Hotwire manages to connect with what its young, dynamic workforce wants: great training, good rewards and excellent opportunities in the growing public relations company which specialises in technology businesses.

The organisation has one of the lowest average ages in the survey of 26, and 20 of its 58 staff have been in its London office for less than a year. They appreciate the development offered and place it eighth in the personal growth category, saying the training is of great benefit to them (86% – the third-highest positive score for this question). Employees feel the job is good for growth (89%), offers the chance to learn (81%) and that it is valuable for the future (91%).

Hotwire ranks 10th overall on all questions relating to fair dealing with staff, who get just five hours of client work a day in an attempt control workloads.

Despite this, only five companies have poorer scores for job-related stress (70%), but people feel they can make a valuable contribution (88%). There is no confusion about who does what either (82%, ranking 14th).

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Turning up the Heat pays off

Strong training and a sense that work is to be enjoyed add up to Heat powering past its rivals into top spot this year

Background

• Hats off to great leadership

• Getting the message across loud and clear

• Fly high with the X Factor

• Why it pays to know what you’re doing

Background

• Charity wins top small company award

• Special awards for best practice

• Rules of engagement

• 100 Best SME's to work for 2008

Multimedia

• Best Small Companies to Work For 2008

• Highlights from the awards ceremony

There is also a chance for people to do pro bono work for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

More than a third of employees earn £25,000 to £35,000 a year, but they feel fairly rewarded for the industry (81%) and fairly paid relative to others (78%). Everyone has 25 days of holiday, can work flexibly, and staff pay 5% of salary and the firm 6% into a contributory pension scheme.

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