FORGETTING A BIRTHDAY, finding the time to dry-clean clothes or buying tickets to a show are no longer concerns for British Gas employees. Concierge services have been introduced in the past year and are being rolled out for all 29,500 employees, 11,000 of them engineers in the field. Engineers are paid just over £27,000 a year on average and about one in nine earns more than £35,000 a year. Employees are among the happiest with the pay and benefits they receive, with a positive score of 61%, the fifth best. Team members work about 36 hours a week, compared with 40 for managers and supervisors and 45 for senior bosses, and staff have between 23 and 33 days' holiday a year. British Gas's highest factor ranking of eighth is for Fair Deal questions. Employees say they are paid fairly for the work they do compared with people in similar positions at comparable organisations (59%, ranked fifth) and fairly considering the responsibilities they have in their jobs (56%). A range of working methods is offered and flexible working requests are accommodated wherever possible. Julie Cripps, who joined as a "fresh-faced 18-year-old" 31 years ago, said the company gave her invaluable support when her husband died at the age of 48 just weeks after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She said: "My whole world collapsed around me and I don't know what I would have done without family and friends, but also a supportive employer like British Gas. When the chips were down they were there for me and really cared." Lynne Poole, too, is full of praise for manager Michelle Cook after her daughter Eve arrived 16 weeks early in 2010. "Michelle was absolutely fantastic. She assured me things would be looked after and told me not to worry about anything." Staff say their managers care about them as individuals (72%) and take an active interest in their wellbeing (71%). There are also few disruptive individuals (66%). All this goes into British Gas winning our special award for Wellbeing among the big companies on our list. Phil Bentley, managing director of the company, based in Staines, Middlesex, showed he is a team player when mucked in with a group climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, to raise more than £150,000 for charity. The firm takes green concerns seriously and genuinely cares about the environment (77%, fifth). Staff feel that it makes a positive difference to the world we live in (67%, a top 10 score). www.britishgas.co.uk
