31 Aug 2022

Life drawing, fishing rods and DIY – What the team spent their hobby funds on

Encouraging passion projects and empowering our team to have a great work / life balance.

At cxpartners, our aim is that our team love their jobs. To achieve their goals, gain skills and learn from the great people around them. We want everyone to share their learnings, and grow their talents so they can play a significant part in achieving our objective of helping the world to become a better place.

From the day we founded the company, we wanted cxpartners to be a place that supported people to do great work, a place where they could be themselves, and a place that recognised people have important lives outside of work.

Giles Colborne CEO

We like to think that there are lots of fantastic benefits that come with working at cxpartners. A friendly culture, supportive team, and great progression opportunities, to name a few… There’s a reason we were given the much coveted Great Place to Work accreditation.

And while we are a ‘remote-first’ company, our brilliant offices definitely deserve a mention. We have two fabulous locations; Bristol and central London. So, if working from home isn’t for you or you just fancy a change of scenery the offices are open and there’s always a desk waiting.

We also have the opportunity to work with some amazing clients on projects that make a real difference. From our partnership with Google that has supported over 200 brands to measurably improve their UX maturity, to Samaritans where we designed their online chat service, which has helped those in crisis express suicidal feelings at twice the rate as other channels.

On top of this, we offer all of our team members a generous hobby fund and personal training budget to help them with their continuous development.

Why do we have a hobby fund?

Having a hobby fund allows the team to spend more time outside of work doing what they love and developing their passions. When asked why she thinks offering a hobby fund is important, our HR, Culture & Operations Director, Tamlyn Driver said:

We really care about people having a good work life balance – and the hobby fund is about us putting our money where our mouth is… We want rounded people who have full and interesting lives outside of work as well as in work.

In addition to helping people unwind outside of working hours, it also makes for some great conversations within the team.

We recently asked everyone what they had spent their hobby fund on and we had some great responses:

I’ve been spending my hobby fund on drawing supplies, online drawing tutorials and plan to start a life drawing class this year

Claire Barrett Senior UX Consultant

My hobby fund is nearly all spent on rock climbing equipment!

Neil Schwarz Experience Director

I’m spending my hobby fund on some eye-wateringly expensive theatre tickets I wouldn’t have bought otherwise (sitting in the jury box for ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ at London County Hall) – nice not to always be in the cheap seats!

Charlotte Tigwell Project Manager

A new fishing rod

James Chudley Experience Director

I looked into a bunch of ceramics/woodworking classes around Bristol but went for a volleyball team which has me getting to see all different parts of the South West!

Megan Simmons UX Consultant

My hobby fund is going towards upholstery sessions for the kitchen chairs I recovered for my sister

Amanda Payne Experience Strategy Director

Last year I spent it on power tools for DIY – random orbital sanders and circular saws are ace! This year, I think it has to be hiking equipment

Mark Skinner Principal Service Design Consultant

We love that there is so much variety with what people are spending their hobby fund on and because it can be spent on anything… the options are endless!

Learn more about Life drawing, fishing rods and DIY – What the team spent their hobby funds on

Alix Vaughan

Reach out to Alix Vaughan

Sales Director

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