A great place to work

“Our vision is to make our mark as a Top 50 UK independent creative agency, renowned for design effectiveness, a lack of ego, delighted clients, and being a great place to work.”

– mark-making*

mark-making* is committed to creating a working environment that is fulfilling, inspiring, and encourages creative thinking and collaboration: one that banishes that Monday morning feeling.

The mm* office has gone through some transformations in line with this aim. The library is now a more relaxed space to gather your thoughts and get creative. And, most recently, the meeting room has undergone a pretty major refurb; making it a more welcoming and comfortable room for meetings but also doubles up as a break out area.

Focusing on the team as individuals, we explored what else could be done to improve mark-makers’ lives in and outside of work?

ChippyWellFest (CWF)

After working on ChippyWellFest, Steve and Ali were inspired by the messages and benefits at the heart of the event. And since Nick Parker, Founder of ChippyWellFest, was starting an initiative called MyHealthTribe, they decided to offer this programme as part of our employment at mark-making*.

MyHealthTribe (MHT)

MyHealthTribe is a programme delivered by a group of highly experienced local health and wellbeing professionals. It seeks to take wellbeing best practice and the results of research and apply it to workplaces. Between them, the Coaching Team have 11 professional health-related qualifications/trade body memberships and more than 38 years of accumulated experience.

“The aim of the programme is to support every mark-maker as a whole person, not just an employee, in pursuit of a life well lived and a job well done.”

– MyHealthTribe

Coaching team

• Juliet Norman, Nutritional Therapist
• David Shadlock, Personal Trainer and Life Coach
• Nikki Jackson, Yoga Therapist & Teacher, Occupational Therapist, and Mindfulness Coach.
• Nick Parker, Health Activist

Steering group

We have a steering group made up of self-volunteered mark-makers to be part of the quality control process that ensures that the MHT programme constantly improves and delivers for every mark-maker. They listen, report back on any feedback, and implement any agreed changes.

Shannon is part of that team.

“I’m delighted to be part of the steering group committee along with Emily B, Josh, Anna, Debs, and Steve. Having been a mark-maker for 7 years (mark-makers are basically my extended family), I like to think I have a good perception of mm* culture and how MHT will be a positive thing for the team.

Being part of this steering group is really rewarding, not only because I’m helping my colleagues, but also I’m helping mark-making* be a ‘great place to work’. Plus, I’m intrigued to broaden my understanding of mindfulness and nutrition.”

– Shannon

The taster session

On an (unusually) sunny Wednesday afternoon in February, the team headed up to the local community centre to take part in the MHT taster session for a prompt 1:30pm start. Well, that’s apart from Hannah who got lost on the way.

Loose clothing and notepad were all that was required. The Coaches introduced themselves and their specialities before giving us an outline of the programme. Activities included a full body shakedown, making theoretical meals from a list of nutritious ingredients, learning how to get up from your chair correctly and some relaxing breathing techniques.

As this is a completely non-compulsory opt-in initiative, the taster session gave us the opportunity to see whether this was something we wanted to pursue as individuals.

As a steering group member, it was satisfying to hear how many people enjoyed the session and wanted to participate further and I’ve already started taking notes on feedback suggestions from the team.

To our best health.