THE GOVERNMENT MIGHT have published the country's first "happiness survey" last year, but the marketing capability consultancy Brand Learning has been running a something similar for years. Our Best Companies survey shows there are plenty of smiles among the 89 staff, with the company coming top in eight key questions and securing top 10 outcomes in 59 out of the total of 70. Team spirit overall gains a positive score of 95% among staff at the Kingston upon Thames office, which assists marketing teams in companies worldwide. British clients include the Cabinet Office, the Football Association and the NHS. Staff find plenty of opportunities to let their hair down, memorably with Bollywood dancing lessons and a book character fancy dress awayday, where Alice in Wonderland talked business with the Cat in the Hat. Employees have fun with their teams (97%). They care about each other (98%) and go out of their way to help colleagues (95%) — both top scores. The firm was co-founded 12 years ago by Andy Bird and Mhairi McEwan, the managing directors, and they are inspiring leaders (98%, in second place). With 46 other senior managers they truly live the values of the firm — expert, engaging, inclusive and inspiring change — reflected in a 96% score, also in second place. Last year Bird and McEwan began hosting monthly "round table" discussions with a cross-section of employees to discuss the business, and the company uses an online forum on the social network site for enterprise, Yammer, to share ideas. Brand Learning prefers the term "supporter" to "manager" and staff feel supported by their direct bosses (96%, another top score). Managers care for people as individuals (95%), and take an interest in workers' job satisfaction (93%) through lunches, meetings or catching up with people informally. Unusually, the firm is female- dominated at every level, but it doesn't assume women bear all of the responsibility for their families. Maternity leave includes 13 weeks at full pay and new fathers can take two weeks on top of the statutory fortnight. Directors are trusted to manage their time and way of working, within reason, and there are reduced work options of 2, three and four-day weeks. The support team has a system of "earlies" and "lates" and occasional days working from home too. Employees are happy with the balance between work and home life (87%) and say they love working for the consultancy, putting it in first place for that indicator with a score of 95%. www.brandlearning.com
