James Timpson
@JamesTCobbler
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Chief Exec #Timpson Group. Cobbler, prison recruiter, Chancellor Keele University, Chair Prison Reform Trust. Order THE HAPPY INDEX:
Manchester
Joined October 2013
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Instead of making offenders wear high viz jackets in chain gangs, how about helping them get a real job instead? In my shops we employ lots of ex offenders and they wear a shirt and tie. Same people, different approach, a much better outcome.
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If you find our shops a bit short staffed this week, I’m sorry. We have a colleague benefit where you get an extra day off when your kids have their first day at school, so a number of colleagues are doing a very special job away from their shops!
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We are temporarily closing all our 2150 shops by Monday March 23rd at 5pm, and going in to hibernation...we hope it won’t be for too long. All our wonderful colleagues will remain on full pay, and will look forward to seeing you when we re open. Thank you.
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Our colleagues get an extra day off when their kids have their first day at school, so you may notice a different colleague in your local Timpson shop next week, helping cover for this important day in a families life.
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The furlough top up for our colleagues to 100% of pay costs us £500,000 a week, not £500,000 a month as it says in today’s Sunday Times. It’s worth every penny to help our colleagues and their families through some tough weeks.
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This is a busy time of the year for colleagues at Timpson to get married, so it’s great to be able to give them an extra weeks holiday (fully paid), £100 towards the flowers, and provide a nice car and driver to be used on the special day.
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From today all my colleagues can claim on expenses their prescription costs when they are recommended HRT. It’s so important that we support our colleagues going through the menopause.
#menopauseday
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Good news! We have bought our 17th colleague holiday home, this time in Great Yarmouth. We now have 643 weeks a year for our amazing colleagues to have free holidays next year with their family and friends. Looking after colleagues is the best investment we make.
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I met a customer today who told me they used our offer of free dry cleaning for their interview…and they got the job!
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Just met a young man who took us up on the offer of free dry cleaning for his interview clothes…and got the job!
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A colleague Steve, who’s a serving prisoner on day release, saved a customers life yesterday when they had a heart attack while shopping. His quick thinking, and past career as a paramedic, ensured the customer survived and is doing ok. Thanks Steve for being amazing.
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Despite the challenges we've faced during 2021, when a lot of our business was shut down, we've still managed to recruit 54 prison leavers in to our business. I hope we can offer even more people a second chance next year.
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This is a clocking in and out machine. Every business we have taken over had these, and we have removed them all on day 1. We trust our colleagues to do their job...we don’t need machines like this to check up on them.
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Any colleague who gets invited to have the COVID vaccine can go in company time and at full pay. Please just mention this to your Area team and they will arrange cover for you to go!
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It’s amazing what prisoners can make while inside. This is our kitchen table that was made by the talented men in HMP Frankland. Thanks guys!
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Here’s a letter that is published in today’s Times…a lifetime ambition fulfilled!
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Off to prison today to look for some future colleagues. From experience I know I will find some talented, ambitious and hard working people who want a second chance. I’m here to find them.
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At Timpson we like to do things for free…all we ask is for a small donation to the Alex Timpson Trust. My late mother was a passionate foster carer, so all the money raised, plus a chunk we put in on top, has paid for 111 foster families to go on holiday this year. Thank you!
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A message for my Max Spielmann colleagues in Wales who will be closing their shops for the next 17 days. Don’t worry about your pay...you will receive 100% of your salary until we reopen again. Stay safe and thank you for all you’ve done this year.
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I’m thinking of changing our job descriptions by removing most of the things that are irrelevant. So instead of the “HR” tick box things, I want to include “be kind to people,” “pick up litter” and “if someone needs help, drop everything and help them.” Good idea or not?
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This is how I try to do my job in leading the company with a culture of trust and kindness.
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WOW! 100k followers. Thank you so much for being part of my life to make the world a better place, where values and kindness shines through. 🙏🏻
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Good news from our pub The Partridge in Warrington. Half of the kitchen team are colleagues who are still serving their sentences at HMP Thorn Cross. By gaining skills while still in custody, we can help them get great jobs when they finally go home.
