Aug 2022
18
A Time of Change at Bright
This week was both a sad and exciting week for everyone here at Bright as our current Chief Executive Officer, Paul Byrne has decided to step down as CEO and transition into a new role as Founder Board Director. It is hard to put into words how amazing a CEO Paul Byrne has been for the past 32 years. As the founding father of Thesaurus Software and Brightpay Paul built Thesaurus Software from a small family company to become Bright, a leading provider of accounting, payroll and HR solutions. With this amazing growth the small company family has grown to a family of over 200 employees who I think will all agree that the company wouldn’t be where it is today without Paul’s hard work and amazing leadership.
Although it is sad to have our amazing leader stepping down it allows Paul to get back to what he loves, his original product baby, Thesaurus Payroll Manager which he is excited to dedicate more of this time towards. So while Paul gets back to his coding roots we are both delighted and excited to announce that AccountancyManager’s Kevin McCallum will take the baton from Paul and will be Bright’s new CEO. ??
Kevin joined Bright as part of the AccountancyManager acquisition back in March 2022 and since then Kevin has shown great knowledge, energy, and experience. Since joining Bright, Kevin has been impressed with our shared vision and passion for the future of the accounting industry which is what will make for an exciting year ahead with Kevin at the helm.
To celebrate this new phase in Paul and Kevin’s lives we had a small celebration in our head office in Duleek where kind words were shared by our Chief Revenue Officer, Karen and Chief People Officer, Laura who presented Paul with a small gift to mark Paul’s impact on the business and to show our thanks for what he has done for the company and its employees to date. And for us to always remember our former CEO we have changed the name of his favourite room, the boardroom, to be 'The Paul Byrne Suite'.
Thank you again Paul for everything you have done for the staff over the past 32 years and congratulations to both Paul and Kevin on their new roles, the future is certainly Bright.
Jul 2022
27
AM Takes Xerocon 2022
Last week the AM team exhibited at Xerocon for the first time. Xerocon is described as the Glastonbury for accountants, and if you haven't been or seen the photos - it's a big deal. Unlike other conferences, accountants attend Xerocon for the talks (rather than to see the exhibitors) and comedian Sue Perkins opened the show at 9am. Sue (best known for the Great British Bake Off) was brilliant throughout the event.
AM had great conversations with attendees and were consistently surprised at the size of the firms they talked to. Typically, when attending events like AccountEx, AM would talk to smaller firms (sole practitioners, 2 or 3 employees), but on average, everyone had around 30 employees.
AM ended the event with 115 scanned badges, all of which have been passed over to the Teleprospecting team. It was a tremendous amount, and we and AM were delighted they got the opportunity to have gotten the opportunity to speak with so many firms that were interested in the product. They also got the chance to meet many existing users and got to know them a bit more on a personal level.
Key Takeaways;
• Most likely because attendees have to pay, only the larger firms attend the event.
• Many disgruntled Senta users' concerns regarding the Iris acquisition are now becoming a reality.
• People liked the idea of AM joining Bright - BrightPay and AM both have a great reputation and users are excited to see what we can achieve together.
Jul 2022
4
Bright Walking Challenge 2022
For the month of July, our Charity Committee are organizing a walking challenge. Our staff will be walking a total of 100km each for the month of July.
It’s a team event where we will be split into teams and each day we can enter our daily distance into a spreadsheet and see which team takes the lead.
The walking challenge is to raise money for LauraLynn and Myton Hospice.
It’s a competitive and fun way of getting to know our colleagues.
Let’s get moving!
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Jun 2022
29
Celebrating Pride Month with Outcomers
To celebrate Pride month 2022, we were joined by Bernie from Outcomers, who gave us a talk about LGBT+ in the workplace.
Outcomers is a social and befriending support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Their drop-in centre provides a safe, social, and relaxed environment for the LGBT community and is in the centre of Dundalk town. It has been open since 1997.
They offer services such as:
- Drop-in Service
- National LGBT Helpline
- Health Education Workshops
- Outreach Work
- Befriending
- Social Events
- Information on Physical, Mental and Sexual Health
Bernie talked us through the history of Pride in Ireland, the importance of Pride, and how to make the workplace inclusive. She told us about the legislations that have come into place to protect LGBT+ employees.
The legislations include:
- Decriminalisation of homosexuality (1993)
- Employment Equality Acts (1998-2015)
- Equal Status Acts (2000-2018)
- Marriage Equality Act (2015)
- Gender Recognition Act (2015)
She also answered a few of our employee’s questions at the end which was informative.
If anyone has anything they would like to chat to them about they can call them on 0429329816 or 0876200021 or they can go into their centre in Dundalk.
For more information visit: http://outcomers.org/
Thanks, Bernie for educating our employees about Pride and why it is celebrated.
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Jun 2022
29
Bright Open Day in the Duleek Office
On Tuesday the 29th of June, Bright opened its office to the members of the local community of Duleek to show the available positions across our various departments within the company.
Our employees from HR, Sales, and Support attended to give office tours and speak about the available positions in Bright.
It was great to be able to open our doors to the community of Duleek and make people aware of the jobs available to them on their doorstep.
We look forward to hosting more of these in the future..png)
Jun 2022
23
Learning at Work Week 2022 at Bright
At Bright we encourage continuous learning and development amongst our employees, however, it’s not always in a payroll or accounting way!
This week was Learning at Work Week at Bright, where we wanted to put focus on the personal development of our employees.
So we asked our employees what special talents or skills they had and would volunteer to show them to all of our employees.
Over the course of the last few days, our volunteers ran virtual workshops to educate our staff.
