‘Tis the season for spreading festive FreeAgent cheer

When the festive season arrives each year, we make it a December to remember at FreeAgent. Like many, our team has been hustling to the holiday deadline - which is why we like to go the extra mile for them - and our customers - to spread cheer and celebrate the year’s achievements. 

Having a tree-mendous time

Our front office team, Lunetta and Becky take care of us 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. But this time of year, they also don their Christmas hats and bring the holiday season to life for the FreeAgent team. 

From an office-wide Secret Santa and Christmas Jumper Day, to mince pies and mulled wine and a catered Christmas-themed Friday lunch - there’s plenty of merriment to go round. (Sidenote, catered Friday lunches in the office aren’t just for Christmas - they’re every week, all year round!) 

But the traditions don’t stop there. Each year, a beloved FreeAgent Christmas tree is adorned with decorations donated by members of the team over the years. And we don’t just have any festive fir, every year we buy a tree from Bethany Trust’s Caring Christmas Trees, a fantastic fundraising initiative that supports the charity’s commitment to ending homelessness in Scotland.

Sleighing it on the dancefloor 

At FreeAgent, we’re a friendly bunch who love to get together, which is why company-wide gatherings are a biannual celebration. Our Summer Party is a popular family-friendly day, and the (adults-only) annual Christmas Party is quite the festive affair. 

While we do a lot to be a remote-friendly company, getting together IRL is always a treat. As Becky, our office manager, describes: “It’s great to see the excitement build, especially to see the remote folks we haven’t seen in a while and meet some people in real life for the first time.”

This year, 230 FreeAgent folks donned their glad rags and gathered to eat, drink and be merry. The dance floor was buzzing, the photobooth was permanently occupied, and fabulous prizes were won in the raffle (which raised £870 for our chosen charity, FACE, Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh). 

The gift of downtime

We know that to have a happy, healthy and high-performing team, people need to be able to switch off from work - which is why everyone has 33 days of annual leave (plus an extra day for each year they work at FreeAgent). Days off can be taken anytime through the year and bank holidays aren’t mandatory, meaning people can take time off whenever they need or would like to.

Reuniting with friends and family is an important part of the holiday season, and well-earned time off is precious. Our Work Anywhere policy means a lot of our team travel home - whether that’s by road, train or a long-haul flight - and work from further afield in the lead up to the holidays (avoiding the madness of the holiday travel rush is a bonus).

But wait, there’s myrrh

We don’t just enjoy spreading joy around our team. The festive season is a busy time for our customers, which is why we create helpful and timely content for them. For example, this year we have a guide to the Christmas expenses you can claim tax relief on and a checklist to help with shutting up shop for the holidays. 

Meanwhile, to help them ‘account down to the holidays’ we also hosted a special giveaway. As our Senior Social Media Manager, Jennie Adams, explains: “We love to try and give something back to our wonderful customers and spread some festive cheer. We hosted a wee giveaway across our social media to put smiles on some faces and give something back.” (Fun fact, Jennie is always a delightful source of festive fun in the office, she even has more Christmas Jumpers than Santa has reindeers!)

Another gift we’re sharing this month that’s gone down a treat is an advent calendar for our much-loved accountant and bookkeeper partners. What’s behind each door? A festive accounting joke of course! You’d be amazed at our talent for accounting puns. Don’t worry if you have FOMO - you can catch some of our faves on our socials. 

We don’t want to ring our own sleigh bells, but we’ve had some glowing feedback for the advent calendar so far: “Sometimes… all you need is a corny pun”, “this month will be a hoot” and “you guys are more than just a software company”.

As you can see, we really do love spreading festive cheer at FreeAgent. If our company and community sounds like somewhere that might be a good fit for you, find out more about careers at FreeAgent and register your interest for any vacancies coming up in the new year.