Perhaps the story that best captures David Hosking’s ambition and drive is that of his decision to join Tusker when the company was, for all intents and purposes, failing. “A lot of people said I was mad to come to Tusker at that point,” says David, reflecting on the state of the company back in 2003 when it was losing roughly £2 million a year. “The challenge of turning around a failing business was something that I found quite appealing; it was an opportunity to show my worth, and I have relished that.”
Propelling Tusker to profits
Now the CEO of Tusker, the company behind the UK’s market-leading and multiple-award-winning salary sacrifice car schemes for both public and private sector organisations, David has been instrumental in turning the organisation’s profits and vision around.
When David initially joined the company, he came on in the role of sales director. It was therefore his first big challenge to convince Tusker’s board to invest further into the company, which was burning about a £135,000 a month in cash. “At that stage, the business had sunk £5.8 million worth of cash to little avail, and we saw that another million pounds could take us through to break even,” David explains.
Fortunately, the investors agreed with David and only 3 years later, in 2006, Tusker broke even. The company continued to grow right the way through to 2008 when, as fate would have it, the global financial crisis hit. “By that stage, I was managing director,” recalls David, “and I knew we had to do something very different to stay ahead of the game.” Citing necessity as the mother of invention, David says this was the period of time in which
the company came up with the salary sacrifice concept.
“We successfully demonstrate best practice in customer service, excellence in people management and workforce motivation, and also a commitment to sustainability and our local community.” – David Hosking
“We got to market before anybody else, and that was a really pivotal moment in Tusker’s development,” he says. While the first few years — introducing a new product to market and getting it up and running — were relatively slow, Tusker is now experiencing sustained and consecutive growth. “In 2012, we turned over £65 million; last year we turned over £141 million. That’s more than double the turnover in 4 years, and this year we’re going to be close to £170 million.
Tusker Academy
However, helping to propel Tusker into a profitable state is merely part of David’s legacy thus far. Since becoming CEO, David has also taken it upon himself to support his employees to develop both personally and professionally. Realising that engaged staff are key to continuing productivity, David and his team instated the Tusker Academy, an in-house training program and learning management platform comprised of various learning modules specifically designed for the upskilling and knowledge enhancement of the company’s staff.
“It’s received a great response from our workforce because it gives everybody an opportunity to engage,” says David. The academy has been operating since October 2015, and although it’s a huge investment in terms of time, resources, money and people, David believes it will “pay us back tenfold in more engaged and knowledgeable staff, which then translates into a much better customer experience.”
The academy uses a bespoke learning management piece of software, which has been dubbed ‘Tuskerville’ — teaching employees about the business through largely fun, gamified modules. “But it’s not just about fun,” David is quick to point out. “Employees can increase their base salary as they progress through the ranks, as Tuskerville is also linked to our appraisal system.”
Elephant Manifesto
Another mechanism by which the team at Tusker has engaged its staff and fostered a dedicated company culture is by enacting the ‘Elephant Manifesto’, a little book of 5 guidelines intended to inspire all employees in their day-to-day work. Introduced to all staff during their induction, David describes the manifesto as “something we all try and live throughout our work lives.” The first of the 5 guidelines, ‘We are not afraid of hard work’, is based on the premise that elephants love doing the heavy lifting. “A big part of our job is sorting out problems for customers,” explains David. The remaining 4 are: ‘We will always keep our promises’, ‘We persevere come what may’, ‘We value wisdom’, and ‘We are fleet of foot’.
Adhering to these principles has evidently stood Tusker in good stead, with the company winning 9 awards in 2016 alone. Asked why it has won so many awards, David says, “I think we successfully demonstrate best practice in customer service, largely through our 5 Star Trustpilot rating, excellence in people management and workforce motivation, and also a commitment to sustainability and our local community.” As an example of Tusker’s sustainability ethos, in 2013 the company introduced its carbon-offset program through which it offsets the tailpipe emissions of every salary sacrifice car it puts out on the road. “To put that into perspective, we now have around 17,000 salary sacrifice cars on the road, and that is a growing number,” says David. “It’s an awful lot of tailpipe carbon being offset, which is costing us a fortune, but it is the right thing to do.”
Looking to the future, growth is never far from David’s mind. “I want to see consistent growth, and moreover, real scalability of the business,” he says. “I also much hope we will continue to be the UK market leader in the salary sacrifice car scheme space,” something Tusker’s commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction and employee engagement all but ensures.