For the fifth year running Beaverbrooks is among the top five Best Companies to Work For, helping the high-street jeweller earn our Lifetime Achievement award. So content with their working lives are the 720-strong team that their votes have made Beaverbrooks one of the list’s most consistent performers. Staff love working for the family-owned firm — this question scored 86% positive. They also report the highest levels of job security out of any company in the list (a 90% positive score in the survey). They do not feel taken advantage of, scoring this question 77% positive — the third best result for this measure.

“Making it special” is the adage by which staff are trained to deal with customers, and the process starts in how they themselves are treated. Central to the company’s success is managing director Mark Adlestone who has been at the helm for 15 years and wins our special award for Leadership. He dedicates 90% of his diary time to talking with teams. Employees find him inspiring (rating this question 87% positive), think he runs Beaverbrooks on sound moral principles (90%), and have a great deal of faith in him (89%), all three scores ranking second.

Managers come in for praise, perhaps thanks to the policy of internal promotions so that almost all senior positions are home-grown staff. People say their manager expresses appreciation when they do a good job (82%) and that they talk openly and honestly with them (84%) — both top five results. They also feel their manager cares about them as individuals, ranking this question second in the survey with a score of 84%.

The company donates a generous 20% of post-tax profits to charity, lets staff use work time to help charitable organisations and doubles any money they raise for them. All this means that employees do not think profit and budget concerns are the only things driving the firm, giving a top two score at 84% positive. Asked if they think its support of worthy causes is driven by a desire for good publicity, Beaverbrooks staff were emphatic that it is not, with a positive score of 75%, the highest for the question.

Related Internet Links

• Company website

• Beaverbrook's entry in 2007

• Beaverbrooks the Jewellers' entry in 2006

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

Explore Best 100 Companies

• Best 100 Tables