Welcome back to inside IFP – the series where I sit down with members of our team over a coffee and chat about their career journey. This week, I caught up with Sarah Williams, our Director of Finance and Operations.
Sarah joined IFP in 2016 (after initially declining the job!) and has spent the last decade helping to shape the business into what it is today. From studying for professional qualifications whilst raising a young family, to becoming a shareholder and Director, she has plenty of insight to share about progression, culture and what makes IFP different.
Sarah, what’s your role at IFP and how long have you been here?
I am Director of Finance and Operations. I joined in December 2016 – 10 years this year!
Congratulations, that’s exciting! When did you become a Director?
It was in 2022.
Before we delve into your progression and success here, can you tell us a bit about your career journey leading up to joining IFP?
I started my career at the tax office straight out of college. I knew I liked working in finance, but progression opportunities there were limited. It was a bit of a boys club! So I moved into accountancy, completed my AAT qualifications and, after having a baby, decided to continue studying towards becoming Chartered.
As my career developed in accountancy practice, I realised I enjoyed working within companies rather than as an outsider, I wanted to be able to look into the detail behind the accounts to help grow their business. There wasn’t scope for that in the role I was in, so I decided I wanted to be a company accountant.
I saw the advert for IFP, went along for an interview and felt immediately at home. It was such a welcoming and friendly office; the interview was great and the job sounded brilliant. I came away buzzing. I got offered the role and jumped at it. But when I handed my notice in, my previous employer offered me a pay rise and a promotion. So, I started doubting myself. The promotion that they were offering me was leading into management and I really liked the idea of that, so I agreed to stay. I got back in touch with IFP and turned down the job.
Within 2 days, I massively regretted that and realised I’d made a mistake. I quickly rang the recruiter and said “is this job still available? I’ve made a mistake. Please tell me it’s still there!” They got in touch with IFP and they hadn’t filled the position. Thankfully, they were more than happy to accept that I’d been a foolish soul, and they still wanted me.
Very lucky! I want to delve into a couple of things there. Exams with a baby! How did you find that? Were you supported by your company? How do you think we do things differently?
I did all my exams off my own back. I funded them myself and did them in my own time. It was hard work, but it was worth it. I’d finished AAT and had 4 ACCA exams under my belt when I moved to a bigger accountancy firm. They did offer financial support, but you were restricted to doing it their way and tied in to paying them back if you moved on, so I just carried on doing them myself. We do have a policy at IFP where you pay a percentage of what we’ve covered, but it isn’t as heavy as the one that they had in place.
I think the support that we’ve got in place is fantastic. Not only in terms of the company paying for exams and staff being able to take time off to sit them, but the support you get from knowing that other people have done the same exams as you. The guidance that they can give you on how best to study, resources that they’ve found useful, how to answer certain questions, how to prepare for the exams. Everybody is so supportive of each other. It’s a lovely environment to do it here. And of course, there’s the pay rises after completing exams, which isn’t matched anywhere else that I know of.
Pay rises when you pass exams is a great benefit. You’ve worked with Sam on our whole benefits package. I think it’s quite holistic, catering to a lot of different lifestyles and circumstances. What’s your favourite benefit and what do you think makes our benefits package different?
I think what makes us different is that we never stand still. We are constantly looking at how we can add to our benefits package or how we can change and improve it. I also think we’re ahead of the game against other firms in certain respects. The latest benefit that we brought in, the nomad working, is fantastic. People can go off for months at a time if they want to and still work, not missing out on getting paid, having to take unpaid leave.
A favourite benefit is absolutely the flexible hours. Being able to come and go, within reason, to work around our family life, social life or fitness regime is great. Like you say, everybody is different. Everybody wants a different thing out of their week, but I really do feel like we cater for everybody here, no matter what it is you want.
We’ve also got the Promise mailbox where people can email suggestions in, and unless there is a really strong reason we can’t, we will go out of our way to find a way to make their request work. I think that sets us apart from many companies out there.
Amazing. 6 years is quick to progress through to Director. I think internal promotions are quite common at IFP, despite being a smaller company. What career opportunities do you think someone working here could grasp?
Another thing that I really love about this company, that I could see as soon as I started, is that individual skills are not only noticed but encouraged. Like with the Promise Mailbox, it’s not just suggestions of benefits, it could be a suggestion of, “look, I can see there’s a gap here and I would like to fill it. I would like to do something more for the company and I think I’d be good at it.” And we say “how can we make that work? What kind of a role could that look like? Is there a business need for it? If there isn’t a strong business need for a full-time role, how can we merge it with a different role to bring that into the company in some way?”
