The purpose of TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment) is to protect employees if a business in which they are employed by, changes hands; I know this well because I have been through the TUPE process several times throughout my career, and previously it’s always felt much like a business requirement – something that needed to be undertaken swiftly with little fuss and with the feeling of it being one-way traffic. However, joining Timico was very different.

From Day 1 of the acquisition, it was clear that Timico meant business. The message from the Executive Team was delivered with clarity, positivity and excitement. Our business had been acquired as part of a detailed strategic plan and was very much complementary to the existing Timico offering of providing Connectivity, UC&C, Cloud & Hosting, IT Managed Services and Security across multiple sectors and being the partner of choice for digital transformation and converged managed services.

The opportunities to expand services across our combined customer base was huge, and one that we could develop at pace with a smaller, more agile company heavily focused on mid-market customers. Personally, the most important thing that I took away from Day 1 was that Timico could see the value and opportunity in not only our business, but our people. It felt more personal, they had bid for us, they wanted us, and we were not just an inheritance.

In our previous company, we didn’t fit into the standard model, and the benefits and strengths in our people, knowledge, flexibility and agility were attributes that our customers came to rely on. This level of flexibility was sometimes difficult to sustain due to complex processes which were time-consuming and sometimes difficult to navigate.

Whilst the recent TUPE process, driven by the Timico HR team with support from Integration and Transformation Director, Kirsty Johnson, took 3 months to complete, I felt that we were part of the team from the beginning. We officially became “Timigos” on October 1st and it was clear that there was a plan, already being expertly executed. Staff were engaged and were asked for input on improvements and challenges – it did not feel like this was lip service. We were listened to and then, more importantly, we saw action based on our feedback.

I witnessed that from a business perspective, the Executive Team were keen to meet and build relationships with our people and our customers, not only providing the reassurance that might have been needed post-acquisition, but also inspiring excitement and energy about our futures together. It became clear that customer experience and partnerships is at the heart of Timico, which gave us confidence we were joining a business with a strong customer-centric culture.

Internally, we now see business updates that have meaning and relevance, and we are provided with training, knowledge, expertise and collateral on offerings to take to customers. There is a management structure that ensures collaboration with all workstreams, and an overall attitude that encourages positivity around what we do.

It quickly became evident that Timico value their employees and deal at a much more personal level than that we had previously experienced. There are incentives to reward great work and the opportunity to nominate others for recognition; I was lucky enough to be a recent recipient and was treated to an afternoon of Go-Karting followed by dinner and drinks with the opportunity to get to know other members of the wider teams. It was a great day, although the less said about my overall performance on the track, the better!

I believe the move to Timico brings great opportunities – not only for us to have the ability to grow our business and offer additional services and value to our customers but also for our people. To know that we are part of a team, we have direction and support and are encouraged to be empowered and enabled to succeed.

They say that positivity breeds success, and I for one, am looking forward to being part of that.