BREAKING RECORDS IS the name of the game at JMC IT. Not only does the company encourage sporting excellence, but it is also celebrating 11 years as a Best Small Company. Managing director Andrew Burgess launched “Team JMC” nine years ago to encourage social, sporting and charitable events at the Manchester-based IT services and support firm. All 100 employees have taken part, including Team GB triathlete Alex Lawton and endurance cyclist Jason Miles. Last year Miles broke two world records for tandem cycling in the Channel 4 programme Speed with Guy Martin. The company enjoyed a record year in 2014, with revenues of almost £11m and profits of almost £1.1m. To reward employees, it took everyone to Dublin for a weekend. Every April there is a two-week challenge when the firm donates 75p per kilometre that everyone commutes, getting to and from work under their own steam. Giving Something Back is JMC IT's great strength, winning a top-10 positive score of 85%. It has donated £3,900 to Salford Central Foodbank in less than a year. Every three months, employees get a paid half-day for volunteering. Last year people packed food parcels and made shopping collections and deliveries for the food bank. Staff feel charitable activities are encouraged (96%). JMC IT has established itself as a recycling centre for clients' computer equipment and gets its highest-ranked score in our survey for protecting the environment (87%, a top-10 result). The average time spent with the company is 12 years — some employees have been here twice as long, which it says is “almost unheard of within the technology industry” — so people have a strong sense of job security (88%). www.jmc.co.uk
