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Alzheimer’s Society
The UK’s leading dementia charity, Alzheimer’s Society describes itself as “the friendly face of support” for people affected by dementia and it pays equal attention to its 1,819 employees. There are weekly meetings with chief executive Kate Lee, an employee forum, support fund to help with the cost of living and a women in leadership development programme.
Aventum Group Ltd
This specialist (re)insurance managing general agent (MGA) is based near Leadenhall Market in London’s Square Mile.
Awin
Flexibility is the norm for staff at Awin, an affiliate marketing platform. It allows the 441 London-based employees to work either four days a week or three plus two half-days, and there are opportunities in 16 offices worldwide, alongside a wellness programme and access to mental health coaches.
Bella Italia
Free Italian meals are an appetising part of work at this London-based restaurant chain. The 1,400 employees have free meals on shift and were also given food to take home as a thank you at the start of 2023. All new starters get mental health training, while the firm offers apprenticeships and development programmes with clear career paths.
Benefex
This technology business makes software to help companies in 80 countries manage their employee benefits. Unsurprisingly, it puts that experience into practice with its own 513 employees. The Southampton- based firm is 50 per cent women-led, surveys staff every month and acts on their suggestions, such as modifying processes for new starters with dyslexia.
Blackstone
Staff at the UK arm of the world's largest alternative asset manager are based in Berkley Square in central London. The firm hires professionals and students in every area and offers learning and development opportunities. Staff benefits include family planning and wellbeing resources, while recruitment includes targeted efforts to attract qualified, diverse talent.
BrewDog
BrewDog was in the doghouse when former employees wrote an open letter making criticisms about its culture in mid-2021. So, the Aberdeenshire-based brewer entered a period of change. There was a salary reassessment, more resources for thinly staffed areas and an independent review checking in with all 1,694 employees. This has led to new representative groups, career development, an ethics hotline, share giveaways and a 50 per cent profit share from BrewDog bars with team members.
CFC Underwriting
People are truly invested at this London-based commercial insurance provider: the 749 employees together own 60 per cent of the business. There are professional development and monthly wellbeing events, including osteopath and massage sessions and quarterly health checks. Perks include a suite of financial benefits from life assurance to a decent pension.
Churchill Estates Management
Two-thirds of employees at retirement property management firm Churchill Estates Management are over 50. The business, which has 317 people and is based in Ringwood, Hampshire, has a 77 per cent female workforce, with most people working in standalone roles. It unites them with quarterly area meetings, “ask the chairman” sessions and charitable fundraising. A family festival marked the company’s 25th anniversary.
Churchill Retirement Living
Clinton McCarthy isn’t just co-founder and managing director of this retirement-property builder, he’s also one of its trained mental health first-aiders. This private company, based in Ringwood, Hampshire supports its 393 employees with training programmes, peer-to-peer awards and a social committee that organises day trips and quiz nights.
Citation
Citation helps more than 20,000 small to medium-size enterprises with health and safety, human resources and employment law. With its company values of “make it happen” and “smart with heart”, Citation’s business strategy is underpinned by staff engagement. The company credits this approach with its decade of growth and high client retention. Continuous development is rolled out company-wide, and Citation takes pride in the good relationships staff enjoy with their managers. Flexible working, novel perks and parties add to the culture.
CLS Group
CLS underpins the foreign exchange market with trillions of dollars’ worth of currency flows processed through its systems each day – and it offers its UK employees a fair exchange too. Staff benefit from development opportunities while employee-led groups such as a women’s forum, black employee network, CLS pride and a parents’ and caregivers’ network aim to foster an inclusive company culture.
Connect Catering Ltd
The company calendar at Connect Catering is certainly tasty: employees at this catering business are invited to submit the recipes. The firm, based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, is a family business with chairman John Herring and three of his daughters working together for over 33 years. Staff stick around too; around one in eight employees has been here for more than a decade. Once a year, training needs and potential are assessed, the firm promotes from within and trainees at its 57 sites even get a “Connect Chef” cookie in their welcome pack.
Costello Medical
Talent gets spotted at Cambridge-based life sciences consultancy Costello Medical. Ninety-three per cent of the leadership team joined in entry-level roles at the 2008-founded firm, which helps pharmaceutical companies review data on new drugs and educate medical practitioners on how they should be used. The 275 employees can undertake pro bono work as well as volunteer for good causes two days per year. The private medical scheme is on a medical history disregard basis and open to all who pass probation.
