Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 06.04.2023 
Lightful on Our Nomination
“We’re thrilled to be shortlisted as finalists for the ‘Best Flexible Working Policy’ award. Our Lightful Flex policy empowers our team to tailor their work arrangements to their individual preferences and needs, including when, where, and how they work. The feedback from our team has been amazing and we’re honoured to be recognised now by the amazing panel of experts at the UK Culture Awards. We hope that our example will inspire more businesses to prioritise flexibility and employee well-being.” – Steve West, People Director at Lightful
Who is Lightful?
Lightful helps nonprofits develop the digital skills and confidence needed to tell compelling stories, build trust, and raise more money. We partner with individual and institutional donors to provide nonprofits all over the world with purpose-built online tools, practical advice, and tailored training.
Our Culture
We often say our culture is made up of two main parts – purpose and people. The nature of our work attracts certain individuals who share our vision to create a more equitable world through our work with nonprofits. Our people care deeply about the work that we do and that also extends into how they treat their colleagues. As an organisation we are committed to putting people first as we believe this enables everyone to do their best work.
Putting people first
This people-centric outlook has always been a driving force at Lightful and we’ve formally committed to this being essential to our ways of working through our B Corp accreditation.
We treat everyone as adults first and foremost, valuing their unique needs and circumstances. We prefer to have open conversations with our team and incorporate their input into our practices rather than making decisions at a senior management level and imposing them on the rest of the team. One prime example of this is our Lightful Flex policy, which offers our team a huge level of flexibility. If the last three years have taught us anything, it’s that there is a clear overlap between work and life and we believe that there shouldn’t be a hard barrier between the two.
We always strive to communicate transparently and purposefully, as well as listen to the views of our team. While we are not perfect, we’re constantly striving to find a good balance, and we’ve certainly come a long way over the years. This cycle of communication and feedback has led to many positive changes over time, one example being the refining of our benefits package. Our holistic approach caters to the varying needs of the team, supporting their mental, physical, and financial well-being.
Learning more about Lightful Flex
As COVID restrictions began to ease, many companies were talking about their new approach to hybrid working. For many, this meant offering employees the option to work from home for a day or two each week, but still required them to come to the office for the rest of the time. At Lightful, we saw things differently. We wanted to give our team members the freedom to choose how, where, and when they work, without forcing them into any particular routine or location. That’s why we created Lightful Flex, a remote-first approach that puts employee choice at the forefront. From there, it was just about being brave and exploring what else our policy could include.
We know that some activities are better done in person, which is why we bring the team together once a quarter for collaborative, creative, and fun activities that benefit from face-to-face interaction. For the rest of the time, we let our team members decide how best to work.
With Lightful Flex we’ve pushed the boundaries of what flexibility means in our workplace and we couldn’t be happier with the results so far – our team agrees. Results from our most recent engagement survey show that 96% of the team feel that they are “…genuinely supported when making use of flexible working arrangements.”
If you’re interested in learning more about Lightful Flex, check out our recent blog by Amy Hodari, our People Partner. We believe that flexibility is the future of work, and we’re excited to see where Lightful Flex takes us next.
What’s next?
Continuing to enhance our culture and refine our ways of working will always be at the forefront of our minds. For instance, all of our team were involved in the recent creation of our new values and over the coming months we will embed these values in everything we do.
There is no doubt that employee voice drives change at Lightful. Through regular engagement surveys we gather company and team data which we share with everyone which helps us continually improve the employee experience at Lightful and the work we do for our non-profit clients.
Want to stay in touch? Sign up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn
