NO NEED FOR clockwatching at this new entry, where recruitment consultants can win a Rolex watch for attaining a specific sales goal. Staff are not counting down the minutes in any case at this executive search agency. As an 83% positive, top 10 score shows, they are successfully balancing their 40-hour week and home life. Holiday allowance of up to 30 days can include two duvet days. This youthful workforce of 52 — average age 30 — specialising in international finance, technology and energy markets, has doubled in size in the past year. The firm was established in 1997 concentrating on the global semiconductor market. It is based in Hove, East Sussex, and now has offices in London, Munich, Dresden and Nice. The team is happy with pay and benefits (81%): free private healthcare for all staff and their families and a non-contributory pension into which the company tips 5% of salary. If someone who lives alone is off sick a colleague will pick up a prescription or get their groceries. After one employee had a late miscarriage the firm decided to do more for people in difficult times, and now subscribes to a 24-hour service offering counselling and legal or financial advice. Everyone gets an Easter egg and the firm sends flowers to mark the birth of a baby or moving house. Flexibility is applied case by case. Mothers with a sick child can work from home; new fathers can take a week off at full pay, two statutory weeks and 13 unpaid. There is strong managerial support (90%, a top 10 score) and everyone is treated fairly (87%). All staff helped to draft the company values, pledging never to stop learning and to be respectful, tenacious and persistent. The firm backs charities (93%) such as Rockinghorse, caring for sick and disabled children in Sussex and Surrey, and recently bought a new incubator for Brighton's children's hospital. www.mrlcg.com
