It is a rarity to find one business in Coldstream quiet, focused and productive, as its whole raison d’etre is to have a party.
The Laughing Ducks Soft Play centre was founded by wife-and-husband team Anna and Jon Standing, and they admit they are at their happiest as business entrepreneurs when their little clients are balls of non-stop excitement and motion. However, they know the key to that is the quality of their staff team, and after sitting down with them to discuss how to ensure they could enjoy their own happiness in a work-life balance, but not leave the business short at unsocial hours, they came up with a novel working week.
Jon explains: “All of our staff work on an equal time rota, with a four-week rolling rota working 14 out of 28 days, and alternate weekends. We developed that because nobody wants to work every weekend, and we expected to see a high turnover. It is unusual but it works for us, and it works for the staff.”
“It allows for a better work-life balance,” added Anna, “and happy workforce equals happy workplace. We love what we do, and the staff love what we do – we get to see families make memories and have a great time. It makes your heart kind of full.”
Their approach earned the company the Fair Work Business of the Year Award at the 2024 Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards, organised by the Scottish Borders Chamber of Commerce (SBCC).
In our latest Spotlight on Excellence, which goes behind the award headlines and finds out how the winners achieved success, Anna and Jon explain how their team helped to devise working weeks that addressed their fears of high turnover, common in the play sector, and put enjoyment back into the staff as well as their visitors.
”"We love what we do, and the staff love what we do – we get to see families make memories and have a great time. It makes your heart kind of full.”
Anna StandingCo-founder, The Laughing Ducks Soft Play Centre
