All change! What a year for DJS Research

16th December 2021 00:06

A huge thank you to our clients, respondents, suppliers and staff

Considering the strange times we continue to find ourselves in due to the global pandemic, 2021 has been an exciting and ground-breaking year for DJS Research. Our company has continued to go from strength to strength; we've welcomed more staff than ever before, have awarded many well-deserved promotions, and have continued to strive to make DJS Research an agency where employees want to stay and grow...

We’ve also restructured to benefit all of our employees and protect the legacy of the company for years to come.

Here's looking back on a very eventful year...

We were in the top 20 fastest growing ‘individual’ agencies by the Market Research Society (MRS)

Exciting news was announced as we were going to print with this review -- we have been named in the Research Live Industry Report 2022 as one of the top 20 fastest growing ‘individual’ agencies, ranking at number 11!! The report which includes the latest MRS agency league tables revealed a 0.8% year-on-year growth among the top 100 UK research agencies. It asserts that the UK ‘remains the largest European supplier of market and social research’, with an industry value of more than £7 billion, providing at least 64,000 people with employment.

DJS Research grew by 22% up to £6.291M in 2020 from £5.161M in 2019.

We became employee-owned on our 20th birthday!

As of the 1st July 2021, on our company’s 20th anniversary, DJS Research transitioned from a family-owned company to an employee-owned company, putting the business firmly in the hands of the employees who have made it what it is today. We are now one of around 500+ companies in the UK to adopt the employee ownership trust (EOT) model, and at the time of signing the paperwork, just one of three market research companies. This new chapter sees DJS employees become majority owners and will ensure we remain independent for many years to come, rubber stamping our People First approach and protecting its legacy.

We have a new Managing Director

Upon becoming employee-owned, DJS founder and Managing Director of the company for 20 years, Danny Sims, moved to a Chairman role, while Research Director, Al, who has been with the company since 2008, took the reins as MD. Whilst Danny has fundamentally stepped away from the daily running of the business, he has become more engaged with the creative and marketing teams. He is also helping to ensure a smooth transition in embedding the core principles of employee ownership.

Speaking about the first six months in his role as MD, Al, said:

“I took over as MD back in June when the company became employee-owned. It has been an interesting six months! To say we have been very busy is putting it mildly, everyone has worked their socks off. Despite the workload, staff have found the time to provide feedback on a wide range of issues which is part and parcel of EO culture. For example, we encouraged all staff to provide feedback on our vision, strengths and weaknesses to inform our strategic planning for the next couple of years. Many staff (around 50) provided feedback and they were full of great ideas – involving staff definitely helps with decision-making…”

The company has bounced back from Covid-19

After hitting another double-digit year of growth at the end of March 2020, the first six months of the pandemic were particularly hard for us. Our face-to-face research was severely restricted with many projects put on hold or cancelled altogether. However, from the back-end of 2020 and throughout 2021, we have been extremely busy and have bounced back significantly. We are on target to report another really strong set of financials and growth at March 2022.

We've designed more inclusive research programmes

A blended approach of innovation and traditional methodologies has allowed us to design more inclusive research programmes and we see this as a trend that is likely to continue. Prior to the pandemic, we were already delivering a range of digital research solutions such as online communities, mobile ethnography and app-based solutions and this has been an area of further significant growth for us. At the same time, we have also seen growth in more traditional approaches and our in-house telephone unit has had its busiest year since we began. While the pandemic has accelerated the shift towards online solutions, it has also brought the digital divide into sharp focus, and we have seen increased demand for mixed-mode approaches as a result.

We are continuing to grow and have welcomed 29 new starters since January 2021!

We have continued to recruit throughout the pandemic and our team has grown at an incredible rate in 2021. Whilst we have had a few staff who decided to move on to pastures new, our recent starters have outweighed these significantly. This year we have welcomed 29 new employees across the business and we are continuing to expand on this. New roles have been necessary to support an increased demand for our services and the expansion of various departments. We’re thrilled to have welcomed three Associate Directors (plus currently recruiting for two more); a Field & Data Services Director; a number of Research Managers, Executives and a HR assistant to support our growing HR department.

Take a look at our current openings here.

We’ve continued to support staff and company development

We’re delighted that in 2021, despite the world still being in the throes of the pandemic, we’ve been able to promote 16 employees across all areas of the business, including Alex McCluckie to Research Director and Al Smith to Associate Director: Data Services. We have also seen a further five employees take on roles elsewhere in the company, which during a time of global uncertainty, has been particularly wonderful to support. The promotions are incredibly well deserved and are great recognition for staff who continue to work so hard through these challenging times.

Our remote worker network has expanded

Remote working has always been part of our offer and this has definitely helped to fuel our recruitment process. However, thanks to our huge expansion in recent months, we can now say that we are no longer a 'Northern' agency – we now have people working for us from Glasgow to Kent! In 2021 our ‘remote worker network’ has grown significantly, adding 16 new locations (Birmingham, Wales, Devon, Liverpool and Sheffield to name a few!), and also including international locations of France, Italy and Spain. Offering opportunities to work outside of our core Stockport or Leeds offices has meant we are able to recruit the industry’s best talent, as well as offer clients the opportunity to work with a researcher close to their locality should they wish to.

