What is life like at innocent?

We want to create a business we can be proud of. So to make this happen, we need brilliant people who inspire and deliver change all around them. That's why we're always looking for talented, ambitious and altruistic folks to come and join us.

We think it's a great place to work and are lucky enough to have been nominated for a few awards to that effect. We've also won a few too, including the Times 100 Best Companies to Work For award, which sits proudly on our mantelpiece.

But if you don't have time to pop round and inspect our awards cabinet, why not watch this little film to see the people who work here tell it like it is.

What is life like at innocent? Watch this little film to find out more.

our purpose

Everything innocent makes will always be 100% natural, delicious and nutritionally net-positive, so people are physically and mentally better off after they have eaten our food than before. In other words, we want to be a Trojan horse in society, getting as much fruit and vegetables into people as possible, to help us all live well and die old.

our values

When we're all old and grey and sitting in our rocking chairs, we want to be able to look back and be really proud of the business we all helped to create. We think the best way of achieving this is by living the values that are closest to our hearts. Our five values reflect what we are, how we do things, and where we increasingly want to be. And they hang above every loo in the building so we get to remember them everyday:

Be commercial

We wouldn't be here if we didn't keep our eyes on the numbers at all times. Ultimately we want to deliver growth for us and our customers too.
Be entrepreneurial

innocent began as a small, entrepreneurial company, and nothing much has changed. We aren't afraid to do things differently, and we've never given up on a good opportunity.
Be generous

This means giving honest feedback to one another, taking time to say thank you, and where we can, donating our resources or money to those who need it more than us. It's that simple.
Be natural

Not just our products, but being natural in how we treat each other and how we speak to the most important people - our drinkers
Be responsible

We keep our promises, are mindful of our impact on our community and our environment, and always try to leave things a little bit better than we found them.

Our structure

At innocent, we are made up for four main teams, each of which is made up of several smaller teams. Here's a simple picture to show you how it all works:

essential

finance
IT & environment
people

UK teams

business delivery
commercial
marketing

operations

fruit & ingredients
logistics
production
technical

The serious stuff

The everyday stuff

We know that the best learning doesn't always happen in the classroom - it happens every day, just by doing your job and trying new things out. So in a business that's growing and evolving like innocent, the opportunities to develop yourself every day are second to none.That said, we also think it's important to get away from the usual day-to-day stuff, take a step back and improve on the skills you need to be even better at what you do. That's why everyone has regular development chats with their manager to talk about what areas they need to work on to be even better at their job and what their plans for the long game are too.

Being new

Everyone was new once. So we've made being new at innocent the best 'being new' experience we can. After all, might as well start as you mean to go on. During your 2 week induction, you'll get a complete picture of how the business works by meeting experts from across innocent as well as seeing how your role fits into that, how you can contribute and, most importantly, where to go for the best sandwiches.

Learning & Development

We take the development of our people very seriously. Partly because we know it's a reason why great people want to join and stay at innocent - to further their careers, to become a better version of themselves, and to play a part in growing a successful business. Partly because it makes sense for us to have a team of engaged, talented, high performing people at the top of their game. So learning and development is win-win all round.

Horses for courses (and everyone else)

We run quite few courses at innocent that enhance and develop skills, knowledge and behaviour that we believe are important for everyone in a business like ours to have.

The innocent academy - This is a 2 day programme which equips you with simple tools and ideas to help you be more effective back in the office. Everyone across the company gets to go on the Academy and it's a great way to learn from people you might not work with on a day-to-day basis.

The innocent Business Academy (IBA) - We developed this 2 day course internally to teach core business skills, like project management and financial wizardry. If you are at manager level or above, you'll go on this course during your first year at innocent.

Managing Your Own Development - These are optional courses designed to give you even more tips, tools and tricks on how to get the most out of your role through managing your energy and playing to your strengths as well as planning your next step (and then making it happen).

Building expertise in what you do - Each team at innocent has a learning plan which is all about keeping us at the top of our game in whatever we do. For some teams it might involve studying for professional exams, for others it might be about honing certain skills - for example, our sales team do a lot of learning around great negotiation, and our technical team will be focused on the latest methods for keeping our drinks safe from bugs.

Reward

In a nutshell, our philosophy is that everyone should get something, but the people who contribute the most should get the most:

Salary - an annual pay review ensures that high performance is rewarded by increasing capacity to earn.

PRP Bonus - every year if we hit our targets we all get the chance to share in the success.

Private health care - in case you do yourself a mischief at the ping pong table, we have private health care to cover those trips to the physiotherapist.

