Houseful

We’re proud to announce that Zoopla (part of Houseful), in collaboration with The Brain Charity, has launched a brand new home-buying guide for neurodivergent people! We believe this to be the first of its kind and it will hopefully help the nearly two-thirds of the neurodivergent population who want to buy their own home but end up giving up, due to the numerous overwhelming challenges faced during the home-buying process. Additional research shows that most estate agents also need (and want) some advice in how to support clients who are neurodivergent, as they’ve not received any training in this area. Most are in full support of making necessary adjustments, so there’s a complementary guide for our member agents too, so they can offer an even better and inclusive service, and close that sale! At Houseful we have a “Minds of All Kinds” champion network for neurodiversity, which, since its creation in 2021 has worked hard to continuously raise awareness of neurodiversity internally, and to encourage all of our Housemates to understand how they can support neurodivergent people to thrive at Houseful and beyond. The network members are immensely proud that this challenge is now being addressed, with Zoopla leading the way. These guides will significantly help both agents and home buyers to successfully navigate a complex process that should be accessible to everyone, no matter how their brains are wired, whether that is through autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia or anything else that could bring extra challenges. Find the guide here: https://lnkd.in/esVKz3Ev Debi Cox Elliott Saray Richard Easton Niamh Campbell

🌍 Today is World Homeless Day, a day to raise awareness about the challenges faced by those experiencing homelessness and to highlight the incredible work being done in communities to support affected families and individuals. With over 300,000 people currently experiencing homelessness in the UK, including 150,000 children in temporary accommodation, the urgency for collective action has never been greater. At Houseful, we firmly believe that safe and stable housing is a basic human right. We’re proud to announce that we’ve signed the Crisis Homelessness Covenant 🤝. Developed by Crisis, in partnership with the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) and DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), the Covenant represents a pledge for employers to actively support the prevention and end of homelessness. By joining this initiative, we are committing to: - Pledge 1: Providing employment and training opportunities for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness - Pledge 2: Adopting fair and inclusive recruitment practices to support people affected by homelessness - Pledge 3: Helping end homelessness in our communities through fundraising, awareness-raising, partnerships, and volunteering Since 2022, our incredible teams have raised over £185,000 for Crisis and volunteered 6,750 hours. We’re so proud of the passion and dedication shown by everyone involved in our social mission. In another exciting step, we’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with Stonewall Housing 🌈, the leading national charity supporting LGBTQ+ individuals of all ages who are experiencing homelessness or living in unsafe environments. This community is disproportionately affected, and through this partnership, we’ll work closely with Stonewall Housing and our HouseProud employee network to offer volunteering, skills-sharing, and other vital support to help accelerate their impact. Our ESG Director, Anastasia Brenikov, shared her thoughts: “At Houseful, our commitment to ending homelessness is unwavering. We will continue to leverage our resources, influence, and time to support those in need. Together, we’re working towards a future where everyone has a safe place to call home.” #WorldHomelessDay #EndHomelessness #CrisisUK #StonewallHousing #LGBTQ+ #HousingCrisis #CommunityImpact #DEI

Last Wednesday was an even more exciting day than usual at Houseful central, as Housemates gathered for a big Houseful #BuildTogether day. The day kicked-off with a series of All Hands meetings, where we heard inspiring updates from Charlie, our CEO, and senior leaders, ensuring alignment on our strategic priorities. After a productive morning, it was time to unwind, connect with colleagues and celebrate our successes. In the afternoon we ventured down the rabbit hole for our company-wide summer get-together - Houseparty in Wonderland 2024. With a picture-perfect venue, to enchanting decorations and curious characters, Wonderland was an unforgettable adventure for all. Housemates embraced the complete and utter nonsense of the day, dressing up and getting stuck into the many activities on offer including creative workshops, a roving caricaturist and silhouettist and a silent disco followed by a groovy saxophonist accompanying the DJ. There was even a secret garden brimming with delicious treats and roaring laughter at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, and of course, everything was larger than life! As part of the festivities, we held a raffle in support of our charity partner, Crisis. And thanks to our generous Houseful community, we raised £6,000 for Crisis which will help 60 people begin their journey out of homelessness. The official event photography has now been released, and there are plenty of ‘Cheshire Cat’ smiles on faces at Houseful HQ today as Housemates relive the magical memories. Excited about the incredible energy at Houseparty in Wonderland? Join our awesome team and be part of the next one. Explore our open roles on our careers website and discover your next opportunity with us! https://lnkd.in/eu8aS-me #lifeathouseful #houseparty2024 #housepartyinwonderland #careersathouseful

This September, a few of our Housemates will be leading an inspiring session at BYP Network's Careers Fest: Equal Opportunities: Overcoming Barriers for Black Professionals. We'd love for you to join in and support our incredible team as they share their insights and strategies. Your presence could make all the difference! Houseful Zoopla (part of Houseful) Sandy Lacey-Aberdein Martina S. Nick Reid Adam Sheldon-Smillie

