Hot on the heels of recording our most profitable Q1 to date at the beginning of 2021, we went on to enjoy an even more successful second quarter.
Financial figures achieved throughout Q2 of this year saw a staggering 176% revenue increase when compared to the same period in 2020, when businesses across the UK were navigating unchartered ground in the wake of the pandemic. We’ve even shown significant improvement on our pre-pandemic performance, with our 2021 Q2 revenue seeing a 46% increase when compared to the same period in 2019.
We again went above and beyond to achieve an impressive 134% of our quarterly revenue target, compared to 111% during Q1.
In addition to this, June was our best month on record, the last time this happened being March 2021, which shows we’re on track to have our best financial year-to-date.
The vast majority of our revenue (92%) came as a result of making 160 high calibre permanent placements within businesses throughout the UK, whilst also bolstering our already thriving network of lasting and trusted partnerships with the addition of 23 new clients.
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Team Achievements
We welcomed seven new starters to team MERJE in Q2, who we have no doubt will go on to build, strengthen and add value to our Compliance, Credit Risk & Analytics, Financial Crime and Front-Line Talent disciplines.
Seven must be lucky, because the same number of our teams surpassed their quarterly target and will be recipients of a fantastic meal, activity or outing of their choice as a reward.
Record breakers of note were Paul Clayton, who achieved an eye watering 307% of his quarterly target, as well as Mandy Abelson, Ellie Sykes and Natasha Copitch who all surpassed 200% of theirs. Each of these incredible role models will receive well-deserved additional bonuses as a reward for their great work.
As well as this, the Credit Risk & Analytics division topped the team leaderboard, reaching almost 200% of their quarterly target thanks to the brilliant work of Ellie and a truly astounding first few weeks in the business from David Herman. With Tom Cook now on the team as well, we expect to see even greater things in the future of the discipline.
Last, but by no means least, we awarded five spins on our beloved Wheel of Fortune, meaning that David Herman, Natasha Copitch, Paul Clayton, Adam Jones and Pritesh Chudasama all received excellent spontaneous prizes as a result of their brilliant working efforts.
Socials
Another wonderful achievement in Q2, MERJE’s company LinkedIn page surpassed 20,000 followers! We are enjoying high levels of engagement across the platform as we regularly strive to share the latest industry insights and developments.
Spurred on by our social media success, we launched a dedicated Front-Line Talent Facebook page, which has enabled us to share all the most up-to-date opportunities and information in this arena, from entry to team manager level roles in customer service and contact centres, to Front-Line Talent team news and helpful hints and tips for jobseekers.
Happy Employees
In other MERJE news, we continuously strive to improve our business however possible and believe that our people are the heart of our success, which is why we conducted a comprehensive employee survey to get a true understanding of what it’s like to work at MERJE.
We received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 100% of respondents saying they are satisfied with their jobs and happy with MERJE’s working environment. We also received some great, constructive comments that we’re now busy implementing to make positive changes for the benefit of the whole team.
For example, we have since clarified our flexible working policy, ensuring everyone understands their freedoms to work where and when they need to, as well as introducing some social initiatives so that the teams have more opportunity to get together in a casual setting and let their hair down.
We also have several ongoing plans to introduce more formal training structures to support in both seamlessly onboarding new starters as well as helping more experienced team members to advance their career pathways.
The second quarter of the year saw us introduce Summer Fridays, a new initiative that offers staff the opportunity to finish work at 2pm on Fridays throughout the whole of June, July and August, rounding off each week on a high and giving individuals more time to spend in the sun with their families and friends.
Furthermore, in yet another move to show our team just how much we value them, we recently added Perkbox to our benefits package, which gives our team free access to thousands of shopping and lifestyle discounts, alongside an Employee Assistance programme with mindfulness classes, workout videos, counselling sessions, 24/7 medical support and GP and prescription services.
What Next?
In terms of next steps, we’re continuing to advance our commercial growth plans. At the beginning of the year, we targeted an expansion of our staff headcount by 39%, which is well and truly on track having onboarded nine new staff members in the first six months of 2021. We’re continuing to look out for stand-out talent to join the MERJE team and have a number of vacancies across our three locations.
We also have four exciting social events in the pipeline and we’re busy making plans for MERJE’s forthcoming 10th anniversary celebrations, which should be taking place in October, so watch this space!
As per Q1, we feel that overtaking where we were positioned pre-COVID, despite major marketplace challenges, is a massive achievement. We really couldn't have done all of this without the hard work and dedication of our amazing team, so well done to all of team MERJE.
Managing Director Jonathan Abelson said “The results for MERJE’s second quarter of 2021 are exceptional and we’re incredibly proud of the work that is being put in by our team to bounce back from the challenges of last year.
“Many of the achievements came from our more experienced team members, and I hope that these performances prove to be aspirational for all those that are newer to our business, in particular to those working in the divisions that did not even exist at MERJE just 12 months ago.
“Our fantastic start to 2021 should serve as a lesson that hard work, perseverance and patience will undoubtedly pay off in the long term."
Now, we look forward to the rest of the year and doing our utmost to continue on this superb upwards trajectory.
