UK Enterprise Awards 2018

34 SME NEWS / UK Enterprise Awards 2018 , Love Success offers a comprehensive range of services for candidates and businesses from various sectors across the UK. The award-winning company has even received formal recognition from the PrimeMinister. The firm’s co-owners Jane Atherton and Julia Vassie spoke to us about the reasons for the firm’s success. Best PA & Office Recruitment Agency 2018 - London Love Success: at the centre of the recruitment revolution Love Success offers a comprehensive range of services for candidates and businesses from various sectors across the UK. The award-winning company has even received formal recognition from the Prime Minister. The firm’s co-owners Jane Atherton and Julia Vassie spoke to us about the reasons for the firm’s success. The team at Love Success have won a number of accolades since the company was first launched at the start of the decade. Love Success was recently named as the Best PA & Office Recruitment Agency 2018 after being branded as the Best Female Owned Recruitment Agency – UK last year. The firm was funded entirely by Jane and Julia, who received no additional financial backing. Whilst their company has been featured in the Fortuna 50 Index as Top 25 fastest-growing female-run business, Jane and Julia have also been included in the Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite. The workforce is 90% female, with 40% of staff being part-time. Candidates include mothers, carers, dancers and actors to give just a few examples. Love Success HQ overlooks a number of prestigious London landmarks, including Big Ben, the Thames and the London Eye. Julia and Jane have been working alongside each other for more than two decades. Their average weekly client base currently consists of more than 200 clients, with 75% of staff being temporary or contingent in nature and the remaining 25% being permanent team members. The company mainly focuses on providing office support staff, PAs, marketing, compliance and HR staff, with salaries ranging from £20,000 to £75,000. A substantial number of renowned recruitment specialists work for the firm as consultants. Weathering the storm Prior to launching Love Success, Julia and Jane were two of the original founders of Huntress where they remained on the Board from 2000 to 2009 and eventually sold for £40 million reaching a turnover of more than £100 million. They have been able to use their vast experience, expertise and determination to weather multiple economic storms and attribute their survival to a robust business model. Love Success supply clients to companies and organisations from all business sectors. 70% of their client base are repeat customers. All candidates are met on a face-to-face basis prior to assignments beginning. A great deal of attention has been paid to the rising number of women in boardrooms over recent years. Although Jane says she would prefer for the figure to be higher, she says that there are still substantial obstacles to be overcome, telling us “recruitment in the commercial arena is generally female-led due to the nature of the jobs we fulfil, such as PAs and EAs, which tend to attract more females”. Julia says attitudes towards women in the boardroom still require improvement, with many in business not regarding females as natural leaders. Having launched her first business when her daughter was a mere nine months old, she firmly believes that “anybody who has the will and the get-up and go can do the same, but unfortunately the opportunities and acceptance of working mothers is still not as widely recognised as it should be in the UK. I am an advocate for encouraging all, whether female or male, to obtain greater achievements in promotion to manager and director level positions.” Fair wages and benefits for staff Whilst many businesses are benefiting from improving the gender balance of their workforces, Julia also has concerns about the plight of the self-employed contractor. Many newly-launched firms are relying on contractors to stimulate growth, and there have been several high-profile stories about workers effectively being paid below the minimum wage once the lack of holiday, break and sick pay is taken into account. Julia believes all staff employed by companies in the UK deserve to be paid for sickness and holidays, telling us “there have been several companies that have launched in the UK offering ‘flexible working/ self-employed’ positions when in reality they are not paying their staff or their taxes. I believe that anybody who sets up a company in the UK and takes on staff should pay their workers a standard rate of pay”. Love Success is committed to ensuring its temporary and flexible employees are paid a fair wage. The company pays all legislative costs related to NI contributions, tax, pensions and holiday pay. However, Jane tells us that many other firms are still failing to match this standard. She says their activities are preventing the UK from flourishing “as it should”. Soaring profits Love Success recently announced that their turnover UKE18061 firm’s co-owners Jane Atherton firm’s co-owners Julia Vassie