The 2024 Sunday Times Best Places to Work list has been unveiled, highlighting standout employers across various sectors in the UK.
This prestigious list - compiled using 26 questions from WorkL’s employee engagement survey - offers a comprehensive insight into employee sentiments across very big, big, medium and small organisations.
The Sunday Times Best Places to Work awards are based on a rigorous survey developed by WorkL, incorporating insights from behavioural scientists, data analysts, psychologists, business leaders and academics. To rank highly, companies must excel in a six-step framework encompassing reward and recognition, instilling pride, information sharing, empowerment, wellbeing and job satisfaction.
This survey meticulously measures employee engagement, wellbeing and discretionary effort and organisations must achieve a minimum 70% overall engagement score. The top ten companies in each size category - very big, big, medium, and small - are those with the highest engagement scores, reflecting their success in creating outstanding work environments.
Resource management service Veolia, banking organisation Aldermore and health insurance firm Vitality have secured spots in the top 10 for very big organisations, showcasing their commitment to creating exemplary workplaces.
Veolia:
Veolia has earned accolades for its exceptional focus on job satisfaction, empowerment and instilling pride among its workforce. The company’s high engagement scores are a testament to its robust programmes designed to enhance employee experience, foster a sense of purpose and promote inclusion and diversity. By prioritising wellbeing and ensuring that employees feel valued and empowered - including offering initiatives designed to help its older workforce - Veolia has positioned itself as a leading employer in the resource management sector.
Vitality:
The health and life insurer shows a strong performance in empowerment, job satisfaction and pride: 85% of employees are proud to work at Vitality, 82% believe they contribute to something worthwhile and 87% feel the company genuinely cares about diversity and inclusion. These figures highlight Vitality’s successful efforts to create an inclusive and motivating work environment where employees feel both valued and supported by offering policies from flexible working to equal parental leave and ADHD and autism diagnosis and treatment.
Aldermore:
Joining Veolia and Vitality in the top 10 for very big organisations is Aldermore Group, a prominent player in the banking sector. Aldermore’s inclusion in this list reflects its dedication to fostering a positive work culture through effective reward and recognition systems, transparent information sharing and a strong emphasis on employee wellbeing.
The top 10 very big organisations, each boasting more than 2,000 employees, making it onto The 2024 Sunday Times Best Places to Work list include:
- Aldermore Group
- CGI IT UK
- David Lloyd Clubs
- MBDA
- Moto Hospitality
- Octopus Energy
- Tui
- Valor Hospitality Europe
- Veolia UK
- Vitality
These companies have demonstrated excellence across WorkL’s six-step framework, achieving high engagement scores that set them apart as exemplary workplaces.
By excelling in areas such as empowerment, job satisfaction and diversity, those organisations on the award list not only enhance their own workforce’s experience but also set benchmarks for others in their respective industries. As the landscape of work continues to evolve, the practices and policies of these leading companies provide valuable insights into building and maintaining successful, inclusive and fulfilling workplaces.
