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At O2 it is so easy to feel comfortable at work, I’m not just talking about the comfy chairs but the people and the dress code. You never would have thought what you wear would have such an impact on how productive you are. Especially working in sponsorship one key ingredient is creativity. This is strangely made easier through wearing clothes you feel happy in. You wouldn’t be out of place in a shirt or polo and jeans. Wonderful! But this weather is certainly not making choice of attire any easier- that time of year when it looks perfectly fine and you get outside to find its freezing!

Obviously I don’t have vast experience of working in various offices but from the few work placements I have done I can safely say O2 have got it right. Some might say the location isn’t the greatest, but once you see the office and step inside you totally forget where you are. It’s all those quirky little touches that actually make you want to get up and come to work. From cardboard cut outs of squirrels to meeting rooms with individual themes like Rugby or the O2 Academies.  This is what makes working at O2 on Bath Road one of the easiest and best places to stay from 9-5.

Although I say 9-5, I have slowly started realising that you often find yourself staying till much later. At first glance this may seem terrible but I found myself at the office till 8:15pm last night and was perfectly fine with it.

As I have said before the mindset here is very much; work hard, play hard.

Jonny

In July, HR set a fundraising target of £20,000 to be raised.  Our cut off date was the 18th November – Children In Need night.
The money that we raised is to be split between Children In Need and Kids Out – 2 worthwhile causes.
There were lots of activities happening from baking, running, cycling, selling, walking and the activity that I took part in which was the Ben Lomond climb.  You might recall my previous blog on that extremely challenging day.
A lot of hard work and effort was put in from everyone and it was announced yesterday that not only did we reach our target – we actually raised nearly £21,000 which is a tremendous effort.  What a sense of achievement to know that the money raised will be going to children in the UK to make a difference to their lives.  As a thank you, we are all getting cupcakes delivered to the office today – looking forward to that!
Telefónica is a company that looks after its people, its customers, their communities and the world we share.  When you work here, you get a sense of people wanting to be involved in making a change for the better and there are lots of activities, like above, that gives you the opportunity to be part of making that difference.
The next activity we have within HR is a community challenge that is taking place tomorrow.  So watch this space for more information on what the challenge was and how we did!

Lyndsey

SUPERFANS – STEP THIS WAY…..

This was an email in my inbox a few weeks ago. WOW, I had been invited to my first annual Superfans event since joining O2 just under a year ago.  These nights are legendary in our history, it’s one of the things that makes working here such great fun.  I had heard about previous hosts, James Cordon, Tess Daly and wondered what delights and treats were in store for everyone this year.

Nominations were over, judging had been held in secret rooms around our sites and the finalists selected to attend the big night itself – excitement was growing and the outakes of the video booth nominations posted on our intranet were hilarious – it was all a great build to the event! Showbiz glamour was the theme – what to wear? – would everyone make the effort? – just some of the thoughts racing through my mind.

We all gathered in the hotel ready to hop on our coaches to the Athena in Leicester – Showbiz glamour was in abundant supply – every one of the 400 lucky employees invited to attend looked great.  Our hosts gave us all VIP wristbands and as we arrived - photographers, magicians, circus acts greeted us and our Board members gave us a great O2 welcome with champagne.  The atmosphere was electric as our opening act took to the stage – Spellbound! Our CEO, Ronan bounded up soon afterwards to introduce our compere for the evening – the place erupted – none other than Uncle Bryn from Gavin&Stacey, Rob Bryden,  he was brilliant and raised the competitive elements amongst our sites with  400 O2 fans singing our own rendition of Tom Jones – Delilah! Great food was served, wine was poured and the tension grew as the awards drew near – the sense of camaraderie was great – as winners were announced – the cheers grew louder whilst cameras flashed madly! Winners sitting proudly with their trophies soon changed into everyone hitting the dance floor or catching up with long lost friends – coaches safely back to hotels, everyone off to bed and this morning as I was leaving I was impressed to see that the team had huge tables with water, chocolate, eye masks and newspapers all lined up, ready for everyone heading back to work on the coaches…. That’s typical of working in O2 – we like to remember the small treats to make your day special.

Abi