Framing success: Supporting photo printing company CEWE with bespoke HR training

CEWE is Europe’s leading provider of high-quality personalised photo printing products, including photo books, canvas prints, photo printing and photo gifts. With a rich history dating back to 1912 in Germany, CEWE first entered the UK market in 2005 and has experienced growth ever since.

Over the last 19 years since establishing its UK & Ireland arm, CEWE has made strategic trade partnerships with national retailers such as Boots and has an 80-strong team, comprised of its business support and on-site production teams based in Warwickshire.

With ambitious plans to further grow its footprint in the region, CEWE UK & Ireland’s Managing Director, Petra Felgen, says the aim is to become the choice brand for personalised photo printing in the region.

Petra attributes much of the company’s current success to every team member’s contribution being valued – no matter their position in the business. A culture of innovation has also been crucial, especially while navigating and leveraging the shifts in digital transformation.

Petra explains:

As a business and within the broader industry, we’ve experienced significant transformations over the past couple of decades, particularly with the shift from analogue to digital photography. Staying focused on our core strengths while remaining agile has been key to our business success. With the growth of digital – especially within the last 10 years – our competition now extends beyond the photography industry to include the tech sector as well.

As CEWE looked to expand its UK and Ireland operations, it faced a growing need for specialised HR and employment law training and support. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about some challenges and naturally caused a ‘disconnect’ between remote-working employees and on-site production staff. Petra and her Senior Management Team at CEWE recognised the value of an HR training programme that would not only bridge this gap but also reinforce and align their core values of open-mindedness and communication while addressing diversity, equity and inclusion concerns.

Our people are at the heart of our business and are our biggest asset, so ensuring every member of the team's opinions and ideas are heard and valued is important.

To add another layer of complexity, as an EU-based company operating within the UK, Petra knows that staying ahead of the curve with UK employment legislation is important to stay legally compliant. This required a legal partner who could act as an extension of their in-house HR team and provide timely and relevant updates on legislation specifically tailored to their needs.

Through a tender process, CEWE selected our Employment Team to help them craft a bespoke HR training programme that would be more than just a tick-box exercise - delivering a programme that was relevant, practical and met the specific requirements of the entire workforce. 

When asked why they chose Harper James, Petra comments:

The definitive factor for us was how the team interacted with us and represented themselves during the tender process. Through meeting Simon, Ella and Samantha, it became quite clear to us that a lot of the values they hold as a team mirrored ours here at CEWE – everyone contributed to the process and made the effort to understand our business and our goals from the very beginning.

Petra also highlighted the Employment Team’s proactive and commercial approach:

In my experience, solicitors speak a completely different language than anybody else, which can be confusing – especially if the matter at hand is a stressful topic. Simon and the team’s advice has been invaluable. They are solution-driven and didn’t quote the law at us but took the time to deliver advice clearly and concisely, making the legal position easy to understand.

Head of Employment, Simon Gilmour and Senior Employment Solicitors, Ella Bond and Samantha Owen, worked closely with Petra and other members of CEWE’s Senior Management Team to design and deliver a bespoke HR training programme - delivered in a ‘tiered’ approach, firstly to the management team and then to the broader workforce, ensuring that the training would be relevant and engaging for everyone at every level of the business. The training went beyond using theoretical examples – the team also provided practical and relatable scenarios that would resonate with CEWE’s employees, making it easy to apply the principles in their day-to-day operations.  The real-life case studies that were used certainly provoked some lively debate. 

CEWE have been subscribers of our Extend service plan since October 2023, through which they benefit from access to high-quality, practical and commercially-driven advice across the full spectrum of our business legal services, at highly discounted rates – complete with a dedicated panel of experienced partner-level solicitors and a proactive and accessible client services team.

About our Extend plan, Petra notes:

Costs were another key factor as to why we chose Harper James. The pricing of the Extend plan was set out to us in a transparent, fair and accessible way. We also have access to all the legal services Harper James has to offer, so we don’t have to seek out additional services from other providers.

Commenting on what it has been like working with CEWE so far, Simon says:

Working with Petra and the team at CEWE has been such a rewarding experience. Since day one, their commitment to investing in their people has been clear. It’s been amazing to support such an interesting business and whose values match our own. The team and I look forward to continuing our work together in the future!

For more information please visit > www.cewe.co.uk