Why our company values matter

I’m currently in my third week of my internship at Torchbox and feel I’m already part of the team. Every new person who joins gets an induction on our company values. This is the first company I’ve worked at that has done this and I think it’s brilliant.  

Olly, one of our founders, first published our values in 2015 (with a few tweaks made in 2019). There are a few that really resonated with me:

Make the world better…

One of the main reasons I wanted to work at Torchbox was because of the clients they choose to work with. A predominant part of their clients are non profit organisations that make the world a better place. Being a part of this is so rewarding. 

They’re also conscientious about their footprint as a company and try and be as sustainable as possible. When Greta Thunberg came to Bristol we were encouraged to head down to go and see her talk (if we wanted to). It’s inspirational to see someone so young try and make a difference. 

Always learning… 

Torchbox encourages a culture of feedback and believe it’s important to give positive as well as constructive criticism, which is great, as I believe that continuously learning is a fundamental part of any job. 

Every Wednesday we all come together for a team meeting and kudos cards can be given out, providing the opportunity to reward your colleagues if you feel they’ve gone above and beyond. And after the meeting we all have a delicious team lunch together.

Finally…

Last year Torchbox become employee owned, handing over ownership to the employees, in the hope that the values of the company will remain engrained and not be lost by selling up. Torchbox also made the top 100 best companies to work for 2020, with a 3 star level of accreditation based on the level of engagement from the team. The team unite around a common set of principles and ideas. I believe this will affect the way I work in a very positive way and they will guide me to becoming a better person.