Amanda Smith’s office is next to the otters, as well as the moose, and Penguin Beach is just over the road.

She worked in corporate finance in Deloitte for 22 years, but the varied and rewarding work she did there is no match for the experience of working at London Zoo.

“I remember my first day here, walking through the door and all of a sudden realising: ‘Wow, I’m in the zoo.’ I had this thrill of excitement, as I found myself in Barclay Court [the centre of the zoo]. It was really amazing.”

Smith is finance director at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the organisation that runs London Zoo, in Regent’s Park, and Whipsnade, the UK’s biggest zoo, in Bedfordshire. Smith is usually based at London Zoo, which makes for some unusual experiences.

She recalls a budget meeting with ZSL’s directors in a building near the Outback section of the zoo.  Suddenly one of the directors said: “Look at that!” The group looked up: “All of these kangaroos were bouncing excitedly around the Terrace. I remember thinking: “Wow, where else can you sit and do budget planning and see that?’”

The art of conservation

It’s not just her workplace and its inhabitants that Smith loves – ZSL does very important conservation work in more than 50 countries, including Kenya, Nepal and Australia. Both its zoos play a part in its preservation efforts, as a crucial source of funds. Through the two zoos and ZSL’s other fundraising initiatives (weddings, events and so on), ZSL generates around £65m a year in income.

Of this, £19m goes into science and conservation work on site at London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo, and in the field throughout the world. Current science projects include research into the diseases affecting UK garden wildlife, and monitoring biodiversity from space. Such research then feeds into the society’s conservation projects, which currently include the #OneLess campaign to reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans (Smith has personally overseen the reduction of plastic use at the zoos) and efforts to save the pangolin (a scaly, anteater-like creature found across Africa and Asia).

Around £37m goes towards supporting the animals across both sites, and the rest goes towards supporting the commercial activities of the zoos and meeting the capital needs of the organisation. It’s critical that ZSL strikes the right balance between its conservation work and the commercial activities at each site.

“We work very closely together to make sure that our work here in the zoos integrates with our science and our conservation work,” says Smith. “That’s really important. It’s about who we are as a conservation charity.”

The evolution of finance

In the three and a half years that Smith has worked at ZSL, she has done much to develop the finance function so that it can help the organisation manage and spend its money more effectively. The finance team adheres to a ‘business partner’ model, working closely with specific departments to deliver tailored reports, support and advice to help them meet their objectives.

The key to this model, says Smith, is hiring the right people. Having done so, she has built up ZSL’s international finance team, based at London Zoo, to ensure that the organisation’s global conservation efforts are better supported, and can therefore expand.

“Finance is the lifeblood that flows through an organisation,” she says. “It touches every single part of it. So, for me, it’s really about having finance enabling all the other teams to carry out their important work for wildlife. Fundamentally, that’s why we’re all here.”

It’s critical that ZSL strikes the right balance between its conservation work and the commercial activities at each site

Commercial animals

Helen Miles is commercial finance business partner at ZSL, working closely with the admissions, marketing, commercial, catering and digital communications teams. “Being a finance partner, you’re the first point of contact for those teams for anything finance related,” she says. “I work closely with all of them. I’m part of finance, but I’m part of the commercial and communications teams too.” Her work involves any kind of analysis or reporting that those teams might need – for example, predicting visitor numbers, reviewing income and expenditure, and identifying ways to save costs.

“Every day is different,” Miles says. “Also, I really feel like the work that I’m doing has a positive impact on how the organisation operates. My role means I have direct exposure to the activities of both zoos… The way we work, particularly since I’ve been here, feels like it’s constantly evolving, which makes life in the finance team interesting.”

Although Miles works on ZSL’s commercial activities, the conservation side is never far away; the bulk of the revenue from the zoos must go into ZSL’s animal welfare, science and conservation work. That means a smaller pot for commercial activities, which poses an interesting challenge, Miles explains:

“The teams have to be really imaginative and efficient with the resources they do have.” Miles has the autonomy to make improvements to the reports, KPIs and analysis that she does for the teams she works with.

Having previously worked in the finance department of McDonald’s, she introducednew ideas that allowed the ZSL teams to look at things in a much more commercially focused way.

“Since I started, there’s been a huge improvement in the reporting we’ve been doing, which enables the teams to look at their resource in a different, more detailed, way,” she says. “They can then make improvements and be more efficient in their decision-making.” The finance team is very close-knit, says Miles. Passion, communication skills and personality are key attributes.

“We enjoy working and socialising together, and we’re looking for new people to join the team,” says Miles. “It’s really important to us that people work well with the rest of the team. I think that’s the key for us – we want to make it an enjoyable place to work.”

Smith agrees: “It’s having an inquiring mind as well. It’s important to wonder what the numbers mean for the organisation, and how we should respond to them. It’s not just number-crunching – it’s far more than that.”

