THIS IS THE fifth consecutive year that London and Quadrant Housing Trust has been a Sunday Times Best Company to Work For. Maintaining staff engagement for such a prolonged period is testament to the thoroughness with which the association creates a workplace where people want to work. Customer service adviser, the most common role, brings a salary of £24,000 — hardly one to match other Best Companies in the banking or legal industries — but staff do not feel short-changed. They give top 20 positive scores for being happy with their pay and benefits (69%) and think they are paid fairly for the responsibilities they have (64%). There is a training budget of about £1,400 a year per employee. Courses range from basics such as IT and classes about how to get the most out of meetings, to externally-led lessons in dealing with antisocial behaviour. The L&Q Leadership Academy trains current managers, team leaders and those who have been identified as having leadership potential. Employees find their training is of great benefit (71%) and feel they can make a difference at L&Q (79%), both top 25 results. There are 166 part-time workers, six doing job shares, 20 working from home, 70 doing flexitime, two operating on staggered hours, one on a sabbatical and another on a career break. Hard work earns presents such as theatre tickets, bottles of wine, chocolates, CDs and store vouchers. The year's outstanding achievers get a bonus of 2.5% of their salary while the best team gets £250 per person. lqgroup.org.uk
