our heritage

Dear Reader

My name is Matthew Brown and I started giant in 1992 (I am the tired looking one in the ‘meet the team’ photos!).

We have been on an incredible journey over almost 30 years with some equally incredible people most of which are still with the company today. Looking back there are a few things that have never changed which are important to me and I’d like to share them with you to help you understand the company better.

We are a specialist in the niche area of workforce management (and Internationally – we cannot boast everywhere globally but we tend to set up where our clients need us like the USA and Europe) We are highly focused on the workforce management market and nothing else.

Our investment in technology is constant, (and expensive!), as we continue to develop our software and systems. We like to be, but are not always, at the forefront of technological advancement because it tends to come in waves but we do have a number of firsts such as the first self serve portals for all of our clients and the first company to provide online contract acceptance in our market. Data security is obviously important to everyone these days and we adhere to the international security standard ISO 27001 and we undergo annual independent pen tests.

Our culture or values or behaviours (take your pick!) are very important to me. I have learnt that it is very difficult to have these values resonate all the way through the organisation at all times. We bang the drum often and try and lead by example (it would be misleading if I said that we demonstrate all of them 100% of the time but we try!). We aim to always be straightforward and honest with our clients and our people. It is important to stress that we do not do this in a confrontational way but with empathy and compassion to those we are talking to. Sounds corny but it works (especially in helping to develop our people) – better to be honest with people and try and help them than let what needs to be said go by. We also try to give people ownership, make decisions quickly (having no external shareholders helps!), carry out actions speedily, and not be bogged down by lots of lengthy meetings (again, doesn’t always happen in practice and occasionally we make the wrong decision but in our view better to make decisions and get on with them than procrastinate). And finally, we don’t think anything in life should be complicated, so we try and simplify the complex (much easier said than done!)

With the feedback we get from our clients I would say we have a reputation in our market in two areas:

1. We are the go-to company for compliance. We do understand legislation very well (of which there has been an enormous amount over 30 years), and we talk to people in a straightforward manner most importantly pointing out where risk needs to be managed (btw this does not mean we always get more business because not all companies want to be compliant!). We are therefore seen as a trusted and honest partner.

2. Our technology is fairly well-known, and it’s not just used by us in providing our services but used by large and small companies alike to run their back offices and/or manage their workers.

I hope that gives you a small insight into how we do things at giant. We don’t always get everything right (obviously!) but we do strive to always do things better. And our mission statement is pretty straightforward!

Mission. Using 30 years of specialist knowledge we help organisations more effectively manage their workforce and with our people at the heart of what we do, we engage internally and externally with honesty and empathy.

Yours faithfully

Matthew Brown
Group CEO