The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Aberdeen firm has the Appetite to be among UK’ s best for women
Aberdeen software consultancy firm Appetite for Business has been named one of the best places in the UK for women to work.
The Bridge of Don-based firm was highly commended in the prestigious Sunday Times Best Places to Work for Women category.
It’s also in the rankings of this year’s Best Places to Work list.
Appetite for Business – based at the Innovation Park – is a specialist in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint business software.
The company is owned and led by Sheryl Newman, whose past accolades include a business of the year title at the Association of Scottish Businesswomen Awards in 2019.
Ms Newman, who employs eight men and eight women, said: “I wanted to create almost a community.
“A place where people wanted to come to work, where they could thrive and had a voice to be heard and listened too and be their real self.
“I want people to come and excel no matter what. I think when you feel safe and are in a safe and protected environment that’s when you do your best work for customers.”
The annual Top 100 identifies UK organisations with the highest employee engagement and wellbeing, which in turn helps retain and recruit employees.
The award is based upon the organiser’s trust index employee survey and culture audit.
Ms Newman said: “As a small business you are always looking to keep learning and do better. This was a chance for staff to give anonymous feedback.
“I didn’t prompt them and told them to please be honest so we can improve and see how to do better.
“Going through the results in every category, bar one, we were 20% above UK average.
“Probably the differentiator is being led by a female.
“We bring very different characteristics to the table. We lead with empathy and kindness and vulnerability.”
Appetite for Business picked up a hat-trick of awards last year, including Best Digital Workspace at ScotlandIS’s Digital Tech Awards, Business Success Over 5 Years at the Elevator Awards, and High Growth Business of the Year at the FSB Scotland Celebrating Small Business Awards.
Ms Newman has also just employed her first female apprentice and is a keen advocate of women in the workplace.
She said: “I’m really keen to invest in the younger generation.
“Our new apprentice couldn’t get an opportunity and we could see in her what we are looking for. She aligns with our culture and values.
“Three of the team are mums and have said themselves they would never have got a job.
“We have been really flexible with the hours, how they work and have worked around them.
“I think mums are amazing. They are multitaskers and why not be flexible?
“I’ve always been a champion of women. I’ve done it for 25 years, been on so many forums beating the drum to get more women into business and the industry. I’ll keep doing it because I believe in it.
“It’s taken us seven years to get to where we are now and we are still learning as we go to keep being better, but I am so delighted that as a business we have been recognised in this way for all the team’s hard work.”
Brewdog also made the list with co-founder James
Watt commenting on his Linkedin: “We may not have always been perfect. Like any company we don’t always get things right and a fast-paced high-growth company is definitely not an environment for everyone.
“But we have always been fully committed to trying to always do the best we can by our people, from paying our commitment to the Real Living Wage to our unique company-wide profit share scheme; and from the £100 million of equity that I gave to our team to amazing signature benefits like paternity leave.”