10 years anniversary celebrations in full swing

A global gathering

Earlier this month, we hosted our inaugural anniversary celebration and strategy week to mark the special occasion of our tenth year in operation. From Monday 6th to Thursday 9th May, we gathered our international team together at an exclusive venue in Ferryside, South Wales, travelling from Cumbria, Manchester and Kent (UK); Hingham and Boston (USA); and Auckland (New Zealand).

A getting-to-know-you experience

The primary focus was getting to know one another better, with it being the first time our employees from disparate locations have met face to face. To maximise team building opportunities, we planned a series of activities including rifle and pistol shooting, paddleboarding and bowling, with plentiful downtime to chat, walk to the beach, play games, and enjoy food and cocktails created by our private chef, Kostas, who’d flown over specially from Greece.

As a treat, we arranged a mini pamper party run by mobile therapists who gave spa treatments from the comfort of our luxury courtyard premises. The swimming pool and hot tubs on site provided another chance to unwind in each other’s company.

A strategic gameplan

The secondary focus was strategising for the future of our business. Having launched in 2014 in the UK, later expanding into Ireland (2017), America (2018) and New Zealand (2023), we met to contemplate our first decade and commemorate expanding from 3 to 32 employees, growing from $200,000 to $3,500,000 global revenue, supporting over 1,500 law firms thus far in our journey, and discussing our next avenues of growth in 2024 encompassing Australia and beyond, and new products and services.

You see, despite these proven successes, we’re not sitting back on our laurels. We’ve got new starters coming on board soon and we’re launching into new territories. It really is a case of ‘watch this space’ to learn more about our ambitious goals over the coming weeks.

A year of celebratory initiatives

With 2024 being our milestone year, we kick started January promising twelve initiatives, one for each month, as a way of thanking everyone who’s made our first ten years possible. Of these, five are already completed or in progress, namely giving staff ten days off work over the Christmas period, throwing a tenth birthday party, showing ten acts of kindness, training staff in mental health first aid and recognising outstanding workplace performance.

To drill down into some of the detail…

Christmas and birthday festivities: Needing little expansion as the former (Christmas) is self explanatory and the latter (birthday) is the subject of this blog.

Ten acts of kindness: We’re engaging in community service projects to make a positive impact on the world and its inhabitants. These acts align with our company values of focus, collaboration, clarity, velocity, structure, excellence and ownership. From charity fundraising to volunteering, keep up with our kindness antics on Facebook and Twitter.

Mental health matters: We’re committed to training 10% of our global team as registered mental health first aiders so we can identify, support and promote good mental health internally and across our wider network. As well as raising £hundreds during our ‘Big Brunch for Mind’ event and donating £250 in the New Year to Mind, a four-strong team has undergone training by Mental Health First Aid England. Congratulations to Nicola Jones, Leanne Pearson, Alison Brown and Karina Grocott.

Recognition awards: In the run up to Wales, we polled staff in which individuals were most deserving of awards within several categories. Voted by each other for each other, we presented these awards in Wales, including the big award of ‘Team Player of the Decade’ given to Kim Roberts.

With five months of 2024 (and five initiatives) under our belt, we’re now in the process of arranging the remaining seven initiatives comprising share the wealth (profit bonus pot for employees and charities), ten-day employee challenge (outdoor pursuits in the Lake District), summer from anywhere (location-agnostic working), decade of impact report (corporate social responsibility statement), customer appreciation campaign (personalised thank you offers), time capsule (for opening on our 20th anniversary) and podcast series (with key stakeholders in the hot seat). Another ‘watch this space’ reminder to discover more as our plans unfold.

A moment of reflection and appreciation

We’re extremely grateful to everyone who’s been by our side these last ten years and we’re thankful to the people who’ve made the event in Wales so triumphant. To make a few mentions, sincere gratitude to Nicola Moore-Miller and Karina Grocott (planners extraordinaire), Kate & Tom’s (for hiring Courtyard Barns), Kostas Tarampikos (our Mediterranean chef), Glo Pamper (for our spa package) and every single one of the 32 people we’re lucky to call our employees.

A closing comment from our CEO

Nicola Moore-Miller comments, “I’ve been counting down to Wales for weeks. Logistically, planning has been quite tricky as our staff are dotted all over the world and our diaries are busy. I’m a proverbial Mother Hen and I’ve been eager to ensure perfection. I’m absolutely thrilled everything was flawless and fun and relaxed, which is exactly the vibe I was aiming for. For me personally, the highlights were seeing connections formed and memories made, as both of these are priceless.
“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and I’m excited at what lies ahead as our growth trajectory continues. We’re going from strength to strength, powered entirely by our amazing people, backed by our ever-supportive partners and clients without whom, quite simply, there would be no Jayva.”

Welsh corporate retreat: A week in review