International Women’s Day celebrates the contribution and achievements of women in our communities and focuses on ways to improve equality.
Nurturing and encouraging our team in their professional and personal lives is at the heart of our culture at the BFP Collective. We have supported the women in our team since Business First Partnership was founded in 1997 by husband-and-wife Nigel Taylor and Belinda Swan.
Today more than 60% of the head of department positions across the BFP Collection are held by women.
To mark International Women’s Day this year, we spoke to our founder Belinda and her daughter Chloe Clark, who is our commercial director on their experiences at BFP.
Supportive environment
From the outset Belinda wanted BFP to be different and to create a progressive, family friendly culture that championed women as much as men.
Having worked in various sales roles before launching BFP with her husband, Belinda said it was a challenge starting a new business while having young children.
She said: “We are talking some 30-plus years ago when my bosses were invariably male and there was a lot less understanding for mums in this position.
“I was once asked to bring my daughter in with some toys, so I did exactly that!”
The flexibility offered by BFP means it has been an entirely different experience for Chloe, who has worked her way up from receptionist to roles in finance, account management and sales.
“I’m actually on my second maternity leave currently and BFP are fantastic with this,” she said.
“I can be involved if I want to be part of discussions, I have brought my son along to team meetings I wanted to attend. Equally if you don’t want to be involved for the year you’re off, they fully respect it.
“BFP also make a conscious effort to make parents feel comfortable and not judged if their child is unwell. It is never an issue and they always understand and never pressure you in to being at work.”
Chloe remembers Belinda working hard and striving to develop her career when she was a child.
“I have a lot of admiration for her and the sacrifices she made to return to work early after having my sister and I,” she said.
Flexible working
The travel sector attracts a lot of young mums and BFP understands the need for flexible working.
“We recognised that so many talented women who had children were unable to return to their roles within the travel industry and this seemed incredibly unfair,” said Chloe.
“So, as a company we decided to create a flexible working model for both mums and dads. A lot of our mums job share which works really well, the clients are never impacted and it ensures our team have a great work life balance.”
The company’s founding principles based on family values have remained a constant in our business journey.
“We vowed that we would treat our employees how we would like to be treated with kindness and respect – a very simple ethos,” said Belinda.
“The team is constantly expanding but we haven’t lost that tight knit ‘family’ feeling.
“We could not run this company without our brilliant team. There is no ‘I’ in team – a well-used expression but something we stand by and cultivate within BFP.”
Supporting women to thrive
Belinda and Chloe act as coaches and mentors as well as friends to younger women within the BFP Collection.
Chloe said: “I’ve helped mentor a lot of the team over the years, particularly some of the women in management roles.
“I like to take them under my wing and show them exactly what BFP is about. They learn how we treat the team and manage the staff; it’s very much an open forum, we share ideas.
“The team are working in the business day to day and are experts in their area, so why wouldn’t we take on their ideas and suggestions?
“I have built such a strong relationship with team members that they are very open should they be having difficulty outside work with personal matters. We’ve created an environment where they feel they can be open and vulnerable if they need to be.
“I feel being a role model and teaching the younger generation is critical as they are the next generation of team members that will help to shape and run BFP in the future.”
Chloe says her mother Belinda is her role model.
“The dedication and ambition she had along with my father to start a business from scratch and create what BFP is today is truly inspiring,” she said.
“Having seen what my mum had done in her career and how she continually grew in her role at BFP, it made me want to do the same.”
Nurturing talent
Both women agree BFP is passionate about developing people, allowing talented staff to move departments to find the right fit and develop their careers.
Chloe said: “There are lots of opportunities in the travel sector for women, particularly career progression and senior management. We have a lot of women in senior positions.
“There are many varied roles in our sector, taking us as an example, some team members including myself have worked across finance, sales, account management.
“It’s all about variety and finding that unique area you thrive in.”
At BFP we encourage the team to develop their skills and provide support to progress.
“If you want to take the next step or develop a particular skill, you are always encouraged to do it and given the right tools to help you reach your goal,” added Belinda.
“As a result, staff retention is incredibly high.”
An inclusive culture
Chloe added: “The staff love working at BFP, they all feel valued and heard, which is often hard to come by in larger corporates but by being a family business it is important to us and an ethos we will always keep.
“By being independent and family owned, the directors are all involved day to day, decisions are reached quickly and ideas shared and heard.
“We always say as a company, we are all part of the BFP family and it really does feel like that, we have ensured culturally it has a real team spirit about it. The team are so close knit, everyone works together.
“I started in the business at 18 and my career has developed and grown over the years in ways I could never have imagined. I have loved the journey and even after having my second child I can’t wait to come back.
“My advice to women in the workplace would be, go with your gut instinct. If you get a great vibe from a company, you like their ethos and how they treat their staff, you are making the right decision.”
