Giving Something Back: The Day We Swapped RAM for Rams

If you spend much time around these parts, you’ll probably know by now that working at Brandwatch isn’t a normal experience.

It’s a place that provides ample room for creative expression and individual goal-setting through our Funky Fridays, a scheme recently extended to our entire workforce with our Super Mega Awesome Funky Friday (SMAFF) event.

We were also certified as one of WorldBlu’s most democratic workplaces for 2013 and have a rich heritage of exciting and unusual practices when compared to more regular office environments.

It was in this spirit that our UK office didn’t turn up to work last Friday. The 80-strong headquarters was a ghost-town, as the majority of our UK employees headed to nearby animal charity Raystede to give something back to the local community instead.

Raystede, an animal shelter and charity since the years following the second world war, is a centre for the wellbeing of all animals, and helps rehome and provide sanctuary for over 1500 of them a year.

With the annual summer fair just a week away, Raystede were keen to make the venue as presentable and well-prepared as possible. With overheads of over £5k a day and running entirely on donations and volunteerism, Raystede were in need of as much help as they could get.

It was handy then, that the staff at Brandwatch were happy to get their hands dirty and muck in.

As well as learning about the welfare of animals, the fundraising practices and getting to know some of the dogs, cats, rabbits, alpacas and other beasts cared for at Raystede, our team were split up to carry out different improvement tasks across the centre.

Whether it was applying a lick of paint or varnish to the chicken coop, removing rocks from the soil, sweeping pathways, laying down woodchip or a whole multitude of other efforts, team Brandwatch did its best to get Raystede ready for the big event.

It was a great opportunity for two seemingly unrelated companies to get together in the local Brighton community, and more importantly helped provide a charity with the resource it needed to function effectively.

So despite the aching legs, sore backs and other minor scrapes, the smiles on the faces of everyone present were testament to not only an enjoyable change of scenery for the Brandwatch crew, but also to a job well done – and one well worth doing.

Get in touch with Raystede if you’d like to contribute to this worthy organisation, and make sure you attend the summer fair if you live nearby and want to get involved.