This article appeared in our summer 2018 issue of 20 magazine.

Working by yourself has many perks, but it can get very lonely, too.

Fortunately, there’s plenty you can do to beat the feeling of isolation.

Rachel Balchin, founder of Bulldog Accounting, has been working from home since setting up on her own in August 2017. “After a hectic and stressful office, it’s a relief. I do not miss the politics and the pressure,” she says. What Balchin does miss is the training and mentoring of staff.

Claire Bartlett moved her Arden Bookkeeping business into a shared office last November. Before that, she had worked from home for two years.

Thinking back to the early days of her self-employment, Bartlett recalls she found home-working quite isolating. “I am someone who really enjoys the office banter so it felt very strange to suddenly be on my own all day. I also missed having people around me to celebrate the highs with. When I won a new client or completed a challenging task, I’d have wanted to tell someone, but there was no one there!”

Quite a few home-workers feel this way. In fact, according to the Safety in Numbers report from online accountants Crunch, almost half of the self-employed miss the social aspect of working with other people. Another survey shows that nearly 40% have actually felt lonely since becoming their own boss.

We are social animals

These figures aren’t surprising: being on our lonesome for prolonged periods of time isn’t something that nature has intended for us.

“The saying ‘no man’s an island’ is very true, we need people around us to survive and thrive, we get our energy from being around others, sharing stories and bouncing around ideas,” says Michelle Minnikin, chartered business psychologist at Insights Business Psychology.

Jenn Fenwick, career and leadership coach at Rebel Road Coaching, points out that human beings are social by nature. “As infants we see the world through our social relationships, it’s how we learn to interact, to become self-aware.”

But we need social interaction at any age, for our mental and physical well-being.

Fenwick says: “Studies show that having strong relationships can be as good for us as a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep and not smoking – we are happier, healthier and even live longer.”

At work, water-cooler socialising improves productivity, according to several studies. “That’s because social interaction drives creativity and innovation, which in turn have a positive impact on our results,” says Fenwick.

How loneliness affects the mind and body

In the long term, loneliness is dangerous to our physical, emotional and mental health.

“It’s been proven to raise the levels of stress hormones and inflammation, which can lead to increased risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and depression,” Fenwick says. Studies have also shown that prolonged social isolation can lead to accelerated cognitive decline and dementia.

Often, we self-perpetuate the problem.

Minnikin says: “We can get trapped in a cycle of loneliness, which leads to depression, which leads to withdrawal from others. You start saying ‘no’ to invites, and soon you no longer get asked.”

Of course, we each have different needs. Some of us go stir-crazy working completely alone for a week; others don’t mind. But loneliness is something that is likely to affect more and more people.

“In our increasingly ‘connected’ world, where much of our communication is via technology, the quality of our social connections is decreasing,” says Fenwick.

The UK government has actually recognised that loneliness is a growing problem and a potential “national health issue”. In January this year, Tracey Crouch was appointed the first ever Minister for Loneliness to tackle social isolation already affecting nine million Brits.

What you can do to feel less isolated

“I have a dog – a bulldog, of course – who keeps me company,” says Balchin. “She mainly snores by my desk but we go out for walks and the occasional coffee, too.”

Also, she doesn’t work from home all the time. “I sometimes work at clients’.   I get the social aspect of an ‘office’ day but without the feeling of a daily grind. I’ve also joined local networking groups – the small business community in Hertfordshire is really supportive and friendly – and chat to other self-employed people online.”

Face-to-face networking events will get you out of the house, but otherwise they are not the best use of your time if you don’t get anything else out of them.

Minnikin says: “You need to find your tribe – either link up with inspiring people who can help you raise your game, or go to events where you can definitely meet prospective clients. And if you can’t find what works for you, host your own event.” She suggests using #LinkedInLocal for this, a meet-up concept that allows you to connect with your LinkedIn network offline.

“Working alone together” in a co-working space on some days of the week will not only make you feel less lonely but could also be an important source of new business referrals.

“Or, you could set up your own co-working group, where everyone takes it in turns to host other co-workers in their home,” Minnikin says. “It’s a new concept that’s started in Scandinavia.”

Creating a work/life balance

With time, you may want to move into a shared office space. “I have the best of both worlds now,” says Bartlett. “I have a catch up in the kitchen over coffee in the morning but then go to my office and close the door when I need to concentrate.”

To avoid “cabin fever”, Fenwick recommends setting clear work-life boundaries, too. “Give time to your interests and meet others with similar hobbies. Group exercise classes provide great opportunities for social interaction as well as health benefits.”

She adds: “Remember that loneliness is not a permanent state, it can be changed with a bit of effort. Check in with yourself regularly, acknowledge how you are feeling, then decide on the two things you can do to feel more positive. And don’t be afraid to reach out to people and tell them how you are feeling – there’s huge power in a conversation.”