Any other business: The £1 bet that built a 1,000-strong company

At a charity lunch in Manchester, I meet a cheerful ‘engagement manager’ from AO.com, formerly Appliances Online, a fast-growing internet seller of fridges and washing machines headquartered at Horwich near Bolton. The job title is new to me: it turns out to mean engaging the company’s workforce in ways that help them enjoy their jobs and feel valued. Their employment package features a £4-a-month ‘healthcare cash plan’ including dentistry, days off for charity work, gym memberships and a 50 per cent subsidy for ‘any social activity our staff fancy, so long as it develops their skills and is done by more than four people’. The emphasis on well-being and fun is part of the philosophy of chief executive and major shareholder John Roberts, who founded the business in 2000 after a bloke in a pub (who became a co-founder) bet him £1 he wouldn’t do it. At one staff Christmas party, reports Retail Week, Roberts ‘took to the stage with white jumpsuit-clad DJ Lionel Vinyl and led 1,000 employees in a dance to Seventies hit “Car Wash”.’

The colourful AO.com story certainly engaged me, not least because a decade ago I reported on a Prince’s Trust skills project in Bolton for troubled youngsters and saw how desolate Lancashire’s old mill towns were becoming — except for a shiny business and retail park at Horwich, beside Bolton Wanderers’ Reebok Stadium. This new development was sucking the economic life out of the centre of Bolton — just as customer-friendly, fast-delivery online retailers like AO, which operates from that very park, are now sucking the life out of traditional white-goods chain stores.

But if commercial evolution leads to rewarding jobs in businesses with enlightened, fun-loving bosses and promising futures, then I’m all for it, and I’m pleased to hear AO is heading for the stock market this year at a valuation of £1 billion-plus.