PEN Partnership

Sector

Management Consultants

Location:

London

Established in

2012

Employees

Website

https://www.penpartnership.com

About us

We’re a specialist, independent management consultancy, focusing on Customer Experience, Operational Excellence and Change Delivery to help our clients create real, positive change.

PEN was established in 2012 with a mission to challenge the traditional approach to consulting. Since then our team of specialists has been solving client's problems across a range of sectors – from Financial Services and Pharmaceuticals, to Retail and Consumer Goods.

We take pride in doing what’s right for our clients – not how many hours we can bill them – and we only ever undertake work where we’re certain we can deliver a great outcome.

For our team we offer a unique environment, enabling everyone to do great work for our clients as well as helping them develop as professionals. At the heart of this is empowering everyone to do the ‘right thing’ for our company, our clients and us as individuals.

Awards

UK's Best Workplaces 2020 - Small (20-50 employees)

Rank 7

Excellence in Wellbeing 2019

What employees say

Since working at PEN I'm proud to say I've become part of the 'PEN family’'; this is a term I heard upon joining and has become so true! The family feel runs through the DNA of the entire business, from the all-company meetings, to days out of the office and events where we bring our families and partners along. These times and memories are so important to me.

The culture at PEN is something every member of the team plays an active role in creating. This mindset applies to the development of the business; with the flat structure you can shape any area you're interested in. I have accountability and freedom to drive change and grow which has helped me develop professionally and makes me feel valued.

Through our PEN Trust I feel I'm making a difference just by attending work. It’s been great to be closely involved with the charities we support, attending events that they run and getting to know them on a personal level. The desire to make a difference to others less fortunate than us is a core pillar of the company and again something I'm very proud to be a part of.

As the company is constantly evolving, it continues to provide me with new and exciting opportunities. I've developed new interests since joining and I've been encouraged, supported and accommodated to explore them to shape my own career path.

Talya Bernstone

Management Consultant

100 %

I feel I make a difference here.

100 %

Management shows a sincere interest in me as a person, not just an employee.

100 %

I am developing professionally working here.

100 %

Management is approachable, easy to talk with.

100 %

There is a "family" or "team" feeling here.

100 %

This is a fun place to work.

What defines us

Our culture is at the core of who we are and what we do. Our employees are our greatest asset and our culture is both defined by and driven by our people. We work and play as a team - we call it the PEN Family - under the firm belief that a happy, engaged team drives the best results for our clients, our company and everyone in it.

At PEN, everyone has a voice. Our leadership model is flat giving everyone the opportunity to be involved in shaping our business, whether it's in building a new proposition to take to market, interviewing new recruits, lending a hand with the charitable causes that we support or planning the next team social.

We have an appointed Cultural Champion who keeps us true to who we are and protects our great company culture, making sure that it adapts to and reflects the needs of the team.

We encourage a culture of entrepreneurialism and a family environment, where we help people to flourish both professionally and personally. Our promise to our people, written for all to see on our office wall is: "Together we will provide an empowering and supporting environment in which we all can flourish". The importance of this promise is underlined by everyone in our team signing their names by it.

What inspires us

We're extremely proud of the company we’ve built. We believe we're a team in the truest sense; we support, encourage and motivate each other, while enjoying ourselves and promoting a healthy work/life balance.

Our work is often challenging and demands the time, effort and commitment of our people. With success earned through the hard work of the whole team, we celebrate as a team. This is all about creating memories for our team and those closest to us. That's why our celebrations often include our partners and families too.

We're also motivated to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and we proudly donate 1% of our revenues (rather than profits) each year to our chosen charitable causes through the PEN Trust. Last year, that amounted to over £150,000. Each member of the team also receives a donation to make to a charity of their choice, often a cause close to their own heart. It's not all about cash donations though - we also give our time and expertise to help the charities we support drive their own success.

At a glance

Age of employees

Years with company

Gender ratio

Fulltime / Parttime

Action highlights

We place great emphasis on the professional and personal development of our people as the sustained success of our business is reliant on the nurturing of our team. We sit down with each member of the team and together we create a personal development plan that reflects their aspirations, growth plans and learning needs. We focus on a content-rich discussion rather than the process. We foster a spirit of ambition where all of our people are encouraged to learn, progress and develop their skills.

The health and well-being of our people is extremely important to us, more so in uncertain times. As well as the ongoing support of our mentoring scheme and the general support we provide to each other as part of a close-knit team, we've developed other measures to keep our team connected even when we're apart. This includes guidance on how to stay physically and mentally fit and healthy, and more light-hearted ideas to help keep everyone engaged. Like everything else we do, the content comes from the team, for the team.

Word from the top

We're immensely proud of the business we've built at PEN.

Our overall company culture and the emphasis that we place on the strength of the team and the 'PEN Family' are the things that set us apart. Our flat leadership model encourages everyone to take an interest in the running of the business and to have their say. We provide an environment where everyone can be successful, where we support and look out for each other and where we have a deal of fun together and with the people closest to us.

In everything we do, we focus on ensuring that it is fair and reasonable and that we always consider what's right for our clients, our team and our company.

Chris Gibson

Managing Director

Career and jobs

Application tips

When recruiting, we look for the best "fit" - people who will be a great addition to our team, live true to our values and engage with colleagues and clients at all levels. We need people who understand what we're building, see the potential and want to work hard to share in our future.

"What sort of people are PEN people?":

• Professionals who operate with absolute honesty, make realistic promises and are assured in the choices they make

• Consultants who quickly gain the trust of PEN colleagues and can empathise with those working on the shop floor of client organisations

• Self-starters who can operate autonomously with clients, outside of the ‘mothership’ consulting organisation

• People who will understand what PEN is about, want to share in it, and want to put in additional effort to help us grow

• Confident team players who'll make sure they're heard in a group, will blow their own trumpet, but know how loudly to do it

• Those with a good sense of humour: we want people who enjoy life more than work, and will not consider working for PEN as ‘having a job’

Our great workplace

PEN is a steadily growing family; a group of experienced professionals most of whom have worked for large consultancies and came here for something different. We maintain an informal atmosphere based on trust, understanding and honesty, where success and failure is shared openly and transparently. We don’t take ourselves too seriously - we're financial services consultants, not heart surgeons. We have Partners and non-Partners, but this isn't restrictive to what each individual puts into and gets out of PEN. Everyone is equally empowered to shape the future of the business.

We expect entrepreneurialism and open-mindedness in our people to be matched with resilience and strength in the face of challenging situations. The team is often separated geographically due to client work, but help and advice is always an e-mail, phone call or message away. We see work/life balance as a critical success factor, and embrace life outside of work as a PEN family.

Contact

Iain Main

Associate Partner

Tel: 07909 516560
Email: iain.main@penpartnership.com

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