Live from Media City, Salford, on Friday 19th August, ‘Best Companies Live’ provided a full day of celebration and insight as the workplaces leading the way in employee engagement were unveiled.
The latest workplaces named the UK’s ‘Best Companies to Work For’ in Q3 2022 have been unveiled during a live event celebrating the very best in employee engagement.
Broadcast from Media City in Salford, Manchester, on Friday 19th August, ‘Best Companies Live’ revealed which organisations had achieved an employee engagement score high enough to gain a place on the national, regional, and sector-based League Tables of the Best Companies to Work For in the UK.
Hosted by TV presenter, Dan Walker, the event was streamed live on a specially designed platform and, along with the reveals, featured a full programme of discussion and conversation on subjects including the cost-of-living crisis, how to maintain culture and energy, the importance of employer brand and people management in a remote world.
Topping the national League Tables in quarter three across four different size categories were Sphere Digital Recruitment (small), Premier Group Recruitment (mid-sized), Hickory’s Smokehouse (large), and Admiral (big).
The winners joined a live Zoom call where they were congratulated by Walker and Best Companies’ CEO, Jonathan Austin.
Commenting on the achievement of being named the UK’s Best Small Company to Work For in Q3 2022 – the second consecutive quarter in which it’s held the accolade – Ed Steer, CEO at Sphere Digital Recruitment, said it “really meant a lot” to hold onto the number one position on the League Table. “The journey we’re on is not just about getting to the top, but staying there,” he explained. “It’s easy when things are going well to rest on your laurels, but we work really hard as a company to keep moving forward and keep taking care of one another in the ways that have served us so well over the years.”
For Andrew Thorning, CEO at Premier Group Recruitment, seeing his organisation take the number one mid-size spot, and also retain it for a second quarter, is reason for the whole team to celebrate. “There’s already champagne corks being popped throughout the Group as we speak,” he explained. “There’s certainly more improvements to come… so fingers crossed we’re top spot in the final quarter of this year and can start the new year as number one too.”
Representing Hickory’s Smokehouse, John Welsh, CEO, and Ben Rushworth, Operations Director, said staying at the number one spot and retaining the position for the third consecutive quarter was a case of “small marginal gains, never resting on our laurels and always believing we can do better.”
Expanding on the journey so far, Welsh added: “When we started the journey the ambition was to learn more about ourselves as a business and be very public with our teams about our beliefs and how we want to be better as a company. Holding the top spot holds us to account and makes sure we are upholding the promises we’re making to our people and living up to the things we say we are going to do.”
Although unable to join live on the day, Admiral, the winner in the big category, was congratulated by Best Companies’ Jonathan Austin, who said: “Admiral benefits from world class management and leaders at every level and they invest heavily in their people. Their commitment to their employees, and the communities around them, is simply off the chart.”
The League Table concept is new for Best Companies in 2022 and is a model that offers more flexibility and recognition than the previous annual list.
The new, quarterly League Tables are generated when organisations survey their employees – and it’s their responses, based on Best Companies’ unique 8 Factor methodology – that determines how engaged their people are. This produces an index score used to rank positions on the League Tables.
Commenting on the day, Best Companies’ Austin, said: “The winners today have been truly inspirational. It’s a phenomenal achievement that organisations are maintaining, and indeed improving, their engagement levels in these unprecedented times. Over the course of today we’ve not only unveiled our League Tables, but we’ve told the stories of those companies doing great things and, in doing so, inspired others. That for me is what Best Companies Live is all about.”
The full lists of winners across all League Tables can be found here
Full recordings of the day can be accessed via www.bestcompanies.live
