Building a Workplace Where People Can Be at Their Best 

I started working in Zinkworks back in 2018 when it was established, as a part-time administrator, which quickly became full-time as the company grew. As Zinkworks scaled, I moved into line management with a clear directive: take care of our people. At this point I had to take a step back and think about this and it fell back to how I would like to be treated. Treat others like you would like to be treated is a solid mantra in life. That was when the culture of Zinkworks really began to take shape.

What Taking Care of People Means 

For me, taking care of people is about being available, understanding, empathetic, a good listener, and, quite simply, being nice and kind. These may sound like small things, but they helped build the foundations of a strong culture in Zinkworks.

Becoming More Intentional

As the company continued to grow, we reached a point where we needed to be more intentional about what we stood for. That’s when we defined our vision and principles:

“Building a Community Where People Can Grow and Be at Their Best”.

Our Principles, Teamwork, Learning and Professionalism.

This vision and these principles underpin our culture and everything we do, from how and who we hire, to how we lead, to how we support one another.

At its core, it is about helping people grow and become better than the day they walked in the door, and just as important ensuring that when they come to work, they feel safe, valued, and seen. A great workplace isn’t defined by perks, fancy offices or big slogans. It’s defined by how people feel when they come to work every day.

We’re not perfect, but we strive to be. Culture isn’t something you write down and complete, it’s something you build and protect, especially as the company scales.

Scaling Culture

As we’ve grown, the focus has shifted from building our culture to actively protecting and scaling it.  My role as COO is to be the driver and protector of our scaling culture and our biggest challenges isn’t delivery, hiring, or operations, it’s protecting what makes Zinkworks, Zinkworks.

Culture naturally starts to dilute as you scale. You bring in new people, new leaders, and new ways of working. If you’re not intentional, the things that made the company special can get lost.  For us, scaling culture means being deliberate:

• Hiring for culture & values as much as capability
• Equipping leaders to lead with the right principles
• Staying close to our people as we grow, intentional communication and connectivity
• Being consistent in how we support and develop people, our managers, our leaders

Because at this stage, culture doesn’t scale by accident, it scales by design.

A Proud Moment

Being certified as a Great Place to Work was such a proud moment for Zinkworks. It validated what we’ve been building, not just through words or biased views, but through the experience of our people. I am beyond proud of our culture, our diversity our innovation and that is all down to the people in Zinkworks, not one person but everyone as a collective and this is what has driven our success.

For me, culture has always come back to one simple thing – how people feel when they come to work. As we continue to grow, the goal doesn’t change. We just have to be more deliberate about how we protect it. If we can keep that right, we won’t just scale the business, we’ll scale what makes it a great place to be.

If our approach to culture resonates with you, discover more about life at Zinkworks and explore career opportunities on our careers page.