Yapping with...Jane Sunley, Founder & CEO of Purple Cubed

“Leaders need to be honest, authentic and have integrity. If that means highlighting some workplace negatives, so be it.” 

At the end of last year we were excited to announce our partnership with people & tech experts, Purple Cubed. The integration provides shared users seamless access to their people engagement platform, Talent Toolbox, through the Yapster app. A few months in, we thought we’d check in with Jane Sunley to find out where the idea for the platform germinated, and what really lies at the heart of her People Promise. 

Jane’s career began in the hospitality industry - she started out in hotels before moving to London, where she took on a role at contract caterers Compass in a corporate regional position. There, Jane was asked to set up an in-house recruitment business but admits that she was reluctant: “I was an operator, I wasn’t in HR.” But after a bit of tender cajoling, she accepted the challenge and ended up as MD of the Mayday Group – growing very successfully for a few years until the lightbulb moment that led to starting up her own business in 2001. 

Jane’s heart never truly warmed to recruitment, “I was far more interested in what happened afterwards, once people started work. How they were being looked after, whether they were engaged and their aspirations fulfilled.” However, this was back in 2000 when people weren’t talking about employee engagement the way they are now. “My vision was to build a piece of software that allowed people to track and drive their own progress, their performance, their learning and so Talent Toolbox was born.”

“Tech moves very fast, so you have to move with it.”

Talent Toolbox is Purple Cubed’s main product, and it’s evolved over the years to become what it is today. “Tech moves very fast, so you have to move with it.” While 70% of their customers sit within the hospitality industry, the other 30% is split across varied industries. Most of their clients have been attained through recommendations.

For that reason, Purple Cubed doesn't have a sales team. “We probably haven’t grown as fast as we could,” However now, her ambitious team are keen to raise money and grow the company. “Eighteen years on and we’ve always self-funded from cashflow,” she says. “However, if it means we can continue to achieve great stuff and it keeps my people happy and engaged, I’m up for it. We have fab ideas and the experience to make them work so why wouldn’t we?!” 

And that’s what makes Jane such a great leader. She isn’t stuck in her ways, and she understands the importance of adapting, of growing, and of creating space for younger generations to voice their opinions, and develop. “A large proportion of my team falls under Gen Y,” she says, “whereas I’m a bit older than that!” And perhaps the fact that they come from different generations is what informs their differing workplace perspectives. 

“Millennials and Gen Z want somewhere meaningful where they can make a difference to the world. My generation was much more selfish.”

Jane is mindful not to confine people into boxes. “Generations are shaped and influenced by different things growing up,” she explains. “Millennials and Gen Z want purpose. They want to work somewhere meaningful where they can make a difference to the world. [In comparison] my generation was much more selfish - let’s get what you can, let’s earn what we can.” Jane values the generational shift away from this attitude; it means current and future generations will help make the world a better place. 

“[As such, Gen Z and Y] want to know what’s going on. They want to form adult to adult relationships. My generation was defined by a parent/child dynamic.” Take what Jane said earlier; she was reluctant to accept that recruitment job at Compass, but she did it anyway. She did as she was told. “There seems to be an unspoken sense that Gen Z and Y wouldn’t do anything they didn’t want to. With the support of parents, teachers, even social media, they have confidence in their abilities which older generations arguably lack(ed). Good for them – confidence is what we need right now”. 

For Gen Z and Y, being kept in the loop feeds into the importance of communication. “Any business that hasn't got digital comms will simply not get good people wanting to work for them,” Jane says. “Why would they when that’s the only way millenials and Gen Y know how to communicate?” 

According to Jane, “if you give Gen Z and Y what they need - not bean bags and slides - [but] in terms of ensuring they know what’s expected of them, that they’re getting feedback and the development to succeed, that you’re kind to them, they’ll stay and do a good job.”  There’s a preconception that younger generations are flighty and unreliable. But Jane’s firm in her belief that this is a misconception. “They’ll only leave if they’re not getting what they want. And it’s every employer’s responsibility to find out what that is.”

That’s where the People Promise comes in (or ‘Employee Value Proposition’ in corporate speech): If I work here, what will I get? How am I going to progress? How am I going to be led? 

“Historically, employers have sold the dream and when the employee gets there, it’s a bit of a nightmare.” But this is no longer possible. Why? “Because there are websites like Glassdoor and Indeed, and because on social media a prospective employee is likely to know somebody who will know somebody who will tell them what it’s really like to work at that company.”

“Ultimately, leaders need to be honest, authentic and have integrity,” Jane says. “And if that means highlighting the difficulties that might come with working in their company, so be it. Where possible, a leader needs to highlight the negatives in a positive light.” After all, values and culture need to be distinctive and authentic - an employer needs to live them. “Values mean nothing without reflected behaviour.”

It’s no surprise then that Purple Cubed are soon to launch a new wellbeing app. “Wellbee is a simple yet powerful tool that will enable companies to monitor overall wellbeing levels and enable people to self-assess, track their progress over time and access the right support as and when they need it,” she explained. “There’s an interesting dichotomy between diversity, inclusivity and culture. The trick is to have a culture that is diverse and inclusive, though with some shared attitudes.”

It’s obvious Jane has always been clear about what she wanted to achieve with Talent Toolbox. It gives the individual a voice and lets them create their own dialogue around their career. It’s a tool for transformation. “We were going to build our own comms tool to sit within it until we met [Yapster]. We’re a perfect fit and, most importantly, we share the same values.” 

Lara Businaro