Being a NOVOS Co-Owner

We’re an employee owned company

As an employee-owned business, everyone at NOVOS has a powerful voice on the direction of the business & also the financial benefits of its growth. We're a People First agency at our core with big company decisions made and implemented by the people that know the agency best.

Would you like to join the award-winning team at the eCommerce Agency of the Year 2023*? We’re always looking for people who share our passion for eCommerce SEO, commitment to excellent client service, and most importantly, our company values.

Open Positions

How did it start? And where are we now!
Being Employee Owned
Benefits
Policies of interest
D&I pledge
Progression & development
Life at NOVOS
Awards
Blog feed

How did it start?

NOVOS began way back in March 2018, when Sam and Antonio (our two co-founders) decided to challenge the agency model and make a place where people thrive in their work. Company culture was incredibly important and they initiated a 360-degree approach to employee benefits with a strong focus on mental wellbeing and aiding professional development.

Being People-first was always a focus to create a strong environment that allowed people to excel in and be the best in the industry, and later down the line in 2021 they explored becoming Employee Owned. This was a way to take the people-first approach one step further and become people-led.

And where are we now?

NOVOS has now grown to an agency of around 40 people with a buzzing culture which puts its people at the forefront of decisions and direction . We’ve worked with over 200 eCommerce brands across multiple international markets and are working our way through our Dream Client List! We’ve grown 100% YoY since we launched, all whilst keeping one thing consistent: our people-first mindset.

We love to get involved in the eCommerce community, sponsoring partner events, getting involved with every speaking opportunity and hosting our own events and monthly retailer roundtables!

We have won some impressive awards for culture and our client campaigns, and recently we have won The Global Agency Awards eCommerce Agency of the year!

Being Employee Owned

In 2022 we became Employee Owned and The People Committee was created to work on important initiatives and changes to develop NOVOS culture and reflect our values, as well as listening to the wider team and voice ideas to the board of NOVOS for discussion.

In March 2022, Sam and Antonio sold 90% of their shares to the staff, using a similar approach as John Lewis via an employee ownership trust. This means that every person who works at NOVOS is a co-owner of the business!

Why?

Here are the 3 core reasons why we become Employee Owned:

Values
Our company has always been ‘people-first,’, so many agencies use this but dont actually live and breathe it internally. We have gone a step further and are now a ‘people-led’ agency, led by the staff that helped build the company to where it is today.
Everyone gets rewarded
Through a traditional sale, the team that has helped to build the company don’t get any benefits from the sale. The founders, and a select few with shares, benefit from any dividends/rewards from a sale, while the staff are left with the transition to a much larger company often with a completely different culture.
Longevity
The longevity of the business is maintained as with so many incredible independent agencies of the past that are now non-existent after they’ve been absorbed into their parent company. This way, NOVOS can live on for longer as both Sam and Antonio continue to support its growth.

Quite simply it meant that everyone had more ownership, responsibility and accountability for the success of the company. We’ve always believed if the company looks after the people, they look after clients, which looks after our growth and are now a “people-led” agency. We’re rewarded by being able to make meaningful changes to current company policies and processes through our People Committee, and we all share the financial benefits as the business grows.

Find our more about why we become Employee Owned here

Our Mission

The agency strives to be a vehicle for the growth of its clients and the personal growth of the team.

Our Values

Simplicity

This is our core value which separates us from competitors who overcomplicate SEO. We aim to simplify processes and functioning of the company meaning no 100-page docs or SEO jargon for the clients.

Transparency & Honesty

Honesty is when you reveal the truth you feel needs to be known. Transparency is when others can see for themselves the truths they feel they need to know. Our clients trust us and we trust our team. We share the company's performance openly with the team, encouraging them to question the management.

Specialism

There are over 25000 digital agencies in the UK and SEO is a saturated market but what sets us apart is our specialist approach - we do only eCommerce SEO - we’re specialists within a specialism. How can anyone do seo ecom better than us if that's all we do?'

Stand out & be different

Why blend in when you can stand out? Team NOVOS is not afraid to experiment, innovate and create - we don't copy trends, we set them. Most importantly, we are never afraid to admit mistakes and fail - that's how we learn.

Never stop growing

In the digital age, if you're not growing, you're standing still. We don't confine our knowledge and skill development to our niche, SEO. Learning from other industries gives us a fresh perspective and helps us become better business (not just SEO) consultants for our clients. We also pay for advanced, specialist training courses for our team.