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Here are the extra days off you get at Timpson
Birthdays
Kids first day at school
When you become a granny or a granddad
Pet bereavement
Wedding (an extra week off)
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Sad to hear an ex colleague who I first met in prison has passed away. I remember the Governor telling me “if you can give this guy a job and he stays, I will be amazed. It’s impossible.” He stayed with us for 7 years and was a great hire.
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Good news. Now our shops are all open we are recruiting again, so if you know of anyone with a criminal conviction, who has an amazing personality and is looking for work, please contact
@darrenburns60
so we can sort an interview out.
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Good news…we are finding it harder to recruit great people from prison because so many other companies are now knocking on their doors too. That’s what I can a nice problem to have!
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Our colleagues get an extra day off when their kids have their first day at school. It’s such an important day for any parent, and one not to be missed! As a result you may see a different face behind the counter as we juggle our teams around to ensure every shop is open.
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A huge “thank you” to my wonderful colleagues for achieving a record week…double digit up on last year! Have a rest and enjoy time with family and friends. And a big shout out to 86 of our colleagues who’ll be in prison over Xmas, back in the shops on the 27th on day release.
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It’s amazing that I have now have 150,000 followers who, like me, are passionate about running a business through kindness, recruiting people from prison who need that second chance, and are prepared to put values before profit. Thank you for following!
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Are we the only company who encourages its colleagues to do things for free for our customers? It’s so important to be kind and generous, even if we make no money out of it! Customers remember kindness above anything else.
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18 months ago I set up the 1st prison Employment Advisory Board (EAB).Now all 92 release prisons in England and Wales have EAB’s,led by inspirational Chairs who help develop long term cultures of employment in the system,and get people jobs on release. Thanks for believing in me!
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This morning Zak cut the ribbon on his new shop we’ve opened in Helsby. The good news for Zak is it’s his first management role. The bad news for Zak it’s now our new local Timpson shop…only 5 minutes from our home! Good luck on your new adventure Zak.
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Good day on shop visits in Kent. I met 4 colleagues in our shops who are still serving their prison sentences, visited our academy where we train day release men and women, and 3 colleagues who are now released. All great people who we are lucky to have as colleagues.
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Virgin Rail at Euston. Why do you stop a 15 year old girl at the barriers (who has a valid ticket) from traveling home. You say she has no ID to prove how old she is. It’s 7pm and she is alone now at the station. When did you have to prove how young you are? You are a disgrace.
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The Alex Timpson Trust has paid for over 60 foster families to go on holiday this year, and 542 Timpson colleagues will have been to one of our own holiday homes by the year end. Thanks to Martine and the team for making it all happen!
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Update on Zak in his new Timpson shop in Helsby. Sales are twice what I expected and he’s had over twelve 5* reviews. Well done Zak!
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Good to see Darren today who’s very proud of his new teeth that our Dreams Come True scheme paid for. He said he is now happy to smile in public and his confidence levels are sky high. A great result for a great colleague.
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Hats off to McDonald’s for helping people get a second chance in life. I don’t know why the Daily Mail reporter needed to go all the way to North Yorkshire for this story, literally hundreds of companies employ prisoners on day release all over the UK!
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All dogs who come to our office are now given the official job title of “director of entertainment”. Last week we averaged 6 dogs a day, and while they can’t answer the phones and do the accounts, they do add to our culture of fun and kindness.
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Richard…..thanks so much for the kind tweet!
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Today is the start of our new financial year. Our focus again is not on making profit, it’s on running a kind and compassionate business. If we do this well we seem to make a bit of money at the end of the year.
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Martin…thanks for the great feedback. Around 4% of our transactions are done for free. We know that kindness by our colleagues is repaid by loyalty from our customers!
Kind fella at
#Timpsons
would not let us pay to replace the battery for our foster daughter's watch (it would have cost more than the watch was worth). "It's the least we can do for you and your family," he said.
