James Timpson, right, with his father Sir John Timpson (Image: John Gladwin \/ Reach Plc)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n James Timpson is reading an email from one of his shop managers, asking for a second-hand car and a prom dress for their daughter. This might seem unusual for the CEO of a business turning over nearly \u00a3300million and employing more than 5,500 staff in 2,100 locations. But neither James nor his firm are exactly run-of-the-mill.<\/p>\n As well as operating Britain\u2019s biggest service retailer, rightly famous for pioneering jobs for ex-offenders, the 52-year-old is also de facto head of its inspiring Dreams Come True scheme and recipient today of several similar requests.<\/p>\n This employee\u2019s family car is on its last legs and they\u2019re struggling to find a finance deal, ahead of a driving holiday to Devon. Like many Britons, they\u2019re also feeling the cost-of-living crisis and wonder if James could help pay for a dress for their 16-year-old daughter\u2019s \u201conce-in-a-lifetime\u201d school prom later this year.<\/p>\n All in all, they\u2019re asking for around \u00a37,000 and, when I ask James if he\u2019ll be able to assist, he nods: \u201cWe\u2019ve done it, sorted it.\u201d Look away now if you\u2019re the boss of a major UK business without a similarly enlightened approach to employee wellbeing and customer service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe spend \u00a31million a year on Dreams Come True for staff,\u201d James reveals. \u201cWe do a lot of teeth. Especially when people come out of prison, their teeth are ruined. One colleague told me he didn\u2019t want to smile in front of his grandchild because he was so embarrassed. So it\u2019s six or seven grand a time. Teeth are expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also pay for quite a lot of funerals when colleagues can\u2019t afford to bury their loved ones. Or doing up gardens for the kids to play outside. Or the boiler\u2019s gone again. It\u2019s not always a matter of handing over a cheque, though we sometimes do.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the firm has a manual outlining how suppliers should be looked after \u2013 James\u2019 personal mobile is included so anyone can resolve an issue \u2013 I wonder what the rules are for the Dreams scheme? \u201cBasically, are they a good colleague who has been with us for a year or more and hasn\u2019t had another \u2018dream\u2019 recently. If so, we\u2019ll consider it.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps it\u2019s not surprising the Timpson Group, owned by James\u2019 father Sir John Timpson and founded in 1865 by his great-great-great grandfather, has thrived while many other traditional high street chains have foundered.<\/p>\n Not that it\u2019s always been easy. After a bout of boardroom bloodletting in the 70s, the firm was swallowed up by the late United Drapery Stores conglomerate.<\/p>\n Happily, James\u2019 dad, now 80, remained involved and, in 1983, led a management buyout to restore family control. Some lean years aside, and notwithstanding the pandemic, of which more shortly, the firm has been largely upwardly mobile ever since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n James Timpson is proud to run a company he says puts its employees first (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster \/ Daily Express)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n James, who took a degree in geography before joining the firm in 2002, describes himself, modestly, as a \u201ccobbler\u201d. Perhaps \u201csuper-cobbler\u201d might be more fitting? Not all heroes wear capes and the retail sector is badly in need of champions.<\/p>\n Anyway, we\u2019re talking today about his new book, The Happy Index: Lessons In Upside-Down Management, based on his 20 years at the helm. Some of the lessons will leave more dyed-in-the-wool chief executives spluttering over their cornflakes.<\/p>\n For instance, the business has pioneered a series of days off for employees, and owns 19 holiday homes for staff use.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to recruit people who buy into our values and our culture,\u201d James, a father of three, explains. \u201cYou need to do things that push the boat out for people to realise it\u2019s significant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started with birthdays off. Everyone wants to have their birthday off. And then a colleague complained that she couldn\u2019t get the day off and it was her kid\u2019s first day at school. So that was an obvious one.<\/p>\n \u201cThen someone said, \u2018I\u2019m becoming a granny\u2019. Yes! So we have grandparents\u2019 day. And now people say, \u2018I don\u2019t have kids, I don\u2019t get these benefits\u2019. So we do weddings, and pet bereavement days. Not many staff take the latter but for some it\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n The existence of such perks doesn\u2019t mean everyone takes advantage. Rather, they are a real and recognisable message from the company: we value your service and we want you to be happy working for us.<\/p>\n And the benefits for the business, it turns out, are enormous. Happy staff equals great customer service and employee retention levels the envy of the retail sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThis idea of bosses being kind is the most powerful marketing tool you can have, because you want staff to be loyal. It makes sense to look after people,\u201d James says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Prime Minister Rishi Sunak waiting to have a key cut by a Timpson employee in June 2020 (Image: Simon Walker \/ HM Treasury)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n A passionate advocate of what he calls \u201cethical capitalism\u201d, he blasts reality shows like Dragons\u2019 Den and The Apprentice for presenting a false picture of how businesses are run. \u201cPeople should love being there without looking over their shoulder all the time, thinking they\u2019re going to get shafted.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, he insists, work should be a collegiate, fun place. In an era when many feel retailers have sacrificed customer satisfaction amid a welter of cost-cutting and virtue-signalling, James is a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n \u201cAny organisation needs to have a strong culture. It doesn\u2019t have to be the same culture as ours. It\u2019s about values and purpose, but that doesn\u2019t work if you don\u2019t get the right kind of people.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are personalities that work well and we want a specific kind of colleague. We want someone who\u2019s fun, interesting, engaging, sparky \u2013 even eccentric. We can teach them the skills they need in our shops, but we can\u2019t teach them to have a personality. That\u2019s why you need the right kind of people and the right kind of culture. And when you put them together, it works.