Now that we are in 2024, we wanted to reflect on our past year and everything that we have achieved. From award wins to our internal growth, we’ve continued to flourish and offer a completely new approach to front-of-house services for our clients, and we’re excited about what the new year will bring.

Industry recognition

In 2023, On Verve won its first external award, the Best Business Award for Disruptor of the Year. Our DayMaker concept impressed the judges with its fresh approach to making corporate offices appealing to employees by delivering excellent services and unique experiences. The DayMaker title reflects our ethos, to always make someone’s day, and the judges agreed that we had done just that.

That first win set the tone for the year; one of positivity, creativity, and care. It also led to our Silver Award for the UK Business Awards’ Best Customer Experience. We always want to make our clients’ everyday experiences just that bit brighter by offering unique events such as Christmas photo booths, gratuity trees for World Mental Health Day, or weekly indoor lunch-hour sports events that combat the rainy weather.

Our own Fara Painter was also the recipient of the Highly Commended Award for the Corporate Receptionist of the Year Awards, highlighting her exceptional front-of-house service skills.

Finally, we were finalists for the highly regarded Premises and Facilities Management Awards for our partnership with CBRE Global Workplace Solutions and M&G plc Workplace Solutions. We’ll be back for the win in 2024!

Team winners

Disruptor of the Year was our first external award win, but internally we love to recognise our team for their hard work.

In October, we had two DayMakers of the month. Edyta Wichrowska won for being a beacon of positivity at our Riverside House location, and Ellie Atkinson in the City of London won for her dedicated client project support. Selesha Palmer was also our November DayMaker, who won for her positive and organised approach to work. Their wins are well deserved, and we share the monthly wins on our LinkedIn, so watch out to see who’s next!

Our client awards also led to many deserving wins. Lesley Smith and Lorraine Gray are our most recent winners of the Unsung Hero’s Appreciation Award. The client said that they won for the “warm and nurturing energy they bring to their work every day”.

When we celebrated our second birthday earlier in 2023, we also hosted our very own DreamMakers Awards. The event was a great way to connect our teams with our clients across the UK. Together, we raised over £750 for The Brain Charity, which provides emotional support and activities for people with different neurological conditions.

During the celebration, we gave out multiple awards, from Talented Newbie Awards to Coach Awards. You can see all nine winners here. The day reflected our core idea, that “it takes two,” because our achievements are only possible through partnership.

At the Churchill Group Shining Star Awards, we were able to celebrate our teams in an even bigger way. Nominees gathered at the National Football Museum in Manchester to celebrate Churchill Group’s core values to always do right, seek better, and put people first.

Out of the 400 nominations, we were thrilled to have four finalists across four different categories, with winners including Fara Painter for the Game Changer Award and Roger Vargas for the Personal Growth Seeker Award.

We know that awards aren’t the only measure of work well done, but it’s been incredibly encouraging for our team to see their dedication recognised within On Verve and Churchill.

Creating new experiences

The key to building client relationships is ingenuity and collaboration. This year, we’ve created fun experiences that give back to communities and raise money.

To share the holiday cheer, we collaborated with CBRE. They embarked on a journey with our DayMakers to get the perfect Christmas tree. We worked together to upcycle decorations for the tree, support local businesses, and plant two new trees.

In September, our DayMakers across the UK hosted their own coffee fundraisers, as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning for Macmillan Cancer Support. Employees enjoyed cakes, coffees, and teas with our DayMakers, and we raised £3,280.36.

In December, we partnered with our clients at 3 Hardman Square and JLL to raise money for The Christie Charity. We hosted a silent disco and had our DayMakers, head of operations, and director of the business dance the hours away to raise £1,986. In 2024, we will continue our social value commitments and implore more ways we can continue to support our clients with their own goals in this area.

Our growth

In 2023, we welcomed over 20 new DayMakers to the On Verve team as we continued to grow.

We also retained all contracts, a clear indication that our approach is being welcomed across different workspaces. We hope to grow our current contracts and gain new clients at an even bigger scale in 2024. Additionally, we achieved new clients in the insurance industry and our first global banking client, demonstrating that every workplace deserves original employee experiences.

As a part of Churchill Group, we became an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in 2023. Becoming an EOT ensures that our business remains true to Churchill’s entrepreneurial spirit and prioritisation of our teams. This move means DayMakers have a share in the business that they work for, and therefore reap the benefits of the organisation, encouraging further growth and commitment.

Looking ahead

We have a few ideas in the works at On Verve for the year ahead. We want to ensure that our sustainability initiatives remain in place and help our partners reach their sustainability goals, too. We also want to expand what we can offer to our partners, including training collaboratively with them and their teams.

Teamwork is central to what we do, and seeing that growth and success continue through 2024 is our number one priority. This will include greater investment in our leadership, teams, and training programmes.

For now, though, we’re looking back on 2023 and are proud of our fantastic progress. We can’t wait to do even more in 2024!

Want to stay up to date with what we do? Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, where we give updates on our events, award wins and DayMaker initiatives!