Coty
Based in Ashford, Kent the UK arm of global cosmetics manufacturer Coty looks to foster an “inclusive, positive and forward-thinking place to work”, it tells us. Validating its good intentions is Coty’s mission for pay equity and an increased number of women in its leadership roles, plus gender neutral parental leave. The staff of 275 benefit from perks such as birthday leave, private medical care that includes existing conditions, and big savings on Coty products.
Croda
The people at Croda want “smart science to improve lives”. The company’s chemicals are used in everything from sunscreen to micro-plastic free coatings for seeds, while its manufacturing support was employed for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. Based in Goole, East Yorkshire, it began refining wool grease into lanolin and today aims to be a “responsible employer” to 911 people. Everyone gets at least the living wage, with a Sharesave plan, defined benefit pension and private medical insurance, plus flexible working and support for their mental and physical wellbeing.
Croud
There’s a happy crowd at this London-based digital marketing agency, which works for firms such as The North Face, Skechers and Audible. All 277 employees are shareholders, which meant a windfall when the firm sold a £30 million stake to private equity group LDC in 2019. Perks include medical insurance, free home office equipment to enable hybrid working, kitchens stocked with snacks and drinks and “great social activities and events” such as taking part in the Shrewsbury Dragon Boat Festival.
FGH Security
Staff at FGH Security deliver security and crowd management services internationally to big brands, stadia and events. It’s not just the clients that get looked after, though: the company purpose of #KeepingPeopleSafe refers to its employees too – who benefit from industry-leading training packages, smart uniforms, opportunities worldwide, and a living wage pledge. With more than two decades in business, FGH Security has offices in London, Manchester and Birmingham, plus headquarters in Lancaster.
HE Simm Group
There’s a promote-from-within policy at this 75-year-old mechanical and engineering contractor, started by Ernie Simm and now run by his grandson, Gareth. The 337 employees include 33 families apart from the Simms. People at the Liverpool-based business have access to free training and take part in charity schemes.
Health Assured
Manchester-based Health Assured is in the business of providing workplace wellbeing services, including to its own 290 employees. A tenth of the workforce has been trained in mental health first aid, all staff get free medical care and there are perks such as weekly fruit deliveries, virtual fitness classes and “Wellbeing Wednesday” drop-in counsellor sessions. Rewards include an annual profit share scheme, living wage pledge and calendar of social events.
IG Group
Career growth is part of the picture for employees at London-based IG Group, an online derivatives trading provider.
King
When people join this mobile games company, it rolls out a royal carpet to welcome them. With headquarters in London and Stockholm, the business has 476 UK employees and, one employee says, a “friendly, open, inclusive and playful culture”. Its London office comes with healthy snacks, a gym and, of course, gaming zones.
Learning Curve Group
Employees of this training and education provider have their own training plan and access to an internal development platform. The Durham-based group, which has expanded at pace since a management buyout in 2020, offers staffers known as “purple people” a private healthcare plan, financial incentives to help with increases in the cost of living and monthly early finish Fridays.
Manning Gottlieb OMD
Good communication is a given at this London-based media agency. The 480 employees have multiple forums, surveys and even a “challenger board” to press leadership for a change they want to see. Perks range from hybrid working patterns to subsidised ski trips, boxing classes, cost-of-living support payments for juniors and a subsidised canteen, as well as two rest and recharge days off a year. The award-winning training programme took in two new sets of starters last year, 44 per cent of whom were from multicultural backgrounds.
Moat Homes
Before people start work at this housing association in Dartford, Kent, they are asked about their favourite afternoon snack – which, at 3pm in the first week, will magically appear. The not-for-profit runs 20,000 homes and has a vision “to end housing need”. Its 430 employees enjoy competitive pay, a flexible working culture, a choice of health plans, and wellbeing days.
Mowgli Street Food
Charity is on the menu at this Liverpool-based Indian street food chain with 17 restaurants. For each full-time employee in the workforce of 652, the Mowgli Trust sponsors a child in India. Staff can also travel to India to learn about charitable projects and the cuisine’s history.
