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Posted by Sarah Brown on 01 Apr '16
An April Fools Joke? Ethical business
I was surprised today, on April Fools day, to hear Desert Island Discs was in on the act.
The castaway, a businessman, got ex-offenders to cut house keys, let staff set prices and spend £500 to solve any customer problem without reference to anyone, wouldn’t let managers tell people what to do and gave everyone a holiday on their birthday plus free breaks in staff holiday homes.
What a joke and he even said that doing good led to a successful business!
Who was the joker?
It was John Timpson of Timpsons but the joke is on anyone who thinks the ideas above are far fetched. Timpsons have over 1,400 outlets and last year made record profits of over £18 million up 38% on the previous year. 10% of the staff are ex offenders who provide great service and are committed employees. The £500 saves problems and staff are highly motivated because of the trust placed in them.
If you want to read how you can emulate their success and other inspirational stories you can pre-register for my book Being Good is Good Business and get a pre-registration offer - just email me. In the meantime you can find out more about how to track every element of being good here.
You can show your committment to being a responsible organisation by registering for our Responsible Organisation Charter(c).
