Great Places to Work 2009

Posted on 27/06/2009 by Matthew O`Neill
Lab Life, Lab News, Service Obsession

One of our more prominent missions is being a great place to work. In order to truly achieve the mantra of happy staff equals happy clients, we work tirelessly in pursuit of an almost utopian workplace. So it is with great pride that I can announce that IT Lab has placed in the Great Places to Work Institute’s “UK’s Top 50 Best Workplaces” of 2009.

See the full list here.

Featured below are two of our stunning business development managers, Helena Quinn and Sam Taylor, accepting on behalf of IT Lab at the awards evening.

You can read all about the Great Places to Work institute on their website here.

What's the opposite of a vicious circle?

Posted on 22/05/2009 by Chris Gilfoy
Lab Life, Service Obsession

It’s good to be back! Coming up to a year ago now I left IT Lab and went to head a department at a major international footwear brand. It didn’t take me long to realise I’d made a mistake, and that I was going to really miss ‘the Lab’.

My sojourn has allowed me to look at things with a fresh pair of eyes - so what’s changed in the last year? Well, there are a few new faces of course, but I think I’ll focus on what hasn’t changed. There’s still the great atmosphere in the office, for a start. It’s a hive of activity, with client focused conversations taking place here, there and everywhere. It’s genuinely great to hear that people do care about the people and the businesses we support, and I mean that in quite a selfish way – it’s easy to enjoy your job when surrounded by motivated, positive people.

The drive for Service Obsession™ hasn’t changed either, though it has ramped up several notches. I must confess to being a bit sceptical when it was first introduced as a concept a few years back (I thought the team might see it as a ‘name only’ marketing exercise, rather than an all encompassing strategy) so it’s fantastic to see it flourishing. In my first company meeting (everyone gets together over a couple of beers once a month to hear and report on performance) after rejoining I noticed how active and engaged everyone was. People want to go the extra mile, and are glad to see their colleagues doing the same.

What I’m seeing is progression rather than change. The team has worked exceptionally hard to drive IT Lab forward, and (continually positive) client feedback is leading to innovation from all areas of the business.

These innovations are implemented and so our service evolves - the opposite of a vicious circle, if you will. All the effort is paying off.