We launched our 2021 JRE Programme to find new research talent

We are currently finding that the demand for talent in the industry is outstripping supply. This is something that we are looking to address within our company by taking on greater volumes of people at the entry level (whether they be a college leaver, graduate or someone looking for a change in career) and then importantly, putting in place training and development plans to secure these people for the long-term. We launched our JRE programme in Autumn 2021, and have had a huge amount of interest. We are looking forward to welcoming a new cohort of researchers in the new year and supporting them in every aspect of their research career going forward with us.

Have a look at our careers page for current openings.

In 2021 we expanded our data visualisation offering for clients

Our in-house Creative Services team continues to develop its offering and remains ahead of the curve in producing outputs such as short visual infographics, videos, animations, 3D outputs, reports and presentations. In 2021 we have also expanded our offering to meet the creative needs of clients on other projects beyond the presentation of their research findings – by client request!

"I would absolutely recommend working with Steph, if you have a design project that would benefit from a designer who is great with infographics, interpreting guidelines quickly, meeting a brief, working collaboratively and pulling out all the stops to deliver on time." – Wellcome Collection

For more information and to learn more about our offer get in touch.

We received more great feedback from clients!

We've had lots of great feedback this year from organisations including Network Rail, Met Office, Talking Rain and the General Chiropractic Council. See what they had to say, here!

We were invited to speak at the Employee Ownership Association’s conference

After becoming employee-owned we were honoured to be asked by the EOA to speak at its annual conference. New Chairman, Danny Sims, and our HR Manager Lucy Pawson, both of whom now sit on DJS Research’s Employee Ownership Trust Board, spoke about our experiences transitioning to the new EOT business structure, and offered advice and insight for others interested in doing the same.

We announced a new Charity of the Year

After three fantastic years working alongside local charity, the Thomas Theyer Foundation and raising over £3,000 through staff challenges, we have a new Charity of the Year! For 2021/22 we have partnered with The Air Ambulance Service - voted for by DJS staff after the organisation lifted our colleague, Jo, to safety following a serious accident. Our fundraising was kicked off by Richard Yates from our CATI department who ran the Manchester 10k in just 39 minutes and 32 seconds, finishing in 106th place overall and 6th for his age! Just after Christmas we begin our first company-wide fundraiser, our annual, Get up and Go Challenge!

We chaired our first Employee Voice meeting

Whilst we have always listened to our employees, informally, and through MyDJS engagement surveys, becoming employee-owned has meant that employee voice has never been so important. These are the voices which will help shape the future of DJS Research and help us live and breathe the principles of EO. Our first quarterly Employee Voice meeting welcomed representatives from across the company, offering the opportunity to share ideas, ask questions and raise any issues expressed by individuals or DJS teams in a warm, collaborative environment. Not only did it mark an important step in our EO journey, it was a great chance to see colleagues again, as well as eat delicious cupcakes baked by Rahat, our lovely new HR Assistant!

More of our work was published in 2021

It’s always great to see the research we work so hard on published, and this year there have been several key pieces making headlines including CC Water’s Testing the Waters 2020/21: Experience of business customers during Covid-19, research, and the annual Water Matters report. Also notable in 2021 was our research for The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST). The research, titled: The Public Perceptions of Climate Change and policy action in the UK, China, Sweden and Brazil, report, revealed ahead of the COP26 summit that “UK public concern over climate crisis was 'at all-time high'.”

You can see all of our published research here.

Final word from DJS Chairman, Danny Sims and new Managing Director, Al Gleed:

“For me, 2021 feels like the key milestone for DJS Research, along with when I first set up the company as a freelancer in 2001. What a journey it has been; so many stories and so many good times throughout the 20 years. I can remember my first client coming to the UK from South Africa to view some focus groups. The groups went really well and then she asked: "Can I use the office facilities?" - so I had to introduce her to the garden shed - my first office. She was absolutely fine about it and then enjoyed an evening meal with Ali and me at our home. She finished the evening by saying: "I can see DJS Research is going places". I think she was right...

"We are so proud of the company we have created and how it has grown and evolved. I feel we have reached a pinnacle this year by transitioning the company to its majority employee-owned status. We have cemented our independent status, our legacy and our culture. The new ownership structure is progressive and forward-thinking and offers a way to give back to our incredible and talented workforce who have made DJS Research everything it is today. We’re on a new journey now with employee ownership, a journey I’m certain will take us to even further heights”

-- Danny Sims, DJS Research Chairman

“We have the makings of a great plan, co-created with staff, which will help us pursue new opportunities and tackle some issues - with workload and wellbeing our highest priorities. Key strands of the plan will also involve working to cement our personality and culture as we develop (staff feel this is a real strength of DJS) and ensuring that we keep listening and making improvements so that DJS is the best agency and employer we can be. I think 2022 will be a really exciting year – with 29 new starters having joined in 2021, we are going into the New Year with the strongest team we have ever had; I’m hoping I’ll soon see some new and familiar faces in our shiny re-furbished head office, that at some point we can all get together for a social, and that I can thank everyone personally for all their hard work.”