The three winners of this year’s Best Companies to Work For competitions were announced last week at a glittering awards ceremony in London.

Although the winners range in size from 123 to 11,872 employees, they are three of a kind – employers who put their workforce first and who, in return, get levels of commitment and engagement that others can only dream of.

Employees celebrated into the early hours as the 2008 winners were announced by BBC news-reader Fiona Bruce. Heat (mid-sized companies), KPMG (big) and Christians Against Poverty (small) beat off competition from 865 other organisations to walk away with the top prizes.

The biggest survey of workplace engagement in the UK now takes into account the views of more than 180,000 workers. Companies are divided by size into three categories: Those with between 50 and 249 employees compete to be one of the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For; Those with 250 to 4,999 employees enter the 100 Best Companies to Work For contest; Those with more than 5,000 staff compete to be one of the 20 Best Big Companies to Work For.

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

Companies are assessed by their employees across eight areas. These areas, or “factors”, cover company leadership, employee wellbeing, relationships with managers, relationships with colleagues, feelings towards your company, personal growth, fair dealing over pay and benefits, and the organisation’s record for giving something back to society.

For the first time in five years, it is all change at the top of the lists, with last year’s three winners all knocked off the top spot. The Belfast-based central-heating-installation firm Heat has ousted WL Gore & Associates from its four-year reign as the Best Company to Work For in the competition for medium-sized organisations. Employees vote Heat the best company for giving something back, with a 77% score. Staff wellbeing is also an area in which Heat excels, with an unbeaten score of 81%.

The business, which designs, installs and maintains central heating in social housing, beat off stiff competition from white-collar rivals to win the title.

Its success is founded on a sense of comradeship among staff. People go out of their way to help one another. The company ranks in the top 10 for 55 of the 66 questions in the employee engagement survey, finishing top in six and in the top three in 29. No company scores higher for work not interfering with home responsibilities (83%) and for staff not going home exhausted at the end of the day (67%); for managers motivating staff to do their best (80%) and being good role models (80%); and for staff having confidence in the leadership skills of managers (85%) and departments working well together (76%).

KPMG this year returns to the top after being named the Best Big Company in 2006. In doing so, it also wins a special award for being the most improved big company year on year, increasing its scores significantly across most of the eight factors.

Rachel Campbell, head of people management, said that being a Best Company to Work For is increasingly allied to the firm’s corporate objectives. “When we started this three or four years ago, we were dealing with a retention issue. But it’s no longer a retention issue, it’s about helping our employees see why being a good place to work raises the bar of the business,” she said. “We expect engagement, commitment and passion from our people.”

Judging by our survey results, that is exactly what the London-based firm – which specialises in audit, tax and advisory services – is getting from its 11,872 staff, who give top scores in the areas of fair deal, my manager and personal growth.

At no other big company do staff have better relationships with their managers (scoring this 76%) and they are the most satisfied in any big company with their pay and benefits, giving this a 69% score.

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