IT HAS BEEN a rough ride for the insurance giant of late. Created in 1996 by the merger of Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance, it posted a £244m loss in 2013 after the discovery of a £200m black hole in its Irish operation's books and hefty weather-related costs. In February 2014 Stephen Hester was brought in as chief executive, charged with rebuilding the business's fortunes as he had done as Fred Goodwin's successor at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He quickly announced a £774m cash call through a rights issue and began selling off non-core operations in Asia and eastern Europe. Despite the difficulties, RSA's 6,615 employees at its 20 UK offices feel their managers talk openly and honestly with them, a 77% positive score, and show they care about them as individuals (75%, ranked 10th among big companies on our list). Even before Hester's arrival and the appointment of Steve Lewis as chief executive for the UK and western Europe, staff had been doing their bit to cut costs. A “save £5 a day” campaign led to a group on the firm's Yammer social network attracting 600 members who came up with ideas ranging from a team travel calculator to an IT hardware review. The so-called “bonkers” group is another creative use of social media. It allows anyone to flag up practices that don't make sense and need fixing. As a result, landline voicemail systems have been redirected to mobiles and stationery supplies streamlined. Leaders have a budget to reward excellence with financial awards throughout the year. The emphasis is on collaboration, with team members going out of their way to help each other (78%, sixth) and having fun doing their job (75%). Colleagues nominate their peers for the company's main recognition prizes. These aren't handed out at a formal ceremony. Instead, recipients are lured into decoy meetings where their department celebrates achievements. Winners are then invited to lunch at the company's new headquarters in London's Walkie Talkie tower and treated to a night in a central hotel in the capital. Almost half the workforce have been here for 10 years or more. But flexibility about when and where they operate means they are happy with the work-life balance (63%). www.rsagroup.com
