Al Hughes | Product Designer
Everyone wants to feel like they’re contributing and making the world a slightly better place. And that’s especially true of the flock at Cuckoo.
Yep, we’re a lovely lot (if we do say so ourselves), driven by three values that keep us pushing for better:
- We are united
- We are different
- We are Cuckoo
(You can read more about them here)
But our values don’t just sit in a PowerPoint, gathering digital dust. Oh no. Cuckoo Compass helps us use them for good. It’s an umbrella for all the initiatives that create positive change across Cuckoo – and the wider community.
And this year, one Cuckoo Compass working group had an idea that we couldn’t wait to bring to life: What if we could make giving back feel easy, as well as feel good?
And with that, Contribute with Cuckoo was born.
The idea is super simple – help our team support the charities they love through financial giving and volunteering support. Contribute with Cuckoo makes it easy for every single Cuckoo employee to donate up to £50 a month – automatically, through payroll.
All our team need to do is pick a charity close to their heart, or choose to donate to Cuckoo's nominated charity, Digital Poverty Alliance. We do all the rest.
Well, first of all, we’re a digital business. So we know that 26% of young people don’t have access to a laptop or similar device, and that 53% of people without internet access can’t afford the average monthly broadband bill. And we also know that, without access to the internet, people are cut off from life and opportunities.
We believe everyone deserves to be online – and we fully support causes that help them get there. We’ve even signed the Charter for Digital Inclusion – a pledge to help end digital poverty. So this was a no brainer for us.
Every month, we build up our pot of employee donations, and once we have enough, we decide as a company how we’re going to donate the funds. Right now, that’s to the Digital Poverty Alliance to help support all the wonderful work they do.
It all started with a workshop. Well, actually, THREE workshops. Over a few months, our working group came together to brainstorm ideas, unpack them and plan how to bring them to life.
Of four really promising ideas, Contribute with Cuckoo was the strongest and most viable. So, we started to map it out. Coming up with the name and lockup. Working out where in our employee journey it would be best to activate. And finding brilliant partners, like Giveall who provide our payroll donation platform.
And it’s thanks to the hard work of our wonderful team – alongside their (already pretty demanding) day jobs – that we’re able to offer this brilliant initiative. Bravo!
Contribute with Cuckoo is still in its early days, but we can’t wait to share how much we’ve donated and what we’ve achieved over the next few months and years.
Want to know what else we get up to behind the scenes at Cuckoo? Check out our blogs on:
- How we use your reviews to get better
- Our partnership with Cycling UK
- Why we teamed up with GirlCode
Imagine bringing together over 300 people from different companies, cultures, backgrounds and experiences into one new company. How do you get those people to feel like one? Well, you ask them one simple question: What values do you want to have to make you feel like you belong at Cuckoo? .
Did you know that in the UK, cuckoo populations have declined by a whopping 35% over the last 30 years?
When I’m (constructively) challenged about our diversity practices here at Cuckoo – whether it’s by senior leaders, candidates, or colleagues – my answer is always the same: it’s our responsibility to make sure our talent pipeline reflects the society we live in today.