Life assurance & critical illness cover - we hope nothing bad ever happens to you whilst working at innocent, but if something was to happen, you're covered with our insurance.

Tax saving schemes - we also help people to save money where possible via tax saving schemes, for example we run the childcare voucher scheme and also the 'Ride2work' bike scheme.

The nice stuff

Clubs

We contribute to the cost of doing our people's favourite activities including massage, cake club and the world famous Cheese Club.

Company meetings

We get together four times a year to talk about the business, followed by a holiday in summer and a great big party at Christmas.

Free breakfast

And real coffee and lots of tea.

Free smoothies

Obviously.

Friday beers

We like to wind down properly before the weekend. Sometimes there are crisps involved too.

innocent foundation scholarships

Each year someone gets an extra week's holiday to work with one of our foundation projects.

Scholarship

We give away three innocent scholarships every quarter, each worth £1,000, to help a few people do something they've always dreamed of.

Services to fruit

The most amazing person of the month. They get a top hat or tiara to wear and unrelenting cups of tea.

Life after innocent

Barney - Fresh Marketing

I was 'innocentified' to the core. Scooped up by the whirlwind of smoothies and banana phones as employee #7 in 2000, my first brief was to sell little juice bottles to anyone with either a funny accent or who wore a kilt. Off I went in my cow-van and hit the streets of Glasgow, Dublin and Penzance (kilts - I think?). I was later upgraded to the Dancing Grass Van (the DGV) and found myself showing homemade movies to buyers at Starbucks and Compass. Table Football kicked in at the end of long weeks and smoothies began to sell in truck loads. During my 5th and final year I would have been upgraded to the Flying Banana (but they didn't have one) as we set our sights on conquering Europe - allez les Bleus! Being 'innocentified' was the best thing that ever happened to me. With great people, energetic confidence and commercial savviness it became clear that anything is possible in a short space of time … and kilts are definitely cool.

Bronte Aurell - Scandi Kitchen

I became part of the innocent family back in early 2003 as their first People Team person. In my time at Fruit Towers, I did everything from heading up the People Team to help set up new innocent office in new countries to making the original knitting pattern for the Woolly Hats Project. Back then, it was all hands on deck.

In 2007, I left to have a baby and to set up my own shop, Scandinavian Kitchen (both of which I decided to do in the same 24 hours). A few years later and the cafe/shop is doing great and we have also expanded to include an online shop and a fancy import-arm to the UK of Scandinavian food products. We work in two locations and we have 11 employees.

Before innocent, I was part of those big blue chip tankers in the City and I couldn't understand why I was forever feeling like something was missing. What innocent gave me, aside from some of the best years of my life socially, was the freedom and trust to make changes that I believed in. The support and backing from Jon, Rich and Adam to push through radical (at the time) approaches to what "HR" should be like meant that we all together created a fantastic place to work where we would wake up in the morning and think "Wow, I'm going to work today". It is now 4 years since I left and I still refer to innocent as "we" instead of "them". It is, without a doubt, the best work decision I ever made to leave the money centered job in the big bad investment bank to go work for a place that has grass as carpet. Working in a job that makes you happy - and for people who make you feel motivated, developed and appreciated - is the best gift I ever gave myself work wise.

Dan Shrimp & Mike Stevens - Peppersmith

Mike and I worked for innocent way back in the early days. Fruit Towers was our home for a combined 13 years with Mike spending most of his time running the supply chain, before helping launch the brand in Scandinavia, while I worked in the finance team before jumping ship to do marketing and comms. Our time there was not only hugely enjoyable but also hugely useful and enriching. We were encouraged to learn about the wider workings of the business, rapidly grew in responsibility as the company grew, even switched teams when we wanted to gain experience in other functions. It was the ultimate school for entrepreneurs and provided us with the inspiration and tools we needed to go it alone. In 2010 we did just that and launched Peppersmith, making healthy and natural confectionery.

Jo Gunn - Nyetimber

I started at innocent in 2005, working through a variety of Grocery sales accounts before stepping into a more strategic MS&P role. After leaving innocent in March 2010 I worked for Danone Dairies as their AFH Controller. After 18 months I realised an emerging company environment was the best place for me to flourish, which led me to my current job as Head of Sales for Nyetimber (England's most luxurious sparkling wine brand). Working within the fast paced, high calibre and passionate culture that is innocent set me up brilliantly for a senior role in a small company. It has generated the right mentality of mucking in and getting involved in every aspect of the business, and has shown the benefits of being truly proud and passionate for the company you work for.

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