APTLY FOR A company focusing on recruitment, training and development, people working at Office Angels say the experience is valuable for their future (84% positive, a result beaten by only four others). Their factor score of 78% in our survey for Personal Growth — how the 373 employees feel about training and their future prospects — is the sixth best. Almost £600 per employee is spent on training in areas such as internal mentoring, job shadowing and e-learning and 12% of consultants were promoted in the past year. They say their job is good for their own personal growth and they are not bored with the work they do (both 83%, with the latter coming third overall). There is an annual conference as well as regional social events at the London-based company, which recruits, trains and develops office support staff at 80 sites around the country. Employees find working in teams is a buzz (81%) and fun (87%), and more than one in 10 have been at the organisation for at least a decade; a long-service lunch is held every year. This year, more than 100 employees are due to be whisked away to Marrakesh for five days to reward them for their hard work. Previous prizes have included a five-star, all-expenses-paid trip to Rio de Janeiro last year, lunch hosted by managing director Steven Kirkpatrick, cookery lessons in Paris and vouchers worth £1,000. Managers see staff in “hook-up” meetings to make sure they know what is expected of them, and two more top-10 answers (both 82%) show that employees feel bosses share knowledge and information and care about them as individuals. Most of the workforce is female and Office Angels has a maternity guide for new and expectant mothers giving tips on pre- and post-maternity leave. New mothers can try a phased return to work and they are aided by colleagues acting as “maternity buddies”. After two years' service, women get maternity pay of six weeks at 90% of average earnings, another six weeks at 50% of basic salary and 27 weeks at the statutory rate. Work is an important part of employees' life (85%) and they would probably not leave if offered another job tomorrow (79%). More than a quarter of staff (27%) did voluntary work in office hours last year. They are entitled to take a day off each year for charitable activities.