IMPROVING LIVES IS at the heart of Greenfields Community Housing: for residents in the Braintree-based association's 8,100 shared-ownership, leasehold and rented homes, as well as its employees and volunteers. Whether it is their health and wellbeing or professional satisfaction, staff at this mid-size venture are taken care of. Teams are organised into three directorates — housing, property services, and IT, human resources and finance — and career progression is there for those who want it. Employees give Greenfields its top-ranked score of 73% positive for the beneficial training they receive — just one mid-size organisation on our not-for-profit list did better —and feel their job is good for personal growth (78%), both top-five scores. Workplace health champions have organised events such as men's health week, when male employees got “man manuals” and challenged each other in bench-pressing and weightlifting, tallying their results on a Top Gear-style leaderboard. Lunchtime walks, hypnotherapy to stop smoking and a weight-loss programme are offered too, and staff say their health does not suffer due to work (78%). www.greenfieldsch.org.uk
