David Aldrich – Dotdigital

Celebrating 400 employees at Dotdigital

David Aldrich — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 13:43:07 +0000

Twenty-two years ago, Dotdigital was simply an idea discussed around a pub table in London. Thankfully, it still seemed like a good idea the following day, so the founders got to work.

Thanks to our people’s collective efforts, skills and vision, Dotdigital has grown to be a global company with an incredibly powerful platform serving customers worldwide from many international offices. So if you’re on a video call with Dotdigital, the backdrop could be London Bridge, Sydney Harbor, or New York City! I have been delighted to be part of this journey since 2013, and each year gets more rewarding and exciting.

This year we’ve hit the 400 employees milestone, which shows the scale of our growth. We’ve added 75 new people this year alone. Of course, in true Dotdigital style, we celebrated with an early finish across our offices and a party. We’re still looking for a pub table big enough. But we’re not stopping here. Like you, we have big plans.

East Croydon celebrations

London Bridge celebrations

Manchester office celebrations

Melbourne office celebrations

Poland team celebration

The South African office celebration

The Sydney team celebration

The team in one of our US offices celebrating

The original pub table lives in our London Bridge office, and we sometimes take it to events!

What’s next for Dotdigital?

We thrive on innovation and our sustainable growth model means we’re still recruiting whilst the broader tech industry may be struggling.

Put simply, 400 people is great, but we’re ready to welcome even more great minds to the business. We have many open positions across different specialisms, seniority levels, and geographies.

Join our APAC team as they continue to make waves. Roles are available in Singapore, Australia, and Japan.
It’s the same in the Americas – we need more people to keep up with our growing customer list.
And, of course, we are still the largest independent customer engagement platform in the EMEA, so we need talent in the UK, Poland, Netherlands and South Africa.

Check out our careers site for all live positions.

And if you’re thinking about joining Dotdigital, you can be sure of a warm welcome – still true to our humble beginnings. We have a culture where all employees in all regions and levels treat each other respectfully. We love developing and training our people, seeing them grow and have fabulous careers. And last but not least, we have a lot of fun whilst we work.

So if you or someone you know would like to be a part of our future, check out our careers page; we’d love to hear from you.

Feel good music and top tips to look after your mental health

David Aldrich — Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In aid of Mental Health Awareness Month this month, dotdigital’s newly formed wellbeing committee has shared some of their favorite ways to keep on top of their own mental wellbeing. Here are some of their top wellbeing tips and favourite feel good songs:

Brett Willis, Head of Customer Insight, EMEA

My wellbeing tip is to put some time aside to do the things that reward yourself and make you smile. This helps produce more of a chemical in your body called serotonin which in turn makes you feel better about yourself. Win-win. My go to feel good song is Happy by Pharrell Williams

Leah Phillp, HR Assistant

My tip is to say or do something nice for somebody else. Not only will it make their day, but it will also boost your mood as it feels good to spread positivity and be kind to others! I also like to do a few things every day that are dedicated to self-care, such as taking a walk, or a bath, reading, or spending some time meditating. Meditation always eases my anxiety and helps me to live in the present moment. My go to feel good song is Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader

Luke McCreery, Sales Consultant

My tip is to take time to have a few deep breaths. This helps calm everything down and reduces stress! Your body will thank you for it too! My feel good song is Everybody Dance by Chic

Paola Belloni Dwelly, Onboarding and Managed Services Manager

Top Tip: Fresh air and exercise! (walk, run, cycle, dance, you name it), it helps to get the endorphins flowing and snap out of that vicious cycle. Also, get on the phone and talk to someone, this always helps put everything into perspective. My feel good music is anything upbeat and electronic, or Depeche Mode are always a winner!

David Aldrich, Chief Human Resources Officer

My tip is to make time to do something you’re good at. If you’re good at something, you’re much more likely to enjoy it too! My feel good song: Space Cowboy by Jamiroquai.

Chante King, Software Engineer

My tip is to find a good spot of sunshine and bask in it for a while whenever you get the chance to, especially if you’re indoors for most of the day. I enjoy doing this and sometimes I meditate for a few minutes as well – reminding myself that just like sunlight helps plants to grow, it helps humans too. I visualize a wilted plant that has had little to no exposure to the sun, just start to thrive again. Exposure to sunlight gives you more energy and helps keep you calm, positive, and focused. A good song to listen to when you wake up is Beautiful Day by U2

Amie Lane, Head of Partner Marketing

My tip would be to listen to a good podcast – something that can open up your mind and lift your spirits. A couple of my go-to’s include:

Unlocking Us with Brene Brown
Feel Better Live More with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
Dare to lead with Brene Brown
Happy Place Fern Cotton
Not Perfect Podcast with Poppy Jamie

I don’t really have a favorite go-to song but this one just makes me smile and its distracting enough to lift anyone’s spirits – have a listen and go do the dance The Git Up – Blanco Brown

Aarushi Sawhney, Marketing Coordinator

My top tip is: Eat the rainbow (plants & veggies) & sleep well! I truly believe a happy and healthy gut leads to a happy mind. My song: Can’t Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake.