Octopus Energy
The growing London-based green energy business has 1,846 employees, a new Japanese arm and
plans to build wind farms across Europe. It has created a podcast to help with recruitment and developed diverse interview panels. Employees get equity options and a tax-efficient scheme to
lease an electric vehicle.
OneFamily
This Brighton-based mutual invests in its 674 employees, who receive a generous pension, private medical insurance, family bond and a wellbeing programme, including yoga and sessions on resilience and breath awareness. OneFamily says it has a strong social purpose and “common goal to help others” through its savings, investments, lifetime mortgages and insurance, and chief executive Teddy Nyahasha aims to create a flexible, diverse workplace.
Rocksteady Studios
Video game makers Rocksteady Studios want to give staff a “healthy, happy and safe” working environment, including when they are operating from home. So, the London-based firm equips them with chairs, tables, laptops, headsets, mice and eye-tracking hardware. The 288 employees also take part in a weekly happiness survey. People can work from any country where parent company Warner Bros Discovery has an office, and enjoy a cultural events calendar, five paid days a year for charitable work and “an environment that leaves egos at the door”. Deliveroo or Just Eat serve supper at evening clubs such as boardgames and film nights.
Sigma Connected
Eighty percent of positions are filled from within at Sigma Connected, a Birmingham-based business that offers “customer contact solutions” such as complaint management and debt collection for other firms. It aims to make all 1,200 employees feel accepted, supports them with 30 internal mental health first aiders and develops them with a training programme offering 84 courses, from learning a new language or accountancy skills to meditation.
tails.com
A nine-day fortnight is being trialled to keep tails wagging at this dog-food delivery firm. The 324 staff in Richmond, southwest London, can work flexible hours and fuss over 57 registered office dogs. “Nothing lightens the mood in a meeting like a dog gnawing on an antler,” notes one employee.
The Edwin Group
A collection of companies, The Edwin Group recruits and supplies teachers and support staff for schools. Carbon negative, the Newcastle upon Tyne firm wants to “positively impact the lives of young people” – it has invested £600,000 to support mental health, attendance, sports and creative arts in schools. Its 263 staff benefit from 31 days’ annual holiday, four weeks’ paid paternity leave and management training.
The Inn Collection
This pubs-with-rooms chain looks to attract the cream of hospitality talent for its inns across the north of England and Wales. Company headquarters are in Newcastle upon Tyne.
the7stars
Employees at this London-based media agency can work from anywhere worldwide for four weeks. It believes in giving its 284 people a voice – they voted for dogs in the office – and runs company- wide retreats to Osea Island, Essex. The office is equipped with a bar serving prosecco on tap.
Thomas Franks
Blain Shepherd started as a tea and coffee assistant and now he is UK managing director at this family-owned catering business in the UK, Portugal and Malta. There are 1,400 employees and opportunities to work abroad and progress through apprenticeships, a chef academy and women in leadership courses. The firm, based in Norton, Oxfordshire, pays the national living wage, offers hybrid working where possible and partners with The Burnt Chef Project to raise awareness of mental health in hospitality.
Travel Counsellors
“Moments that matter” are afforded an extra day off for the 272 employees of Travel Counsellors. The Manchester-based firm runs a technology platform for independent travel agents working from home and last year increased turnover to more than £800 million – sharing this success in a performance bonus. Core business hours are from 8am to 7pm, but employees can work flexibly or remotely. Development and leadership programmes are offered and perks include a cost of living bonus, healthcare cash plan, free breakfasts and “hot lunch Wednesdays”.
Vorboss
Connectivity is key at telecommunications outfit Vorboss, which provides a high-speed business fibre network to London firms. Based in the capital, it gives the 368 employees 5 per cent of their salary (up to £2,500) for “life-enhancing training”, from leadership courses to swimming lessons. Other benefits include private medical care.
XPS Pensions Group
Staff training at this Reading-based pensions consulting and administration business covers more than financial services (though the company did support 240 employees who took professional exams last year, financially and with study time). Of the 76,479 hours of training delivered over 12 months r, topics included wellbeing, counselling skills and diversity and inclusion. There are also employee networks: women, disability, multicultural, LGBTQ+, and menopause, and the company hopes staff “bring their whole self” to work. A company-wide bonus and share-purchase schemes add to the package.
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