Promotions are not held on ice at Judd Farris, but employees sometimes are. The recruitment consultancy, which specialises in jobs connected with the building trade, celebrated Christmas with an ice skating office dinner-dance party. Other thank-yous are equally glamorous. There is a two-day trip to France every year for all 69 members of staff by private jet. Special lunches are given to high performers, the top seven fee-earners in one team get a five-day skiing trip in Italy and the top 12 in the firm have an annual weekend trip to Majorca. The support staff aren't forgotten, with a spa and health day at a country hotel. All these benefits help to bring people together, and staff feel a strong sense of family within their teams, with a positive score of 89%, the second highest score of any SME for this. If these tastes of foreign travel appeal, there are plenty of opportunities to work for the company abroad. It has offices in Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne and a newly-opened branch in Singapore. Holiday entitlement at the London-based firm, which also has UK offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh, ranges from 25 to 30 days, and the company is sympathetic to requests for unpaid time off for that special trip. After five years of service, everyone is entitled to a sabbatical of four weeks, fully paid. To help staff work more flexibly, everyone can have laptops and broadband installed at home if needed, and they are set up for a good day's work with a free breakfast every morning. Occasionally, the firm shuts early on a Friday for drinks, and if people need to slip away for a long journey at the weekend, they do not need to make up the time. Staff feel listened to by managers (with a positive score of 89%) and feel bosses express appreciation of a job well done (86%), while truly living the organisation's values (91%). Employees are also confident in the skills of senior management (89%). There is a noncontributory pension and a training budget that encompasses personal development. Most people feel that the job, as a result, is good for their personal growth (85%). Staff at Judd Farris feel that the company recognises the value of their contribution (88%) and there is respect for the senior management, who lead the way in everything from the business proper to charity work. More than half of the new recruits came from personal introductions and employees say they would strongly recommend the firm to others (92%).