PROPERTY AND CONSTRUCTION consultancy Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) believes staff are the foundation of success and treats them accordingly. "You are never discouraged from trying something different," says one employee. "We always get consulted on things that affect everybody," says another. Our employee survey also reveals people don't use intimidation to get what they want, with staff returning a 73% positive score on this question, a top 20 result. Everyone is treated fairly (67%) and is able to learn and grow (64%). The RLB Academy focuses on the development of all employees to enable them to achieve their potential. Learning does not stop once qualifications have been achieved. There are update courses and the firm encourages employees to take trips to its global partners in Sydney, Hong Kong and Arizona. Staff believe they can make a valuable contribution to the success of the firm (78%) and find the experience they gain is valuable for their future (76%). Last year more than 100 employees took part in an inter-office bike ride to celebrate the consultancy's 225th anniversary. Such outings lead to strong working relationships and colleagues care about each other (78%), and don't have disruptive people in their teams (71%). The business, which is wholly employee-owned with 33% of the 339 staff having shares, likes to invest in others, too, and allows people five paid days to undertake pro bono work with charitable organisations. Staff also get involved in a range of fundraising activities from charity skydives to bake sales, quiz nights and golf days. Profits and budgets are not the only things driving the business (64%), say employees, who also think its support of worthy causes is not driven by a desire for good publicity (59%). They say it is doing enough to protect the environment (72%), with initiatives which include making it mandatory for staff to use public transport for all business journeys where there is an economically viable alternative to using a car. Employees, 40% of whom earn in excess of £45,000 a year, feel they are paid fairly for the duties they have in their job and the work they do relative to people in similar roles in other firms (62% and 61%, both top 40 scores). In addition to a range of flexible benefits there is an annual bonus scheme and one staff member recently won a £500 folding bike for an environmentally friendly idea that was rolled out across the company. rlb.com
