Published by isobel.regan@dontpanicprojects.com
Published Date 21.08.2023 
About Zoocha
Zoocha are a leading specialist Drupal digital agency founded in 2009 based in the UK, with offices in Spain and Brazil.
With a team of over 75 professionals across a range of disciplines, Zoocha deliver an end-to-end service in-house.
Our high staff retention rate and commitment to Drupal has enabled us to build a talented development team with a track record for delivering high-profile projects and supporting large scale Drupal web estates.
We would not have been able to achieve our success without our team. Each individual is instrumental to keep the company running, and therefore team wellbeing should always be a top priority in any workplace, and not an afterthought.
As a Great Place to Work certified organisation, our core values centre around people, including the staff that make up our evolving team and the long lasting relationships with our clients. Thanks to this, we have witnessed an exceptionally low staff turnover rate, with individuals who joined Zoocha as graduates now being part of our senior management team.
Flexible Working Policy
Being a finalist for the “Best Flexible Working Policy” category at the European Agency Awards is something that we take particular pride in, with people at the core of our culture and a drive to provide comfort and flexibility to our team. In response to our nomination, our Business Development Manager voiced our team’s thoughts, stating:
“We’ve always aimed to promote a culture that allows everyone to bring their best selves to work. Being nominated for this award feels a testament to the work put in by our team to maximise flexibility whilst still retaining great results for our clients. Flexible working at Zoocha wouldn’t be possible without the commitment and suggestions for improvement proposed by our team!”
At Zoocha, our flexible working policy offers individuals, remote or in-person, the ability to adapt working hours around other priorities. While we aim to create an office environment where our team feel comfortable and keen to share their skills, it is important to factor in team members’ personal lives and the responsibilities that come first.
That’s why our core-hours system enables individuals to fit personal responsibilities around the working day, with freedom of choosing their start and end times, as well as any obligations that may come in between, while accommodating our client needs.
In ensuring that our remote team have optimum comfort and their needs are fulfilled, Zoocha fully funds any requested equipment, adhering to DSE requirements no matter where the individual chooses to work.
Our flexible working policy additionally applies to those whose responsibilities lie in their education, allowing them to cater their hours to those of their degree. We are extremely supportive of team members who decide to take their studies further to take them to the next level of their careers.
While seeing our team members participate in our office community is something that we both cherish and encourage, it is important to understand that due to a number of reasons, this is not always feasible. In order to inspire a further sense of a team environment and relationships with this in mind, Zoocha fund both travel and accommodation for remote workers to attend team building events.
How It Has Benefited Our Team
Due to flexible working and a culture of trust within Zoocha, team members are more relaxed about tending to additional priorities. While often this entails responsibilities such as school drop off/pick ups, individuals have continued education alongside working full-time hours.
The flexible working policy allows them to dedicate the required amount of time to their studies, while catching up on work when most convenient for them. One of our team members who has started a Masters Degree alongside their full-time work, has stated:
“I love Zoocha’s approach to flexible working! I’m working towards a Master’s Degree, which means I have lectures and meetings at totally different time slots for each and every semester. Zoocha has gone above and beyond making accommodations, even if it conflicted with core working hours. They are always very empathetic and do their best to make working at Zoocha fit perfectly with everything else!”
With open access to training opportunities, Zoocha has seen an impressive number of certifications, including more Acquia Certified Drupal Triple Experts & Developers than any other UK agency. These opportunities and accreditations within the organisation have given us the fantastic opportunity to attend conferences such as Drupalcon Europe and the AWS Summit.
While encouraging 3 paid volunteer days a year to give back to local communities, we have had individuals opt to take sabbaticals, elongating their volunteer experiences. Recently, one team member took a month-long sabbatical in Gambia, volunteering with the construction of the NGO Farm and local school. Speaking of their unforgettable time, they revealed:
“I am very happy to be at Zoocha, as one of the super benefits they offer us is flexible working. The company gave me the opportunity to realise one of my dreams, which was to volunteer in Africa. With their assistance I was able to take a month’s sabbatical and help in an NGO in Gambia. I felt very supported by Zoocha in this endeavour and they helped me every step of the way!!”
Some senior team members who have been at Zoocha for over 10 years have reduced their hours to spend more time with their families, further contributing to a healthy work-life balance and setting an example to the rest of the team.
A Flexible Team is a Happy Team
Our flexible working policy has not just been beneficial for our team members, but to the company as a whole. When the team are content in their working environment and hours, productivity has been shown to spike, and relations between both individuals and departments excel.
As we would encourage any organisation to do so, Zoocha work with our team to constantly improve our flexible working policy to keep up to date with and adapt to external factors that may contribute to necessary changes. Flexibility is not a fixed objective, but rather something that must face real-time testing and continuous adjustments.
A flexible workplace leads to a happy team, and at Zoocha, our team are always our number one priority.