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We provide free fruit at the office. Last year we spent £17,000 on this benefit…well worth it in my book!
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Thank you to the whole Open University team for giving me an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University yesterday in Manchester. Being associated with an institution that does so much to help prisoners gain qualifications while inside means a lot to me and my family.
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Heading to HMP Five Wells today for a prison tour, and hopefully I’ll meet some amazing prisoners who want to join our business on release 🤞
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We set up a team to help reduce complexity in the business. Called the “cut the crap committee”, they have already reduced the number of separate monthly reports by a staggering 482. We clearly had too many, but thanks to the team for their great work on this.
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We’ve added a line to every colleagues job description. “Try every day to carry out a random act of kindness for a customer, a colleague or a member of the public…even one who doesn’t even come in to our shops.” Being kind is the best way to do business.
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This is one of the new graphics that we are putting up in our shops. It’s important to us that we pay all of our tax, and contribute to society in every way possible.
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Some good news....the non-payment of TV licences has been decriminalised. I’ve met too many men and women in prison over the years who are there because of this, including one lady who now works for us. Her 3 kids went in to care while she served her short sentence.
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This is what you call “pressure key cutting”. Jimmy cut the office door key for
@RishiSunak
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Here are some of the random acts of kindness my colleagues have done this week…🙏🙏🙏
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Here is where our 18 holiday homes are for colleagues to have a free break on us.
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It’s great to hear many companies are so desperate to recruit they are now looking towards our prisons for talent. We’ve been doing this for years, even when we had very few vacancies, as it’s a good way of finding amazing people.
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Running a business upside down is far more fun than telling everyone what to do…helping and trusting people to run the business on your behalf makes sense both culturally and financially. Less control…more trust and kindness instead!
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Thanks so much to all the Keele University community for appointing me as your new Chancellor yesterday. I’m looking forward to fulfilling the role with kindness, and a passion for helping everyone, no matter what their challenges are in life, to achieve their potential.
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Despite business being very challenging at the moment, our determination to stick to our values does not change. 100% top up furlough pay, our caring Timpson culture and the great colleague benefits will all remain in place, and will be there when the good times are back!
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At Timpson we have 3 very important roles that have become vital components in our colleague support work. Elaine is our Mental Health Counsellor, Marion our Financial Health First Aider, and Janet is Director of Happiness..they do an amazing job supporting my amazing colleagues.
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Lovely words from a colleague yesterday. “Sometimes it’s better to be kind than right.” No wonder she is in the top 10 in the company for customer feedback!
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Every week we measure how our colleagues are feeling with a little survey. It’s a simple mark out of 10 and takes less than a minute to complete. This weeks average score across the business was 8.3.
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In 2019 we recruited 207 people from prison to work in our business. That’s a record for us...we will aim for 250 next year!
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This is Lytham Timpson, our second smallest shop in the company. The smallest is Victoria Station which is half as small again!
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Recruitment stats for 2023. We welcomed 230 prison leavers to the company over the year, representing 21% of all of our new starters.
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If some business leaders focussed more on the values by which the company was run, rather than the monetary value of the company, they would ironically create more monetary value. More values equals more value.
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This is Janet, our Director of Happiness. Every company should have this role if they can, focussing on helping colleagues overcome problems, and ensuring all the benefits we have are best in class. By focussing on happy colleagues, we hope we get happy customers!
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I’ve been to 10 of our Timpson shops today and 5 are run by a colleague we recruited from prison.
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Off to meet and hopefully recruit some prisoners today at HMP Stoke Heath.
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At Timpson, Janet (our Director of Happiness) and Darren (our Foundation leader on prison recruitment), hold vital positions in the company, and this year have been flat out. Over 100 ex offenders recruited and 130 colleagues in distress supported. Thanks to you both!
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This is a great example of upside down management. In our Whitchurch shop green fingered manager Kenny grows tomatoes and chillies to give to his customers free of charge.
