I started at RKH in 2021 during one of the COVID lockdowns. I had recently relocated back to the UK to be closer to my family after an amazing eight-year stint living in Sydney, working client-side. As a new mum of one (at the time - I am now a mum to two little ones) my personal boundaries had shifted and I was only willing to work back in ‘agency land’ if the fit was right and if the culture of the ‘office’ was one that worked for me and my family.

Given that working in the office simply didn’t exist at this time, I was able to widen my search significantly. Not being tied to a location meant that recruitment had shifted and people were hired based acutely on experience and not also on proximity to the office. And so, my career at RKH began.

Whilst it’s always hard to know for sure until you're in, I got a really good feeling about RKH from my interview process. I really felt like this could finally be the flexibility I was looking for. I wasn’t disappointed, and over the past three years, as a collective, we have absolutely nailed a (mostly) remote working model with a whole heap of flexibility thrown in for good measure.

Research carried out in 2022 amongst RKH employees signalled to us, loud and clear, that remote and flexible working made our team happier and that they wanted it to stay long term. Not only that, but we can see improvements in our ways of working and overall output from a business standpoint.

Recently, more and more businesses are returning to the office full time - the KPMG CEO Outlook survey found 64% of leaders globally, and 63% of those in the UK, predicted a full return to in-office working by 2026.

But, it works so well for us and our clients that we won’t be following the crowd and rushing back to the commute any time soon.

Why does it work for our team?

• It genuinely provides a good and fair work/life balance for all.
• It makes our team feel respected and happier, less stressed and therefore more motivated to get the job done well.
• Concentration and focus ranked highly as one of the core benefits amongst everyone. No distractions means a more solid output.
• Our staff can now consider big life changes, such as relocating without having to compromise on the job they love.
• It gives the team autonomy in their roles, which in turn creates solid job satisfaction.
• People can now flex their day around their home, family or general life commitments, rather than having to manage their schedules around their time in the office.
• It creates a ‘place’ of work to be really proud of - one where respect for people’s lives away from work is truly valued and upheld.
• At RKH flexibility is a blanket rule for all, no matter your seniority, gender or personal situation. That kind of culture helps break down tired old hierarchies and opens up communication channels.

Why does it work for our clients?

• It means we can employ the very best talent in the industry, wherever they are, which means our clients get the very best expertise no matter where they're based.
• We have a happier and calmer workforce which only benefits the quality and quantity of output for our clients.
• Our team stays with us for the long haul; we have natural movement like any other business but generally we have people who have worked on the same clients for years, not months. We hold invaluable client knowledge and specific sector experience and our non-office culture cultivates sector experts.
• We value in-person meetings just as much as the online ones. We know when it’s important to get everyone together in a room and when things can be done online - meaning we don’t waste our clients’ time, ever.
• We are finding our clients are just like us and it’s no surprise that flexible working is also a ‘thing’ for them too. We actually see our clients face-to-face (albeit online) way more than we ever did. It’s opened up communication with more people on the project than we would have ever managed to get in a meeting room.

Remote working comes with some challenges, of course, but we’ve spent the last three years working hard to negate these.

We have a range of online communication tools that keep us connected. We offer hybrid working, but only if that works for our staff; if you want to mostly work at home that’s fine too.

We still have a physical office which we believe holds a lot of value for us as a company. Our office is a beautiful Portland stone building built in the early 1920s, and we worked hard to make it the home it is now, specifying every feature down to the light switches. It’s where we continue to hold important staff meetings, client workshops and it’s a place for us to get together.

Of course, we still visit our clients in their offices if required, we still attend studio shoots and carry out site visits. We regularly have some great socials either at the office or at a local pub. We do everything we used to do in the ‘old world’, but we just do it that little bit smarter.

We don’t waste valuable time or damage the planet by commuting if we don’t need to, and we're now able to carry out life’s simple pleasures like picking the children up from school, walking the dog or enjoying our gardens in the summer without compromising at all on our work, our careers or our mental health.