Christmas team day 2025

Last week, we gathered the whole Hiyield crew for our annual Christmas team day – a wonderfully chaotic blend of strategy, innovation, proper catch-ups and a whole lot of laughter.

With Hiyielders scattered across Bristol, Truro, London and everywhere in between, these in-person days are our twice-yearly reminder that colleagues do, in fact, have legs, and that everyone is either much taller or much shorter than expected.

Coffee, catch-ups, and so many socks 

We kicked things off at “The Room With a View” at the Eden Project, armed with hot drinks and a heroic amount of “morning person” energy.

Matt opened the day with an energising welcome, a look back at the year, and a peek into our 2026 ambitions. Then came a brilliant run of team highlights from Laura, Kathryn, Mike, Jamie and Callum – celebrating everything from big project wins to the little moments that made the year what it was. Kathryn even treated us to a video montage of client delivery magic that left us feeling extremely proud (and maybe a tiny bit emotional).

Then we got stuck into the good stuff:

• A team SWOT analysis and a spot of future-gazing to set us up for success in 2026
• A super-clear and impressively speedy EOT update from Ben
• A walkthrough of our evolving sales and account management process from Sophie
• And a brand guardianship session from Lyssa, complete with a pub quiz that got very competitive

After attempting the annual challenge of “getting everyone into one photo”, we tucked into lunch and swapped our Socret Santa gifts (Secret Santa, but socks only). Safe to say, it was a hit. Who knew we had so many strong sock opinions?

Exploring Eden like kids at Christmas 

The Eden Project is always a treat – but there’s something extra special about it at Christmas. A few of the team had never visited before, so getting to explore it together made the day even better.

We wandered the biomes, took in the winter displays, and enjoyed that surreal “giant rainforest in December” feeling that only Eden can deliver.

Then came the ice skating.

Some of us glided like seasoned pros.
Some of us stayed very close friends with the rail.
Some of us discovered muscles we didn’t know existed.

But everyone had an absolute blast – and, most importantly, no incidents requiring paperwork.

Dinner, chats and cosy vibes 

After warming up again, we wrapped up our Christmas team day with dinner at Springtide in Charlestown – great food, even better company, and the kind of conversations that only happen after a shared adventure (and a few unplanned skating manoeuvres).

Days like this remind us what makes Hiyield special: talented humans, big ideas, warm vibes, and the ability to properly belly-laugh together.

If this sounds like the sort of team you’d love to be part of, we’re currently recruiting for a Senior WordPress Developer. Applications close on Monday 12th January at 5pm – so don’t hang about!