How We Find Our Spark At Utility Warehouse

Libby Townsend, Chief People Officer, Utility Warehouse

Libby Townsend, Chief People Officer, Utility Warehouse

Utility Warehouse (UW) is a great British success story. From humble origins in a pub in Henleyon-Thames just outside London, UW is now an FTSE 250 company providing more than 800,000 customers with their energy, broadband, mobile and home insurance

As the cost of living pressures continue to bite, people are increasingly turning to UW and we are on track to secure an extra million customers in the next four to five years.

At the heart of UW, is our unique word-of-mouth model - a growing network of more than 50,000 Partners who recommended UW to their family and friends. Our Partners earn commission every time they sign up a new customer.

In this high-growth environment, our number one business priority of building a great culture and environment for our employees is more important than ever.

We have more than 2,000 employees in a hybrid working environment, based at offices across the country as well as working from home. Their collective efforts in driving the business forward and providing best-in-class service underpin everything we do. For our part, we must do all we can to attract, develop and retain the talented people we need to achieve our long-term goals.

As we continue to grow at pace, we’ve had to change the way we learn at UW. That’s why we created Spark, our new approach to learning that champions our entrepreneurial spirit and uplifts our people alongside the business.

Spark enables our employees to access the tools and resources that will help them to constantly raise their game and find their own individual ‘spark’ by learning their way through inclusive, accessible and bite-sized content on a dedicated digital platform

“We developed Spark, a new approach to learning that champions our entrepreneurial spirit while also uplifting our people”

This includes everything from learning journeys for our leaders, professional qualifications and dedicated coaching programmes to online influencing, storytelling, technology, marketing and commerce courses. Spark has also evolved to support our Customer Service teams with their growing learning needs.

Critically, however, we also view Spark as a mindset where we encourage our people to connect, learn and grow. Spark has been designed to offer opportunities for all and help improve the experience of everyone, regardless of where they are in their career journey, from new joiners and future leaders to our current leadership team.

Although Spark was only launched earlier this year, feedback from teams across the business has already been positive. Our people have welcomed the fact that content on Spark is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Similarly, we encourage our people to share their stories on how Spark has helped them on their learning journey. We want our employees to tell new starters and prospective hires how Spark is another great reason to come and work at UW.

In doing so, Spark is helping us future-proof the business by developing the skills needed for today and tomorrow, while also changing the way we learn at UW - shifting from an activity mindset to an impact and value mindset.

This reflects the same ‘go-getter’ mentality that has helped us evolve and grow our business from its small-scale beginnings more than two decades ago to the successful dynamic company it is today

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