It was Mental Health Week earlier this month, and thanks to our Culture Team and very own Mental Health First Aiders, we kept it simple with a picnic in the park. Giving us all a chance to go and touch some grass. Every so often, we put mental health in the spotlight at innocent to remind ourselves that not every day feels peachy. And just like we look after our bodies, we think our minds deserve the same care and attention. We offer our people 12 free virtual therapy sessions each year. But we also know it’s often the small, everyday moments that make the biggest difference. That’s why we run two mental health training programmes. One for managers and one for everyone, so that we’re all better equipped to have the right conversations and look out for each other. So, while we wait for the sunshine to properly stick around, consider this your gentle nudge. Pop to the park, kick off your shoes, and give that grass a go. Fancy joining our lot next time for a picnic and a game of rounders? Have a look at our careers page to see if there’s anything that looks like a match for you.
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As the story goes, back in 1998 our three original founders went to a festival with a simple idea and a big question: “Should we give up our day jobs to make these smoothies?” They put up a sign above their stall and asked people to vote by tossing their empty bottles into bins marked ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. ‘Yes’ won, and that’s how innocent was born. To celebrate that little piece of history (and all the brilliant things we do each year), we created the Bin Factor Award. It’s our way of shining a light on the year’s biggest and most successful projects, where our people cast their votes with empty bottles. Just like the old days. This year, the award went to a project based in the blender, our manufacturing facility in Rotterdam. Last year we made over 200 million litres at our Blender. The challenge? We didn’t want to stop at that, which sounds simple enough… until you realise that means more juice, more storage, and more capacity. So, we had to install extra tanks to hold all that juice. Easy? Not quite. Working around production schedules, coordinating teams across multiple areas, and managing a project of this scale takes an incredible amount of planning, precision, and teamwork. It’s a huge effort from a lot of amazing people. To everyone who made it happen, well done. You truly deserve the glory and nods of approval from your colleagues in the kitchen.
Saturday was Positive Thinking Day. So we asked our people what keeps their spirits high, and gives them the energy to do their best work. Some of them said pain, discomfort, and a splash of sweat. Okay, they said Pilates. But when you're 78 seconds into a plank on your lunch break you'd have a tough time convincing us there's a difference. Either way, some of our most limber employees swear by it, which is why Irem, our Head of Brand and Portfolio (and qualified Pilates instructor) started a club at innocent to share her passion and its health benefits with others. That's our Pilate goers after striking a pose below. We tried their routine. Humble pie was served shortly after. For the other bunch who didn't fancy feeling their hamstrings into next week, we offer subsidised massages, 10 free sessions of online therapy per year, and other important things like a wellbeing room. Let us know in the comments if you have any tips of your own, and if you fancy joining the Pilates party, why not check out some of the jobs we've got going on our website (link in the comments).
At innocent, it's not always fun and games. If you can look past the ping pong table, the foosball table, and darts board. We're a serious bunch, who may have also hired a few Guitar Hero and Mario Kart machines for the odd Christmas Party here and there. We like to win. But we always keep the triple win at the heart of what we do, it's what we call figuring out what's best for customers, innocent and all or drinkers. Because to us, winning means getting a billion more portions of fruit and veg into all of you by 2030. There's one thing that we can count on to help us win and that's Revenue Growth Management (RGM). Our RGM team might not be able to hit a dart board, but they're handy in helping us hit our goals, suggest smart growth, and make sure more good stuff ends up in people's hands. In fact it's so important that Adam (Our Head of RGM), facilitated a little masterclass here in Fruit Towers for us, and our group friends from Costa to get our people thinking about the bigger picture. If you want to work in a place where people go big or go home (does not apply on working from home days or a night at the pub), then check out our career's page https://lnkd.in/gfeMW-v and here's a link to the full post on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7361772521404203010 PS. We promise they're better at helping hit our targets than the darts board.
Interviews are as much fun as getting water in your wellies- just without the amusing squelching sound. So, we asked our really hard-working Talent Team to share some tips with you all. Actually, we’ve heard a few people say we'd be lost without them. They definitely don’t help write our LinkedIn posts. Anyway, Here’s some free advice for you lot. You’re welcome. Head to our careers page below if you fancy putting it into practice, and in the meantime check out our interview tips on LinkedIn.
ICONIC GROUPS OF FOUR. The Beatles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Our Werdah, James, Liv, and David. At innocent, we have a yearly 'Your Future' chat. A conversation all about development to give our people the chance to speak about where they see their careers heading, and give our managers a better sense of how they can support their teams. It's something we talk about a lot in our 121s, but we also wanted to give it that extra oomph with its own official yearly meeting. And as you lot might know from personal experience, it's tricky enough to decide on your next Netflix series, let alone where you want your career to go. So we did the only normal thing we could think of to help give our people some inspiration. We put four innocent icons on a career panel and threw a pizza party. It was an open and honest panel. Sharing their professional (and unprofessional) wisdom, lessons learnt, and how they took their career into their hands to really grow (up) at innocent. We wanted to remind everyone that our work journeys look like zigzags or spirals more often than straight lines. The same applies to life but we'll save that wisdom for the book we're working on. And if you see us in your future, check out the jobs we've got going. Link in the comments.
It's Mental Health Week. And it's LinkedIn, so you lot probably know that already. At innocent, we're firm believers in making sure our people look after their whole selves, all 52 weeks of the year. Life's a mix of highs and hiccups, and having the right self-care habits can make the tough times a little easier. Since we’re all different, we asked some of our lovely bunch to share their go-to tips. Hopefully, they help. And if you've got a gem of your own, pop it in the comments—we could all use a bit of wisdom for when we inevitably post that infamous Center Parcs trip on the wrong account again.
Here at innocent, being natural is one of the values we hold nearest and dearest. Our drinks and people wouldn't be the same without it. So, every year we come together on what we call our 'Nature Day', to learn about fruit and veg, and to say thank you for all the hard work that goes into getting us to a billion more portions of the stuff by 2030. This year, we sent them off to Fruit Camp. Think Scouts, but with fewer bears, fancy dress, and some questionable pictures in the group chat. Don't think our nan would be pleased. Check out the video to see what our UK and Ireland bunch got up to:
It's Autumn and that means one thing. Getting comfy with a cup of tea and pretending to do some work while reading our latest Q&A. This month we've got one of the brilliant minds and taste buds behind some of your favourite smoothies, our Rachel. So good at her job that when life gives her lemons, she adds apples, pears and a couple cucumbers and calls it a job well done. When she's not working her smoothie-making magic, she's inspiring her team, or co-leading our run club, Kensal Strides. Check out life at innocent in the article below. It might be one of your recipes that we'll be picking out the fridge next year.
