About Wood Mackenzie

James Devine had heard about a vacancy at Wood Mackenzie but wasn't sure if he could face the daily commute from Glasgow to Edinburgh. But when a friend told him it was "the best company to work for" he went for it.

Eight months later the information manager for the energy research company is feeling more motivated than he has been in years and that's not just because of the impressive pay and benefits package. Nearly half the staff earn in excess of £45,000 and benefits include a share option scheme and a generous non-contributory pension scheme.

The 34-year-old is just as impressed with the firm's flexibility and openness to new ideas as well as the training and the friendliness of staff. "It's the best move I have made," he says.

Employees believe they can make a valuable contribution to the success of the organisation, earning Wood Mackenzie a 78% positive score. Work is stimulating (75%) and the experience staff gain is valuable for their future (76%). The workforce is happy with the balance between home and work life (68%) and say their health is not suffering because of the job (78%).

Wood Mackenzie, which employs 384 people in Edinburgh, Surrey and London, also has offices around the world including America, Canada, Australia and Dubai. The opportunity of working abroad was one of the appealing aspects of the job for research analyst Martin Kelly, as was the potential for career development. "Being part of a growing, dynamic organisation is particularly attractive," says the 28-year-old, who has been identified as a future lead analyst by managers and who, like many others, is excited about where the company is going (75%).

The learning and development team works closely with line managers to identify potential high-flyers and the firm invests £535 per head a year on training which includes courses in writing, IT skills and leadership development. Despite the fact that the firm has doubled in size since she joined it six years ago, Francesca Levoir still feels that she can make an impact on the organisation. "There are lots of opportunities to find you can, as an individual, make a difference," says the head of segment marketing. Her colleagues feel the same, earning Wood Mackenzie a 75% positive score in our survey. Staff have fun with colleagues (76%), managers care about employees as individuals (74%) and are good listeners (73%). People are proud to work for the firm (78%) and don't think the organisation's support of worthy causes is driven by a desire for good publicity (63%).

What is it like to work for Wood Mackenzie

My Manager

80% of staff agreed:

My manager regularly expresses their appreciation when I do a good job

Wood Mackenzie have been Investors in People accredited since 2008 and they use the framework to promote their people management and development policies around the globe. This allows clear line of sight as to the rationale for investment in their people and their managers role in that process. Every effort is made to make the link between good management planning, execution and revision practices and their positive effect on staff engagement and performance. This theme permeates throughout all their internal management development programmes and is visibly supported by the senior management through their various contributions to development programmes.

80% of staff agreed:

My manager regularly expresses their appreciation when I do a good job

Personal Growth

84% of staff agreed:

The experience I gain from this job is valuable for my future

There is a full range of training programmes that employees can undertake. Wood Mackenzie has a vocational and educational policy which offers funding for programme fees, time off for tutorials and support to purchase materials and books. Wood Mackenzie has a number of resources including full access to their e-learning suite and their virtual library. Through both of these, any employee can pursue personal development activities that are non-work related including learning new technology skills, participating in language training through interactive CDRom and classroom based training. At Wood Mackenzie they have 'knowledge sharing’ as one of their corporate objectives. This is cascaded down into individual performance objectives. The corporate Intranet hosts forums and searchable depositories of information, management blogs, communities of interest, office pages, team pages etc. They have a Wood Mackenzie mentoring scheme that helps new or junior staff members build their knowledge and understanding of Wood Mackenzie culture, values and career opportunities available to them.

84% of staff agreed:

The experience I gain from this job is valuable for my future

Wellbeing

74% of staff disagreed:

My health is suffering because of my work

All UK employees benefit from private healthcare and through this, a range of information and self-help tools covering several health related topics is made available via the employee’s flexible benefits portal - Your Choice. Wood Mackenzie has recently launched specific programmes focused on workplace ergonomics and stress management with tutorials and self-assessment tools made available via their e-learning platform. UK employees are also eligible for wellness check-ups which provide an ideal opportunity to receive advice on any medical concerns that they might have. Wood Mackenzie encourage staff to take exercise by offering corporate gym membership and they have recently launched a ‘cycle to work’ scheme.

74% of staff disagreed:

My health is suffering because of my work

Learn more about the 8 factors of workplace engagement here