SF Recruitment

The company transformed its business model in 2020 from ‘profits first’ to ‘family friendly’, in an initiative called The SF Experience© that has incorporated flexible working by default, increased parental leave, and an employee ownership scheme, among other provisions. In SF’s words: “We needed to become more diverse, inclusive, flexible, autonomous and ultimately treat employees as individual humans with individual needs. We’re showing how firms don’t need to ‘work hard, play hard’ for commercial success – they can do so by being kind to their employees and showing clients how to do the same.”

SF achieved its third consecutive year of growth last year, turning over £25m, and has tripled profitability, In a challenging year for the recruitment industry, SF grew its fees by +4.3%, increased its fee-earning headcount by 21%, increased its client base by 19%, and attained its first-ever £500k revenue account. Furthermore, SF experienced 10% growth in client spend by 10% in 2023.

Judges’ comments

“Great results; they bucked the trend through their growth and internal expansion.”

Highly Commended: Service Care Solutions