I love the fact that we will always try to make these things work.
If you show that you have got ambition and something that the company could benefit from, we will absolutely embrace that. If somebody comes in enjoying what they’re doing because they are using a unique skill that they know they’re good at, they’re going to go away with such job satisfaction, but also the company is going to benefit. Having happier staff improves the company vibe, the culture, our achievements and so much more.
Speaking of staff happiness, our NPS score has improved recently. Are there any plans to continue the momentum?
We’re always looking at different ways to motivate staff and developing things like the one-to-ones and the development plans we put together, making sure staff feel individually heard all of the time. So that’s one thing that we really focus on that should be helping that NPS score, and it’s something that we’ll never take our foot off the gas on.
Another thing is showing recognition to staff. We will, again, never stop doing that. We’re currently looking ahead at milestones that we could be hitting soon, and rewarding staff that have helped us hit those milestones. Fingers crossed this year will be a milestone year, so we’ve already started looking at plans on how we will thank staff for that and show our appreciation to them in that respect. It’s important that they know that we see that all that we are achieving is thanks to them.
We also like to be transparent with staff, we have shared our 10-year plan, and we have quarterly team meetings where we tell everyone where we are and what’s next. We’re going to keep doing that because it is working and we are getting staff really involved in figuring out what the company needs to do in order to get there, because there’s so much that they can contribute towards it ideas-wise as well as physically helping with the workload.
I think it’s a very exciting time to join the business, and the transparency throughout the company is one of the things that I love about working here.
Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more you’ll understand where we’re coming from with things. We will happily share everything because we’re a team at the end of the day. Let’s work together and take this company where it wants to go.
What is something you’re most proud of implementing in the company?
I think one of the things that I’m most proud of is the personal development plans and the support that we do give to try and help people feel like an individual and not a number. The monthly one-to-ones and the way that we chat to individuals and find out exactly where they’re at personally as well as at work.
I’m a massive wellbeing ambassador, too. I created the Wellbeing Team way back when. That was something I was very, very proud of because you’ve got to consider holistically what individuals need. It’s not just the work side. Mental health is a huge factor for many, many people, and we are very good at being open and honest about that here and supporting people.
That’s a great answer. I enjoy being on the Wellbeing Team, it’s a nice thing to be involved with. Are there any examples of people who’ve progressed through the business that stand out to you?
The classic one is Jess, of course. It’s a story that has been told many times, and I’m sure it will be told many more times because it is fantastic. It is the prime example for me, the way that she progressed from apprentice right through to Director.
And created her own job!
She did, exactly. That was the first example that I had of that. I was lucky to be sitting opposite her when I first started working, and immediately she made me feel welcome and started chattering away to me. She told me how she was in marketing and they didn’t have marketing before.
And, for me as well – I’d never been a manager before, but because I knew that they had created this marketing job, I thought, do you know what, they might just take a punt on me.
So, there was a gap in the management team and I offered to help out. I said, I’ve got no experience at all, and I don’t even know what that team do really, but I’m a people person and I can help manage the team in some way, and they gave me that. I’ve been a manager ever since, looking after various teams.
But progress isn’t just working your way up to the top of the business, take Elaine for example. Elaine is known for being our front desk superstar, the person all our clients look forward to being greeted by when they visit or call. Elaine has had various administration roles over her time here but client contact is what she really excels at so when the company structure was being reviewed and the feasibility of having someone front of house full time was considered it was a no brainer for IFP and she is in her element in that role.
What advice would you give to someone who’s read this and thinks, ‘I’d love to work there’?
Come and see us, absolutely. Get in touch, come in, have a look around, feel the vibe for yourself, because straight away it’s homely, it’s a place that you want to be. If you’re ambitious and want more than a job where you simply turn up, do your work and go home, then I think you’ll enjoy it here.
And you’re not even working 9 to 5 because we’re a 35-hour work week!
Exactly! And it’s not 9 to 5 because you can come in at 7 if you want or you can come in at 10 if you want. I do strongly feel that we are different and that we are a great place to work.
Time for quick fire before we wrap it up!
Describe IFP in 3 words or less – Ambitious, caring and fun.
Tea or coffee? Definitely coffee, every time.
Office or remote? Office.
Early start or late finish? Early start if I can get my bum out of bed.
Smart or casual? Smart. I like to dress for success.
We’re always excited to meet talented people who share our values and want to make a difference. If anything Sarah has spoken about resonates with you, why not take a look at our current vacancies and learn a little more about life at IFP?
Until next time, thanks for joining us for another coffee and chat inside IFP!
