners, I have met from my?BGG networking?group. It’s only when we start to look back on our careers that we see people who were key influencers in shaping our lives and I have so many people to thank for this. I’d like to think that my support as an employer helps to shape my staff’s careers now and hope I can be a source of support and encouragement to them throughout 2023 by investing my time in them.

Home Improvements:

I converted my garage into a gym during the pandemic and have really loved having this facility at home but would love to improve this with some additional equipment and make it warmer to train in the winter months. We toyed with the idea of moving for a while but have decided to stay where we are for now so would like to have a new fireplace installed and have started planning some alterations to the kitchen, which I hope we can undertake this year if finances allow for this.

Thank you for taking the time to read my reflections and goals which I hope has been helpful in some way. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support as a client, candidate, supplier, colleague, or friend of the last year and wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023!

Julian Thompson FIRP