Showing the public who you are and what you do has many benefits, ranging from community relations to recruitment, writes RHYMER RIGBY

MOST PEOPLE’S idea of composting is “a pile of rotting leaves”, according to John Clay, managing director of ASC, a Gloucestershire company that makes compost for mushroom farmers. “But there is a lot of heavy machinery and science involved.”

Once a year, ASC throws open its doors to the public. The open days started five years ago when, during consultation for a planning application, Clay realised many of ASC’s neighbours had no idea what it did. Now they do: at the most recent open day, 250 people took a tour of the company’s huge, steaming piles of straw.

ASC has discovered that showing the public who you are and what you do has many benefits, ranging from community relations to recruitment.

Millions rely on the UK Met Office’s weather reports and plenty are curious to see its operations at first hand. “We do an open day once every three months,” says forecaster John Hammond, “and it’s always fully subscribed. They are interested in weather, but we also tell them about the building itself, climate change, severe weather warnings – and they get a talk from a forecaster. The idea is really just to give an overview of our operations.”

Other firms’ open days provide access to interesting buildings. Lloyd’s of London, whose headquarters is a Richard Rogers-designed landmark, participates in the annual London Open House scheme in which notable buildings normally off-limits to the public are open. It does so, says head of communications Louise Shield, partly because people want to see the building. But, she adds, it is also a chance to tell them about Lloyd’s and its history.

National Grid, which runs electricity and gas networks in Britain and the US, runs shareholder open days. Head of communications Clive Hawkins sees it as part of a commitment to investor communication. Plus, he adds, “people really want to see how electricity is moved around the country. We need more engineers, and putting a face on engineering like this helps.”

What makes a good open day? It helps to offer something people relate to. But what catches the public’s eye can be surprising. Open days at sewage treatment plants are surprisingly popular.

Clay of ASC says employees enjoy the open days too. Many workers are proud of what they do and, as Clay says, “it’s a great chance to do a bit of showing off”.

Open days must be approached with caution, however. For factory tours of Triumph Motorcycles and Bentley Motors, for example, visitors must be at least 14 years old and adhere strictly to health and safety regulations. There is also the question of commercially sensitive information – in both cases, no cameras or recording equipment are allowed on the factory floor.

Some visitors to open days leave with a free memento. According to Clay, everyone who attends an ASC open day gets a “goody bag of compost”.