NGP’s Workplace Culture
A modern workplace with modern solutions…
It’s 2021. Companies around the world are stepping up. Workplaces are evolving to include modern methods to drive the best from employees. Apple have an on-site health and wellness scheme for their employees to stay fit. Airbnb include a travel allowance for their employees. And Northern Gas and Power give their employees the full month of December off, in addition to annual leave.
Rapid Progress
Northern Gas and Power are the UK division of Global Procurement Group, which specialises in delivering global energy services and technologies. We operate in five energy markets across three continents and handle over 44,000 meters from around 20,000 clients. In 2020 alone, we contracted almost 15 TWhs of energy – more than the entire annual consumption of Tunisia! It’s this type of success which means we’ve outgrown our past four offices – and now, with a global headcount of over 700 employees, it’s time to move again.
RIGA
It’s the biggest commercial project in North East England for the past five years. We’ll be moving into a state-of-the-art 30,000 square feet commercial property on the Gateshead waterfront. The purpose-built, six-storey building is known as RIGA. As the new home of Northern Gas and Power, RIGA will house the majority of our UK staff as we continue our expansion. We want to take global heads to well over 1,000 by the end of the year.
Dynamic Trading Floor
Our vision focuses on the dynamism of our workforce. Office environments of previous eras no longer meet the demands of a modern workplace culture. If you compare a mundane and colourless Post Office to an intense and lively Trading Floor, one evokes apathy and the other sparks activity. To spark activity, a modern company must integrate modern methods. And this is where Northern Gas and Power excel. A strong family-feel underpins our forward-thinking company; we incentivise high performance generously and offer more time away from work than most other companies throughout the UK. We’re a workplace that has redefined the concept of Work-Life balance – a workplace where ‘Work’ and ‘Life’ are in harmony.
Work Life Harmony
We’ve meticulously designed our offices in carefully curated locations. Offices are open plan, adorned with colourful symbolism, designed to drive ambition, energy and excitement. Colours are specifically chosen for the emotions they evoke and form part of a full visual and auditory experience throughout the sales floors. Music plays at the start of the day to create an upbeat, energetic and positive environment. TVs across the floor transmit live business news, ensuring all staff are up to date on latest events on the market. Monitors across the floors show live data from wholesale energy markets to give staff the very latest figures to relay to clients. The floors are vibrant, animated and full of activity, allowing Northern Gas and Power to set a tone and culture that inspires winning behaviour.
There are wellbeing spaces, chill-out areas, Zen-Zones, gaming centres, and the fresh ‘Feel Well Deli’, where staff will recharge, relax and refocus. Everything – from the sense of nature and contemplation provided by the ‘Living Wall’ and a variety of flora, to the ergonomic design of the office seating and furniture – is part of a highly considered and successful formula which consistently delivers results. Northern Gas and Power have created an unimaginable workplace culture that people may never experience elsewhere in their professional life.
A Prosperous Model
Northern Gas and Power are one of the fastest growing businesses in the UK. We’ve racked up scores of accolades throughout our journey to get here. We were named as the UK’s Energy Consultancy of the Year at the 2019 Energy Awards and ranked 4th in the Sunday Times’ HSBC International Track 200 League Table, which ranks the UK’s mid-market private companies with the fastest-growing international sales.
We’ve also been titled the Fastest Growing Large Business and Overall Fastest Growing Business in Ward Hadaway’s Fastest 50 Awards 2019 – all very impressive.
2020 saw further awards and recognition for the business. Our CEO, Fu, won the Ernst & Young Rising Star Entrepreneur of the year. He was also named the Great British Entrepreneur’s Northern Scale Up winner in the summer. To top it off, Fu was also heralded as The UK’s Most Ambitious Business Leader in the Telegraph and LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders.
It doesn’t stop there. We were finalists in the Lloyds Business awards and placed top in the Sunday Times’ Top 100 Profit Track for the North East region and 2nd across the entire UK.
And for our workplace culture, Northern Gas and Power were recognised by Glassdoor for its commitment to a healthy Work-Life balance, placing 2nd in the UK and finishing above the likes of Sky and Google.
Northern Gas and Power have created a prosperous model which has become self-affirming over time. Tellingly, its unorthodox approach is being mimicked at several competitors in an effort to replicate its success. But why have none succeeded?
Perhaps it’s because Northern Gas and Power’s culture is organic, well-considered and genuine.