On Monday we joined a scouting expert Mike who showed us how to tie knots. We learned that they are many different types of knots and what each type is used for. The staff was able to follow Mike’s instructions with their own ropes or string at home.
On Tuesday, mixologist Andy showed us how to make cocktails, perfect for after work on a Friday evening. He gave us tutorials on how to make a Berry Bramble, Mojito, and a Strawberry daiquiri, which looked delicious. Andy gave the ingredients prior to the workshop so staff had time to buy them to follow along with him.
On Wednesday, Tibor gave us an insight into what to expect if you were going on holiday to Hungary. Whether you’re going on a city break to Budapest or partying in Balaton, Tibor gave us a great insight into the food, places to visit, and some basics of the language.
On Thursday, musician Ben rolled back the years to when he used to host percussion workshops before his time here at Bright. Those that were lucky enough to be in the Duleek office got to test the instruments for themselves. There was a great atmosphere in the office and the participants had so much fun playing the drums.
Many thanks to all our volunteers for hosting these workshops, our staff really enjoyed them and we look forward to seeing what next year’s learning at work week has to offer.
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Jun 2022
21
Rory’s Stories talks to Bright employees for Men’s Health Week
On Friday 17th June we were joined by Rory O’Connor also known as Rory’s Stories, who openly spoke about his struggles with addiction and mental health to mark Men’s Health Week.
The conversation was light-hearted as many would know Rory for his comedy content on social media which made his story more engaging. He spoke about his battles with addiction and mental health.
Coming from a background with the love of the GAA, Rory was asked to write a book about the GAA, something that he was passionate about. The book titled “The Rory's Stories Guide to the GAA” was his first published book and reached the top of the charts upon its release. With the success of his first book, he published a second and a third with the fourth on the way.
Those who were in the Duleek office on the day watched it together with their fry in the kitchen. There was a great atmosphere and a few giggles along the way. His talk finished with a Q&A session in which he told us what to say if someone approached us saying they struggled with their mental health and his greatest achievement in his career so far.
One of our employees said “it was just amazing, so glad I attended. It was funny, sad in a relatable way, and very inspirational. thanks so much for organizing, I feel renewed”
Rory’s story is a great example of if you put yourself into a positive mindset a positive outcome comes along with it.
Thanks so much to Rory for his session, our staff really benefitted from it.
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May 2022
23
The Bright Way: Our New Company Values
In 2021, Thesaurus Software and Relate Software merged to become Bright – a payroll and accounting software powerhouse and in 2022 we welcomed our newest addition to the Bright family, AccountancyManager. By operating as Bright, we have access to additional resources to improve the services and support we provide to our customers. Our companies coming together as one community made us want to re-define our company values, values which we believe guide will us in how we behave when interacting not only with our colleagues but also our customers and the wider community within which we live.
To celebrate the official launch of our values and to welcome our colleagues from AccountancyManager and our office in Tallaght, we held a company barbeque last Friday in our head office in Duleek. It was great to bring all our employees together and celebrate the new beginning as Bright.
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The night started with amazing food from AB Catering, followed by music, games, and a speech from our CEO Paul Byrne and COO Kevin McCallum, who outlined our six values outline below and what they mean to Bright.
Customers
We centre our business on our customer's needs and work tirelessly to make it easier for them to run their businesses sustainably.
People
We focus on the development and wellbeing of our people as they are the key to our culture, growth, and customer happiness.
Excellence
We take pride in delivering our best effort in all that we do, setting and achieving high standards of performance.
Collaboration
We work together across functions and geographies, promoting clear communication to enhance our working relationships and bring the Bright Way to life.
Innovation
We creatively explore solutions and new ways of thinking so we can be agile and go beyond conventional norms, in an ethical, socially, and sustainable manner.
Our colleagues in our India office unfortunately were unable to attend our BBQ but they held their own amazing launch night in the Kolkata office.
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With these values in place we are really looking forward to the company moving forward as Bright and coming together to embody these values.
We would like to thank the HR team for all of their help in making the launch of our new values such a success and to all of our employees for making such an effort to engage with their fellow colleagues. It was a fantastic night, and we are excited to see what the future holds at Bright.
May 2022
18
Bright at Accountex 2022
Last week members of our Bright Pay UK and AccountancyManager attended Accountex in the Excel London. Accountex is the UK’s number one exhibition and conference dedicated to the Accountancy and Finance Profession.
This was a great opportunity for both Bright Pay UK and AccountancyManager to showcase our best-in-class software solutions. We also had the opportunity to meet some new and existing customers.
The two-day event generated a lot of leads for both of our teams, Bright Pay and Accountancy Manager. We are looking forward to attending more conferences in the future.
May 2022
6
Bright Welcomes Personal Empowerment Specialist, Nicola Connolly Byrne.
On Wednesday we were joined by personal empowerment specialist, Nicola Connolly Byrne. Nicola empowered our Bright employees to be positive and take action towards a confident free life.
Nicola was invited to speak to our Bright employees as part of National Workplace Wellbeing Day which was held on the 29th of April. Nicola presented her 12 steps to a positive mindset to our employees. Some of these steps included smiling and doing a random act of kindness. She ended the presentation with a Q&A, where our staff asked her for a positive mindset book and social media recommendations.
It was great to see our staff engage with Nicola and learn how to have a positive mindset during growth.
Having a positive mindset in the workplace can improve your professional life in many ways. Thinking positively at work may help you stay motivated and work better with others. It can also reduce stress levels, boost productivity and improve problem-solving. Nicola discussed ways in which we can change our attitude to think more positively such as performing self-care, surrounding ourselves with positive people, and practicing gratitude.