Julia Neuhold, Product Marketing Manager

My ultimate mindfulness tip is journaling. Most mornings you will find me bent over a notebook, writing down whatever is on my mind. If you sometimes get overwhelmed or stressed by the number of thoughts in your head, writing them down can bring some clarity and calm. Start by writing anything – and I mean anything. “I’m tired. I’m worried about my workday. I didn’t sleep well. Why won’t it stop raining? I made too many pub plans this weekend…” It’s all about getting it out of your head and onto paper. And if that’s not enough to bring me back to the present moment, I like to turn on some loud music and literally shake it off. Some of my feel-good songs: Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Like A Prayer by Madonna, or anything from Falco (any Austrian readers will understand…).

Phil Draper, General Manager EMEA

If it’s one of those days when everything feels a bit tougher than it should, I get comfort from cooking a new recipe with good ingredients to feed my family. For me, the act of creating something your loved ones can enjoy is soooo therapeutic and gives me perspective and balance. Talking (not just texting) with some good friends is a sure-fire winner too. Hunting out fresh sneakers has a place too! As for a track that always makes me smile, that’s a tough one as there are so many. A playlist that reminds me of good times (and I don’t mean the Chic disco classic) is always good, but if I had to name just one it would be O-o-h Child by The Five Stairsteps.’

Frank Brooks, Head of EMEA Marketing

For me, the best way to stay mentally fit is to talk, talk, and talk some more (shock right?) – but it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a specific personal issue, it can just be good to speak to literally anyone about your day, their day, something you’re pleased with, or something you’re looking forward to – it could be anything. I find just talking and chatting with other people helps me feel less caged with my own thoughts and allows my mind to focus on the positives. If you do have a particular issue you feel is really getting you down, it is true what people say a problem shared is a problem halved. My feel-good song is tough because if I’m not talking I’m blaring music as I work, eat, or gym but I think anything by Years and Years, especially King.

dotdigital’s feel-good music

All our favorite songs can be found in our new Spotify playlist. We hope it brings you a little happiness to brighten your day the way it does ours. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ADJmsB4mbrTTpxeI9Dx85?si=17e2224dd0124e12&nd=1

Wellbeing at work: how we’re protecting our staff

David Aldrich — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Why is health and wellbeing in the workplace important?

We can all agree that 2020 was unprecedented and as a result, we’ve all had to adapt to new ways of working. As we worked from home, in quarantine, in isolation away from our friends, family, and loved ones, it was time to encourage our employees to take some time for themselves, their families, or even their favorite worthy cause or charity. The CIPD report on health and wellbeing in the workplace in 2020 found that presenteeism – working while unwell or while on personal leave – was on the rise. With all our employees adapting to working from home for the last year due to lockdown, we wanted to do our part to support our employees and ensure this wasn’t putting additional pressure on our teams during these unchartered times. As an organization that employs over 330 people across Europe, Australasia, and the Americas, it’s our responsibility to educate and empower our staff to talk openly and honestly about stress and mental health in the workplace. That’s the only way we’re going to affect the cultural change that will help improve people’s lives.

What we’re doing to improve health and wellbeing in our workforce

Before, during, and long after this pandemic, dotdigital is well aware of the role it plays in looking after the health and wellbeing of its staff.

Wellbeing days

We love to encourage our staff to volunteer and support causes close to their hearts. But we also recognize that restrictions during times of lockdown, this has not always been possible. As a result, employees can now use those volunteering days and instead focus on themselves and their families as ‘Wellbeing days’. The purpose of these days is simple: to afford our people the time to support the family, friends, and worthy causes close to their hearts.

Mental health and wellbeing hub

As part of our mission to educate and empower our staff, we have an internal hub of resources around mental health and wellbeing. Here, our people have essential information at their fingertips, such as charities and organizations which can help during times of crisis and uncertainty. This is also where we host a variety of guides to help managers and colleagues identify the signs of stress, and how to manage stress in others.

Mental health awareness training

Working closely with the talented and experienced team at “Mental Health at Work” this month we delivered workshops to every Manager and Team Lead. These educational and incredibly useful sessions will help us support all of our employees and colleagues. Our Leadership Team of Directors also attending these workshops was a key element of this commitment, ensuring at every level of management is educated and support and understands what is mental health.

Community and clubs

Even during these times of separation, our staff are able to get together – in real life or virtually depending on local restrictions – and do the things they love with like-minded people. We’ve seen common interest groups creating engaging and entertaining communications and sharing in interests such as; Gardening, Wine, Books and Films. Clubs like yoga and running encourage the physical as well as mental health of our staff, while our dotcommunity and dotLGBT are there to support each other all year round.

Stress awareness month 2021

We want to encourage others – organizations and people – to actively talk about stress and mental health. The more we talk openly and honestly about mental health, the more likely we are to affect real change. At dotdigital, we believe that as an international organization, we have a role to play in helping our people to live their lives to the fullest. If we can start conversations that instigate cultural change and remove any stigma attached to stress and mental health, we will. We hope that seeing what we’re doing empowers you to start the important conversations that need to be had.