What does being an aspiring leader mean at Houseful? 🤔 This is a topic Housemates ask themselves during our Houseful Aspiring Leaders Programme… This programme has been designed in house, and is all about self-leadership being the most important place to start; ‘In order to lead others, we must learn to lead ourselves first.’ Self leadership: Actively developing a confident sense of who you are, taking ownership of your actions (#OwnIt), understanding your impact on others and being intentional as to where you are going. It is designed for those who want to elevate their career and progress at Houseful (whether they choose to go down a Senior Individual Contributor route or a People Leader route) they are equipped with the tools, behaviours and knowledge to develop their emotional intelligence, self-awareness, self-development and self-management in order to actively unlock their future potential. 🚀 To close the programme after four months together, Emily Wilson, Senior Talent Development Partner (and Coach) asks our CEO, Charlie Bryant, and Leaders across the business in different roles to share their learnings and experiences. 🎤 After Housemates have completed the programme, they are set up with leadership mentors from across the business to support them in their ongoing personal and professional development whilst they put their learnings and commitments into practice. 🤝 The next cohort are about to begin their journey on the programme... ------ Here are a few of our favourite insights from our most recent cohort(s): ✅ 100% of those who have been on the programme would recommend it to others  ✅ 100% said it has exceeded or met their expectations  ✅ 100% will commit to continuing to take their learnings into action 🗨 ‘I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity and I can already see the benefits in my day to day interactions. I’ve met some great people and I hope to continue to grow the relationships!’ 🗨 ‘This course is excellent. There is loads of research being done that is then adapted to help meet Houseful's goals and objectives.’ 🗨 ‘I’ve learnt there will be many leadership paradoxes that we will have to face and navigate and that taking action leads to change. Which is why I’ve already started taking action on my commitments’ If you’d like to join a company of forward-thinking leaders, check out our live roles: https://lnkd.in/dhu4eAtz 🔗

How do we retain and attract more diverse talent in the tech industry? It’s something close to our heart as a business and next week, our Head of Talent Acquisition, Sandy Lacey-Aberdein, will speak on this topic at RecFest UK 2024. Sandy will be part of a panel discussion, covering: ● Best practices for attracting diverse talent in the tech industry focusing on ethnicity and gender ● Overcoming common barriers and biases in the recruitment process ● The role of leadership and organisational culture in fostering diversity and inclusion ● Innovative approaches to building diverse talent pipelines ●The impact of diversity on innovation, productivity, and company culture If you’re in Talent Acquisition you can register for #RecFest2024, or follow our charity partner Tech She Can to #changetheratio

HouseProud is excited to share an update on our recent activities during Pride and beyond. We are the LGBTQIA+ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Network (DEICN) for Houseful, and in the second week of Pride month, we focused our activities on #BeingTheChange and demonstrating how we can embody the positive transformation we wish to see. Last week, we released a HousefulShort video to our entire organisation, highlighting our initiatives as a network, centred around our four pillars: 1️⃣ Inclusive Leadership We aim to engage senior leaders and managers in fostering an LGBTQ-inclusive culture. 2️⃣ Equitable Policies and Benefits We are reviewing all our policies and benefits to ensure they are inclusive and equitable for LGBTQIA+ employees, ensuring they feel represented and supported in the workplace. 3️⃣ Engagement and Support Across the Employee Lifecycle We are examining how we engage and support LGBTQIA+ employees at each key touchpoint throughout their career journey, from attraction and recruitment to exit. 4️⃣ Improving Our Data We are enhancing our LGBTQIA+ data collection, monitoring, analysis, and reporting to better understand representation and prioritise initiatives based on data. In addition, HouseProud members came together to share personal stories, aiming to raise awareness, advocate for colleagues, and educate the broader organisation. We discussed our everyday experiences as LGBTQIA+ individuals in the UK and provided resources for further reading on the community's current challenges. This week, our focus is on #BuildingTogether, creating connections, and celebrating the ties that unite us. Stay tuned for next week’s update on our continued efforts!

We're so proud to continue our partnership with Future Frontiers, and grateful for the opportunity to make a positive impact on a young person's journey.

To improve the representation of women at a senior level at Houseful we’ve recently created a Women in Leadership programme. Earlier this week, six participants from that programme attended the Financial Times Women in Business Summit where they had the opportunity to expand their minds and perspective with speakers ranging from Harriet Harman KC to Nicola Downing, CEO Ricoh Europe. The theme of the day was ‘Power and parity: Rewriting the rules for the future’ and topics varied from navigating disruption to when CEOs should become activists (and when they shouldn't!) to why women in their midlife are quitting the workforce at the peak of their careers. The summit explored the most effective policies, strategies and initiatives to close the gender gap and improve female representation in the highest echelons of society and business. Here’s how Anastasia Brenikov, Houseful Director of ESG reflected on the day: “A fantastic day at the Women in Business Summit, an opportunity to listen to high-quality discussion and debate on critical topics that impact us all. I particularly enjoyed hearing from Harriet Harman on the obstacles she overcame as an MP in the 80s (when less than 5% of the parliamentary representatives were women) and getting an overview from Kathryn Britton on how recent data shows us that women leaders' responses to disruption is to identify the opportunity. It was also a meaningful pause in the rush of every day to spend time with my colleagues, some seriously talented women who continue to inspire me (and who are also a really good laugh!). With so much work to do on gender equality, it's important to have women around you who make you smile and remind you why the work is worth it“

As promised, we're excited to update you on the activities of HouseProud, our LGBTQIA+ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Network (DEICN). This week, HouseProud is focusing on #SettingTheBarHigher. After collaborating closely with Crisis, the Houseful team has gained valuable insights into the challenges of homelessness and its underlying issues. Our journey has taught us how to be effective partners in addressing this critical area. We were particularly moved by the disproportionate impact of homelessness on the LGBTQ+ community, compelling us to take further action. Our commitment to making a difference led us to partner with Stonewall Housing, the leading national charity supporting LGBTQ+ individuals across the UK who are experiencing homelessness or living in unsafe conditions. On Thursday, we hosted a 'Lunch on the House' event for all Housemates in collaboration with the team at Stonewall Housing. This was our first collaborative event, but it certainly won't be our last! Dozens of Housemates attended and learned about the impactful work Stonewall Housing has been doing since 1983, having supported over 42,000 marginalised and vulnerable LGBTQIA+ individuals. After the presentation, we shared a meal, and many Housemates generously donated their lunch money to support Stonewall Housing's incredible cause.