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It’s my birthday today and I’ve given myself a written warning. All Timpson colleagues get their birthday off as an extra day off, but I’ve sneaked to see our area managers at their Xmas planning meeting. Couldn’t resist the opportunity to say thanks for all they’ve done.
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As the clocks go forward today we know next week will be a good one for our watch repair business. Twice a year we get a boost as customers dig out their old watches and clocks to alter the time, and often notice they need repairing. We don’t complain!
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I have some sad news to report to the Timpson family. Joe Shepherd, our much loved colleague of 27 years, lost his battle with coronavirus this morning, he was 57. Our love goes to his wife Julie, and kids Jennifer, Matty and Luke.
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We have given our office car park over to the staff at Wythenshawe Hospital. They need it more than we do at the moment.
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Here are some of our colleague benefits. It’s the best investment we make each year.
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Great to meet Bob again today. He’s our second eldest colleague at 77 years of age. Still beating the shop records too!
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Unsurprisingly last week, across 2100 shops, we only sold 155 umbrellas.
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A real team effort to help Roger get back on track.
Before & After. Combination of rehab and intense support over the last 6 moths. Big shout out again to
@JamesTCobbler
and team for supporting us to help Roger get out of the offending cycle & drugs. AMAZING Transformation.
#lessoffences
#changinglives
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Update on our recruitment so far this year. We are now up to 12% of our new starters joining us from prison. Thanks to all our area teams for your support, and for giving so many great colleagues a second chance.
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Today has been a good day. The sun is shining, the daffodils at the office are looking amazing, and all my shops are open....and are very busy!
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You won’t regret paying for your staff to go on holiday. This weeks Sunday Times article is about our colleague holiday homes and why we invest in making sure everyone has a great vacation.
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It’s great to see some of our colleagues can now get on apprenticeships while on day release from prison. We have one colleague who’s started and is doing really well….fingers crossed many more will follow!
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During 2020 we recruited 107 people from prison to work in the business. I’m hoping that when we return to business as normal we will be able to double this figure. Thanks to
@darrenburns60
for all your help and wise advise.
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10 years ago today we bought the Snappy Snaps business. Having never owned a franchise business before we had lots to learn, but with the patience and kindness of our partners, we have created a brilliant, growing business that’s on the front foot. Happy 10th anniversary!
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A message to all my colleagues. With so much snow around it may make it difficult to get to work on time. Don’t worry...I’m sure your customers will understand if you are a bit late, and that you’ve done your best.
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We employ 674 ex offenders. That means if my colleagues were all still locked up we would be one of the larger prisons in the UK!
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These are my notes from a talk on leadership I did this morning.
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Good news. The National Probation Service is going to employ 150 ex offenders. I know that people with prison experience make great colleagues, and bring unique insights and skills to the job. More from this across the whole Government please!
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Some good news I heard this week. The prison discharge grant has finally been increased from £46 to £76 for those serving 14 days or more. This is the first increase since 1995.
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Something to cheer you up. I’ve met so many great colleagues today on shop visits, including some on day release from prison, others who’ve left prison, and two Ukrainian ladies who are settling in well.
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This is our new shop in Rushden Waitrose. To the untrained eye it may not look much, but we’ve managed to fit in over 10 different services here!
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Good to visit both HMP Thorn Cross and HMP Berwyn today to see what we can do help more amazing people from prison find jobs on release.
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We have been voted the 15th most inclusive company in Europe...and 2nd in the UK!
Europe’s most inclusive companies — as ranked by employees | Financial Times
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Shoe repairing is clearly not an online opportunity for us...in the last 12 months, with a fair bit of effort, we have received only 23 pairs in total, across the whole of the UK!
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We closed all our shops last year on March 22nd. This could well be the same date this year when we reopen again. The kindness of our colleagues and customers has helped us stay positive during some very difficult days.
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Thanks to the Fair Tax team for accrediting us for another year. We love paying all our taxes and we never do any clever stuff to avoid them.
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