Righttrack Whispers: Being a Great Place to Work - and why it’s good for business!

by Lynne Hunt

"A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable."
Jim Collins

We’re all aware of the benefits of a workforce that is committed, motivated and is performing at its full capacity. We would all like to think that we lead or work for an organisation that values us for our creativity, strength of contribution and that respects us for who we are. It’s clear that businesses that manage to practice these ways of working are better equipped to survive the recession and to outperform competitors.

It’s also the case that it is possible to operate in this way regardless of your size, sector and structure.

But who are these companies? What makes them such a great place to work and what do they do to encourage their employees to want to contribute beyond their day job and really buy-in to the success of their employer?

Surprisingly it’s not the high salary, attractive benefits package or shiny company car that will motivate people to care about their employer or want to help the business to do well. It might be these things that attract some people in the first place but if other things aren’t right, they won’t be enough to make people stay. Or if they have to stay because they feel they need that standard of living, it won’t encourage them to contribute and perform to their maximum capacity - in other words, they become a passenger in the organisation; doing just enough to get by.

The good news is that it’s also not just the big businesses - those that can provide state of the art restaurants, gyms and internet café’s for their staff that necessarily qualify as a ‘great place to work.’

Being a best company goes beyond the bottom line. It's about excelling in every area throughout the workplace and demonstrating commitment to its most important asset - its workforce.

Focusing on employees brings real benefits such as, improved workplace engagement, better staff retention, reduced recruitment costs and greater financial performance.

Remember - people don’t leave companies they leave managers!

There are strong links between staff satisfaction, levels of engagement and the bottom line. According to a recent ISR study companies with even average levels of employee engagement saw profits rise by more than two per cent over the past three years. In contrast, those with below-average levels saw profits fall by 1.4 per cent over the same period.

Jackie Orme, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said:

"An engaged workforce will go the extra mile. Engaged staff understand when times are tough and will respond by going the extra mile. Firms that work hard (at employee engagement) are best placed to emerge strongly in a recovery."

Each year the Sunday Times Best Companies Awards acknowledges the best companies to work for in the UK and what makes them so great.

Last year, 997 businesses sought a place on the three lists — 565 small firms, 383 medium-sized companies, and 49 big companies. The views of more than 200,000 employees were canvassed, making this by far Britain’s largest survey of workplace opinion, satisfaction and, most importantly, engagement, which is why so many organisations want to be part of it.

So how are the best companies judged? These are the key eight factors that define the best companies to work for in Britain:

Leadership: how people feel about the head of the company and its most senior managers
Personal growth: to what extent people feel stretched by their job
My manager: people’s feelings towards their day-to-day managers
My company: feelings about the company people work for as opposed to the people
they work with
My team: people’s feelings about their colleagues
Wellbeing: how people feel about stress, pressure and the balance between their
work and home life
Giving something back: how much companies are thought to put back into society
and the community
Fair deal: how happy staff are with their pay and benefits

Pete Bradon, Head of Research at the Sunday Times Best Companies, said: "Companies regularly say that their people are their greatest asset. Far too often they then ignore the very things that would make a difference to their people. Employee engagement does not come automatically; you have to work at it. But the benefits are potentially enormous in terms of staff retention, lower absenteeism and much greater effort from employees."

2009 overall winners Beaverbrooks, the jewellers who employ 803 people, were commended for their inspirational leadership of the company and the passion and dedication of its staff.

And this had nothing to do with high salaries or bumper bonuses. Almost half the staff earn less than £15,000 a year; just 52 earn more than £35,000 a year. Their positive score of 86.2% for ‘loving to work for’ the high street jeweller is exceptional for the retail sector.

What can we learn from them?

Mark Adlestone, Managing Director says. "We look after people as if we were a family. We really do listen to our people. Our people become part of a family that has been in love with this business for 90 years. Our passion for jewellery is only matched by our passion for our people."

This love is reciprocal. Staff are inspired by Adlestone (recording the highest positive score in the awards of 87.2%) and they believe the senior management team lives the values of the organisation (83.6%).

The company’s values are typified by its commitment to give away 20% of post-tax profits each year to charity. It used to be only half that amount and the decision to double it was made specifically with the aim of increasing staff engagement with the business. And it’s worked.

Staff believe that Beaverbrook's support of good causes is not driven by a desire for good publicity (up 8.3% since 2004 to 75%) nor that making a profit is the main driving force in the organisation (also up 8.3% to 85%). (Source - Sunday Times best Companies to work for survey 2009)

Graduates and non graduates are increasingly using listings like these as a job search tool - so as well as retaining committed employees, organisations that strive to be a great place to work are also more likely to attract high performing new employees with the greatest potential.

Check out the full listings of companies and their winning strategies at
Timesonline.co.uk - best 100 companies - and see how you stack up:

If you are a leader or business owner - are you already a great place to work in the eyes of
your employees? Do you know? What else can you do?
If you are an employee - how does your company stack up? What needs to change?
What would help to motivate, develop and challenge you positively?