Using its own unique methodology, Best Companies has carried out more than 250,000 surveys across more than 1,200 companies in order to compile the Sunday Times magazines. That’s a lot of data. All results are analysed and interpreted by the cognitive research team that developed the methodology, and after the lists are published a Best Companies diagnostic consultant visits firms to go through the data on site.
The research team also channels its expertise into areas such as individual “off-list” surveys offered to companies on request. As opposed to surveying for the Sunday Times lists — when the 70-point questionnaire is distributed to a random sample of people — every member of staff receives one.
Feedback from the surveys can be read in a variety of ways thanks to detailed reporting on a wide range of demographics including job level and role, customised employment groupings, age, sex and hours worked. This allows benchmarking across sectors.
As with the surveys conducted for the lists, this specialised reporting back is achieved through an interactive online workplace insight tool (WIT), which highlights the factors critical to achieving high levels of engagement.
Some organisations that act on the feedback like to find out how their interventions are working via an interim survey, called the BC16.
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This comprises 16 of the 70 questions from the main survey which the research team has found to have the highest correlation with employee engagement.
The results of the BC16 are reported alongside those for the main survey, instantly identifying improvements or any decline in performance.
Also keeping the Best Companies team busy is a series of regional workshops that kicks off in Birmingham on September 26. These sessions are designed to explore the impact of workplace engagement on employee retention and profitability. But don’t expect to merely be talked at — the emphasis is on participation.
“In the roadshows we are bringing people together to share best practice, and to make that as interactive as possible,” says Jonathan Austin, chief executive of Best Companies Ltd.
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The sessions open with three listed best companies sharing what they feel they do really well. This is followed by a case study of results, in which Austin gives a diagnostic review and explains how Best Companies reads the data. Then everyone else gives their opinion on what they would or wouldn’t have done before the human resources director of the case-study organisation explains what they actually did.
“The session draws to a close when we effectively go speed-dating,” says Austin. “Each person gets 2Å minutes telling someone else what they’ve learnt from the session and what they’re going to implement. There is a series of these, as with speed-dating.”
While Austin makes no promises about finding love at a workshop, he does guarantee that people will learn about the Sunday Times lists, and the Best Companies accreditation and research methodology.
And it’s not just businesses that benefit from Best Companies research. All charities registered with the Charities Commission that apply to the list receive an in-depth analysis and diagnostic consultation free of charge.
Austin sits on the National Employee Panel and liaises with the government on workplace issues. “We are constantly exploring what creates high levels of engagement, using ground-breaking ways of analysing workplace data,” he says.
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All this has developed in the five years since the relatively humble beginnings of The Sunday Times 50 Best Companies to Work For in 2001. Its inception came about after Austin had seen the American Best Companies to Work For list and wondered why there wasn’t a UK version. He contacted the Department for Trade and Industry — which has sponsored the list every year — and The Sunday Times, and there remains a strong relationship between the three organisations today.
Nigel Crouch, senior industrialist with the DTI, leads the department’s involvement with The Best Companies to Work For and thinks it a mutually beneficial relationship, as he explains: “It is a powerful process, with 90% of the ratings driven by the random, quantitative and, crucially, anonymous survey administered by Best Companies as an independent third party. The Sunday Times provides quality reach to a large number of businesses and is a strong platform to raise awareness of issues key to the DTI, and to create high impact.
“From the initial list of 50 Best Companies to Work For, the programme has gone from strength to strength. It has been particularly pleasing to see the development of the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For and the separate focus on larger companies alongside the core 100 Best medium-sized companies.”
The remarkable advancements achieved over a relatively short space of time speak volumes about the subject matter: employee engagement has entered the mainstream.