Best Employers 2021 winners’ stories – FutureYou Cambridge

We’re shining a spotlight on four organisations who won an award and accreditation from this year’s Best Employers Eastern Region. In this post we’re looking at FutureYou, a Cambridge-based company that produces and sells scientifically proven health supplements and vitamins.

FutureYou Cambridge won the award for best overall small company, as well as silver accreditation, at the Best Employers Eastern Region 2021 awards on Thursday 30 September.

What’s Best Employers?

Founded by Pure and psychometrics experts eras Ltd in 2012, Best Employers aims to help businesses develop engaging, inspiring and inclusive workplaces that bring out the best in their people. Organisations ask their employees to fill in a confidential survey which measures engagement, culture and values. The ones with the highest scores are then eligible for an award (based on their survey scores alone) and accreditation (platinum, gold or silver, based on their survey scores and extra evidence which our judges review). What makes Best Employers’ awards particularly special is that companies are judged by the people who know them best – their own employees.

More about FutureYou Cambridge

FutureYou Cambridge help people achieve a better quality of life through highly effective, scientifically researched supplements. Working from a scientific hub in Cambridge, they’ve developed close ties with world-leading institutions, and nutritional and medical experts. Putting their customers’ health and wellbeing at the heart of everything they do is one of the reasons they’ve been able to grow from a team of three to 30 in just six years.

Why did they win?

FutureYou Cambridge pride themselves on giving their people a positive and inclusive environment that means they love to come to work. One of the ways they increase employee engagement is through regular company-wide communication. They hold weekly company meetings – where they always include feedback from happy customers – and regular team meetings and individual one-to-ones. They send weekly email updates to the whole company to highlight the previous week’s achievements and use Slack for more informal updates. And their management team present quarterly ‘state-of-the-nation’ updates on different topics to the whole company.

FutureYou Cambridge make sure their leaders are active role models, leading by example and building trust with their colleagues. The company also understands that management skills are something all their staff can benefit from – so in 2020 they added these as key skills for everyone in the organisation to develop (not just line managers). They also give significant projects to people outside the management team when they can, to help them progress. As well as this, they design job roles to help people develop the skills and capabilities they need to achieve their goals. But they also ask them to take an active role in their own learning and development.

Company values are another important part of their company ethos. They make sure their people know and understand these, and follow them – even if doing so isn’t the easiest or most convenient thing to do. And they ask their staff to actively strive for high performance at all times. This includes looking beyond the current business environment to learn from the outside world and bring in knowledge to improve the company’s performance.

Teamwork is particularly important at Future You. They recognise, encourage and reward individual and team achievements across the organisation, and specifically recruit people who are motivated by team success. They also understand the importance of socialising at work for bringing teams together, and have a social committee that organises various different gatherings. Their office kitchen is always stocked with a wide array of free teas and coffees, fresh fruit and nuts, and they regularly bring in lunches for the whole team. During lockdown they sent out ‘pick-up packs’ to team members, which included chocolates, drinks, snacks and other goodies, and organised a weekly online quiz night.

FutureYou Cambridge also give back to the community regularly – for example they recently organised a charity dog walk in support of The Blue Cross. And their CEO has spoken at Cambridge-based events on different topics like raising funds for entrepreneurial ideas.

What did the judges say?

The judges were particularly impressed with FutureYou Cambridge’s honest and candid award entry. They singled out the weekly catch-ups and reflections the company carries out as a great way to get and keep positive momentum going.

Want to know more?

You can see a full list of winners on the Best Employers website or read our article about the awards ceremony. And if you’re interested in taking part in the next survey in 2023, please get in touch.