Farida Gibbs, CEO

Farida Gibbs, CEO of Gibbs S3, turned to recruitment after graduating with a lot of debt: “Very rapidly I started to understand that recruitment was very fast paced, very competitive. The types of people I was working with were cut-throat. I felt, personally, very out of place.”

This early experience, combined with her strong family background, shaped how she went on to build her company: “I come from a very strong cultural, ethnic background. …

“I made it my mission to build a team and make sure the people we were bringing in had the same core values; integrity, respect, quality at speed, reliability, and customer service.”

Feeling strongly that her staff should be rewarded for their work, she offers the best commission plan in the business, she says. And every January, the company sends all members of staff to Detroit for a week for the all company meeting and gives them US$250 spending money: And top achievers get an all-expense-paid trip to Greece.

But it’s more than money. The company has worked hard over the past couple of years to implement a wellness policy. It strives to maintain beautiful offices, and staff gets a 20-minute massage as a personal thank you from Gibbs each week.

Time off is a priority as well, with staff especially encouraged to take 10 to 14 of their 30 paid days off between June and September, with their devices shut off. “Their health is really important. We’re in a fast-paced, cut-throat environment, I don’t want them to burn out,” she says.