\u201d<\/p>\n A common complaint in modern life seems to be shoddy service and a lack of care for customers.<\/p>\n To add insult to injury, we\u2019re told things like self-service checkouts, automated phone lines and not taking cash are for our benefit.<\/p>\n James has noticed. He explains: \u201cBecause of the growth of online shopping, stores have come under pressure. So they\u2019ve been cutting and cutting and cutting. And when you cut costs, you reduce the level of service. Then you go into Covid, where companies made redundancies, and you come out of it and everyone panics because they haven\u2019t got enough staff.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of firms subsequently panic-recruited, got the wrong kind of people and haven\u2019t invested in the training.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Timpson has 2,100 locations across the UK (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster \/ Daily Express)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n That said, he points to Greggs, Richer Sounds, Halfords, Pets At Home, Hobbycraft and online appliances retailer AO as examples of businesses doing things well.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir culture is all about customer service. Get that right and everything else is less important.\u201d James, also chair of the Prison Reform Trust, estimates the average age of Timpson employees is around 32.<\/p>\n The firm tends not to employ many staff under the age of 25 because they don\u2019t stay long enough to make the training worthwhile. Ten per cent are ex-offenders.<\/p>\n James is proud other firms are now following in their footsteps.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re good and they work hard, they\u2019re loyal and they\u2019re honest, and they stay with us a lot longer than someone who doesn\u2019t come from prison,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the things we like is when someone\u2019s already had one or two jobs because they appreciate the benefits and the culture. If someone joins from school or college they take the perks for granted. We much prefer it if they\u2019ve seen what it\u2019s like on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n For a business that relies on footfall, the pandemic was a nightmare. \u201cPeople get keys cut is because they\u2019re going on holiday and they want to leave a key with a neighbour. They get their shoes repaired because they\u2019ve been walking in them,\u201d says James.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if we were going to do it again, I wouldn\u2019t do much differently. On day one, I promised everybody we\u2019d pay 100 per cent all the way through. I only thought it would last about four weeks. And it went on and on and was costing us \u00a31million a week!\u201d<\/p>\n One afternoon at the height of the lockdown, he walked around the firm\u2019s south Manchester HQ for a final time.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018We\u2019re in trouble here\u2019. So I took a photo of my office because I thought we\u2019d never be back again.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, dry cleaning hasn\u2019t quite recovered but it\u2019s the group\u2019s last core business \u2013 their main brands include Timpson, Snappy Snaps, Max Spielman and The Watch Lab \u2013 to make a Covid comeback. And unlike many firms post-pandemic, Timpson has a five-day office week for its 180-or-so HQ staff.<\/p>\n \u201cColleagues in the office are there to support colleagues in the shops, and the colleagues in the shops have to turn up. So we need to be there. Saying that, the office is fun: free breakfast, amazing gym, swimming pool. You can bring your pets or kids.\u201d<\/p>\n While he\u2019s reluctant to criticise working from home, he adds: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to know someone when you never see them. We\u2019re human beings. We\u2019re used to being together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n James Timpson owns his grandfather’s iconic Bristol 411 (Image: Supplied)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Despite the decline in town centres, hit by the double whammy of financial pressures and online shopping, James believes high streets will survive if they diversify: more services, entertainment, better \u2013 and cheaper \u2013 parking and housing. Asked what he\u2019d advise the Government to do, he shakes his head: \u201cWho\u2019d want that job?\u201d<\/p>\n But he points to the Apprenticeship Levy as unworkable and, although a supporter, fears the National Minimum Wage will squeeze mid-level pay unsustainably.<\/p>\n To relax, he plays dance music on his record decks and collects classic Bristol Cars from the now-defunct marque.<\/p>\n He owns six, including one of only a handful of Bristol Fighters (coincidentally, the boss of Kurt Geiger also owns one \u2013 \u201cHe makes shoes, we repair them, and we both own the same rare car. What are the odds?\u201d).<\/p>\n The first in his collection had been his grandfather\u2019s company car before he was fired by his cousin.<\/p>\n Knowing it had been sold back to the maker, James contacted them to find the vehicle a few years ago. \u201cThey called six months later: \u2018It\u2019s owned by professor so-and-so, in Maida Vale. He wants \u00a335,000.\u2019 So I bought it, a gold Bristol 411. Then I got a bit carried away.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike some firms that, post-Covid, continued minimum-manning, cutting benefits and shutting offices to squeeze higher profits, Timpson is back to business as usual.<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cWhen a business is run by the finance department, you\u2019re only going to go one way. It\u2019s just not sustainable. You want your business being run by the culture department and the inspiration department, so you\u2019re on the front foot.\u201d<\/p>\n And what better way to leave a cobbler than on the front foot.<\/p>\n The Happy Index: Lessons In Upside-Down Management by James Timpson (Harper-Collins, \u00a320) is out now. Visit expressbookshop.com or call 020 3176 3832. Free UK P&P on orders over \u00a325<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] James Timpson, right, with his father Sir John Timpson (Image: John Gladwin \/ Reach Plc) James Timpson is reading an email from one of his shop managers, asking for a second-hand car and a prom dress for their daughter. This might seem unusual for the CEO of a business turning over nearly \u00a3300million and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1023],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"James](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/James-Timpson-right-with-his-father-Sir-John-Timpson-5243993.jpg?r=1709311035975\" "\\"James")
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