Member Article

From Hummer limo to helicopter ride: this company gave their 100th employee the best first day ever

The first day on a new job can be the most stressful of your career – whether that’s remembering names of new colleagues or realising you have no lunch buddies – but one company in Liverpool made sure it would be the most memorable day for four lucky individuals.

To celebrate the arrival of its 100th employee on 22nd January, Shopper Media Group (SMG) wanted to give its four new starters Jen Pennington, 30, Matt Hinton, 27, Jon Maley, 27, and Jon Cornish, 26 – who between them picked up the ‘100th employee’ gong by joining on the same day – the ultimate first day at work.

To avoid a stressful commute, the company organised a Hummer limousine to pick up the unsuspecting recruits in style, where they were accompanied to their new office by colleagues. What better way to break the ice than getting to know each other over some bucks fizz and breakfast in a limo on the way to work? Jon Cornish, said: “First days are always a bit daunting with the move into a new company and a new way of working, and they tend to set expectations about the environment of the organisation. So when the limo turned up, I didn’t really know how to react. I’ve worked at good companies before, but none that make such a concerted effort to break the ice, and welcome you in.”

But the fun didn’t stop there. They received the proper celebrity treatment with a real-life red carpet arrival at their new offices – based in Shop Direct’s HQ in Liverpool (a client of SMG) – where they were handed their favourite coffee, before being whisked away to their desks which were laden with balloons and welcome displays. Fast-forward to lunch-time, and it was clear that a £3 meal-deal wasn’t on the menu either. Jen, Matt, Jon and Jon were treated to a 3-course meal with the company founders at nearby restaurant, Elephant, in Woolton.

Forget first-day HR & IT set-up! Upon their return to the office, bosses dressed as butlers waited on them hand and foot in their very own pop-up café, with tea and cake galore. This was followed by a meeting-turned-Scavenger hunt – Bingo style – to find and meet key company faces. Jon Maley, who was the first to complete his Bingo card, was given a bottle of bubbly to celebrate winning.

But the best for last as the four new recruits were shown Liverpool in the most spectacular way – a birds-eye view of the city from a private helicopter! Matt Hinton said: “What a day! never have I been made to feel so welcome and so spoilt! Right now friends and family are struggling to believe that I actually flew in a helicopter, drove around in a limo and was greeted at the office with balloons and a red carpet for what was without doubt the ‘best first day ever’. A brilliant effort made by all the team and I certainly feel very privileged and honoured to be a new member of the 100 strong SMG family.”

Matt Lee, co-founder at SMG, said: “When my co-founder Joel Hopwood and I started the company nine years ago in my bedroom with just £1000 that we spent on business cards, we dreamt of creating a company that would give others the career growth opportunities we had enjoyed at dunnhumby where we met. Reaching 100 employees is such an exciting milestone for the company, and we wanted to celebrate this achievement by giving our new starters the ultimate first day at work, and I think we’ve pulled it off!”

The four new employees were not the only ones to enjoy the celebrations. SMG made sure the rest of their employees in their offices in Manchester and London felt included in this achievement with a celebratory breakfast, group celebration lunch, goody bags and a bottle of champagne for every employee.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by SMG .