Goldman Sachs has picked Milton Keynes as the site of its first-ever office outside of London – we found out why.

Having a job that makes getting out of bed in the morning worthwhile can often seem like a distant dream. So, how can businesses help employees become passionate about their work?

“It’s all about having a connected workforce, and most importantly, a great working environment.”

This is according to Sarah Card, Head of Operations at Marcus by Goldman Sachs UK – an online bank built on the expertise of Goldman Sachs.

On 16 July, Milton Keynes became the location for Goldman Sachs’ first UK office outside of London.

Based in Caldecotte Lake Business Park, the new customer care centre has created 30 new jobs but has the capacity for up to 240 employees – offering significant potential for growth.

Creating a great work environment

For Sarah, the new customer service base is “one of the best working environments” she has seen “for a call centre.”

She continued: “Traditionally, because call centre numbers are high, companies tend to cram people into old and tired buildings – but having a great working environment is really important and it’s the one thing that we’re really trying to create.”

When asked what sets the company above the rest in being a great place to work, Sarah said: “Goldman Sachs is a fantastic company from a benefits perspective. They treat their people very well and obviously from a Marcus perspective, we want people to come in and love what they do.”

In order to ensure all employees are getting the support they need, while making sure everybody is happy in their roles, three weeks of training is provided at the start of employment. This is in addition to an induction programme.

In line with this, the new office space features a purpose-built training centre. This all contributes to the Marcus goal of creating a great work environment.

A connected workforce

Being the first office outside of the Capital, Sarah explains that it’s important employees based in Milton Keynes have access to leadership teams in order to “feel connected” to the wider business in London.

In order to create a connected workforce, culture is key.

She said: “It’s about the culture – building a really good inclusive culture. The leadership team that works from here [Milton Keynes] are all on-site too and the wider leadership team will come here regularly – I think that’s important for the team, so they feel connected.”

Currently, the new office only has 30 members of staff working on the phones, but numbers are set to grow. One thing that is not given to employees is targets. Staff are not expected to make a certain amount of calls each day.

According to Sarah, targets “breed the wrong behaviour”, as they aim to create an inclusive culture where employees collaborate with one another without worrying about set objectives.

Sarah explained that by creating a connected workforce and a great environment, it helps to ensure that members of staff are happy and that there is a “good inclusive culture” present in the business.  

“We want people to enjoy what they do here. If people are happy then they will be better placed to be happy talking to our customers.”

Sarah concludes: “We are diverse of thought so that we recognise people’s contributions. This is so employees feel relaxed and feel like they have the ability to have a voice in a bigger organisation.

“But in general, we want people to feel like they want to get out of bed in morning – that they really are doing something and not just sitting on the phones.”