Behind the scenes at EVORA in 2022

EVORA has had an amazing year. We’ve hired a lot of new people, growing 47% since 2021 as well as having a huge investment into this business this Autumn. Internally, we’ve raised over £11,000 for different charities and had so many varying activities each month for staff to join in with. There’s been beach and park cleans, as well as lectures in schools about what we do.

The London office also had a big move at the beginning of the year, moving the short distance to Birrane House. We now sit over Borough market, so are in no short supply of excellent places to eat lunch! We had some great feedback about our offices after we moved in and are looking forward to making the office even better in 2023.

We also opened our first office in New York. Ryan and Ed have both relocated over there and then we started hiring locally. We are so excited to see the New York office grow and appreciate how much impact we can have over there.

The Social Committee team grew and the Health and Wellness one was formed, both looking at the social side and wellbeing for all EVORians, in all seven countries! Each month both groups put on different activities and themes. I love the pizza and games night, especially when everyone globally joins in too; there’s something very wholesome when even the directors are getting involved in these nights. The Social Committee also focused on creating a Culture Calendar internally and a volunteer & charity group. Massive thanks to everyone involved!

The Health and Wellness team made sure our mental health was front and center this year, from organizing physical activities like Boot Camp and walking challenges to getting back to nature with Plant Power Month and involving the senses with Perfume Month. The whole Health and Wellness team deserve a huge round of applause for their hard work and dedication to helping others in EVORA.

EVORians also took part in two physical challenges, the Race the Thames in January and the Walk this May. For both, we raised money for charities. Not only was this a great opportunity to support great causes, it doubled up as a fantastic team bonding too. It was easy to see the importance of communication and the benefits of physical movement We are looking forward to joining the Race the Thames again this year.

Online, we had some epic Teams Channels created, most notably the Music Exchange and Pet Channel. The Pet channel is the place to go to get your daily hit of dopamine, seeing all the cute dogs, cats, and even horses and ducks that others have snapped. The Recipe Exchange channel was also created, which is great for getting inspiration for that evening meal as well as finding out the latest food event going on in the office. Thank you so much Naomi and Charley for starting the channel and creating regular food blogs on seasonal eating! The Rock Climbing Channel also got off the ground this year, with a group going weekly to the local bouldering center. I cannot recommend this enough for both your physical health as well as your mental health.

In October this year we had our huge company trip to the Lake District. Personally, this was the highlight of my year at Evora – it was amazing to meet so many of my colleagues in person and really connect with them. We tried out a range of new skills including archery, axe throwing, and most importantly duck herding. This was loved by everyone and produced some hilarious videos.

From all of this, the sense of community and the spirt of being an EVORIan has just grown and grown. There is an incredible culture when you work at EVORA with a great balance of work life and social events. I cannot imagine working anywhere else and can often be heard remarking to people that I cannot believe I get to do all of this for work. I am so excited to see what happens next for the company this year, both professionally and socially. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be another epic year!