Our Benefits

Quarterly opportunities to earn up to a 5% additional bonus on your yearly salary when hitting KPIs set by your manager.
Bi-yearly pay reviews in April and October.
Pension contributions.
Competitive Salary.
Referral and upsell bonuses.
A yearly tax-free bonus and eventual profit share at the end of the financial year, as part of our employee ownership, calculated on the length of service and seniority.
Opportunities to win recognition awards and vouchers to spend for employee of the Month and more initiatives throughout the year!
Earn and give recognition points via Assembly to and from your co-workers for retail vouchers and other rewards, such as spa days or charitable donations.

Policies of Interest

We have competitive parental and adoption leave and pay policies as well as additional support policies around funding Menopause treatment, escaping Domestic Violence and Miscarriage.

We’ve won awards on our flexible working approaches, as well as policies around WFH office set up funds, which you can find in our easily accessible and detailed team handbook. We like to showcase our principle and policies to put people first!

Policies:

Menopause Policy
Domestic Abuse Policy
Miscarriage Policy
Flexible working Policy
Adoption and surrogacy leave police

Our Diversity and Inclusion pledge

“NOVOS and our employees will strive to create an open, inclusive and accessible culture. This will be underpinned by fair, inclusive and accessible recruitment practices and sharing all our best practice with the rest of the sector, our clients and the wider public.”

Read more about how we support our employees on our blog.

Progression & Development

We have done a lot of work around progression and development at NOVOS. We yearly audit our competencies for all roles at the company to ensure they give clear direction and guidance on how people progress.

We operate horizontal and vertical progression routes for everyone, giving people the opportunity to become either managers or specialists.

For example, our SEO progression looks like the below:

We’re BIG on training – we have extremely healthy and competitive training budgets for every employee at NOVOS and it’s up to you how to spend it!

We actively encourage everyone to seek out external training if it will benefit them and also share this knowledge with the team after.

We also block out one Friday a month for our ‘Company Upskill Day’ – we encourage everyone to use this day to work on their personal development – perhaps that’s completing some online training, working on some thought leadership for LinkedIn or our blog, or helping a junior member of the team with some basics, we want everyone to grow, learn and develop here.

We also have weekly internal training sessions hosted by everyone in the agency!

Testimonials

And to prove we’re not making it up, we’ve got the team to highlight some of the ways that NOVOS has supported their personal lives too!

Mark McMeekin, Head of PR
Working at NOVOS allows me to perfectly balance my busy family life with work. Both the unlimited holiday, along with the personal care day allowance, coupled with the flexible working means I'm always around for school pick ups, days off in the holidays and just generally present in my home life.
Daniel Cartland, Delivery Director
Personally, I’ve found NOVOS’ benefits to be fantastic at supporting my work-life balance, making the working day enjoyable, and ensuring I can perform to the best of my abilities. Unlimited holiday sometimes gets a bad rap, however, I find being able to take a day off without the stress of counting down holiday days remaining to be amazing. Add on top of this specific birthday days off, and personal care days each quarter, time to recharge away from work is always encouraged. I often also use the flexible working policy to make sure I can walk my brilliant dog Jasper in the day, or get a gym session in whilst it’s a bit less busy. As a keen (but unsuccessful) sportsman, access to physiotherapy via Medicash has been a lifesaver and super easy to use. Whilst in work, the Assembly recognition software is fantastic to show colleagues you appreciate their work and support beyond a “thank you”. It’s also always nice to receive this feedback and recognition (and getting a free takeaway with the points built up is never a bad thing!).
Robert Congdon, SEO Strategist
One of the most difficult things about starting a new job is when suddenly things in your personal life come up and you need some time off or even an afternoon to get these things sorted. When I first started at NOVOS I was moving house, but the team were understanding and the companies flexible working policy meant I had extra time in the mornings to get things done and still make my afternoon meetings.
Holly Mason, Digital PR Strategist
Working at NOVOS has been amazing for me and my mental health. The flexible working options allow me to balance my career and personal life and having the option to go into the office is great to see members of the team. The unlimited holiday is especially a fantastic benefit as it's great not having to worry about how many days I can book off and the company closes for 2 weeks at Christmas meaning all staff can truly switch off and relax!
Nine van Strydonck, Head of Operations
I’m so grateful for NOVOS’ flexibility and trust in employees. It’s so much easier to have a healthy work-life balance when we’re encouraged to make time for both the small and big things in life. I don’t have to stress about finding time for doctor’s appointments or going to the post office on a weekday, or taking a walk when I need a break. Most importantly, NOVOS’ generous holiday scheme means I can travel abroad to see my family without having to worry about not having enough leave throughout the year!