Teamwork helps ease the pressure

Of the 10 questions showing the biggest negative change, three relate to employees not feeling fairly paid, particularly compared to people in similar roles in similar organisations. The biggest dip, though, is for people feeling under too much strain to perform well (down 2.6%). “They have to operate at a new level because it is constant change and constant pressure,” says Jonathan Austin, founder and chief executive of Best Companies, which conducts the survey for The Sunday Times. “We are coming out of a difficult period and the way organisations on the list are led has improved significantly. There is more organisational clarity — why it exists, how it needs to behave, where it is moving towards and how it is going to get there.”

Calico climbs the ladder to success after a number of initiatives designed to engage staff

Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School, believes people are usually mistaken to think others are being paid more for doing the same job, but says they may feel undervalued. And he warns: “The good news is when you are all in this together, you try to work together. For a while you can have the Dunkirk spirit but you can’t have it in a 10-year war.”

Our survey asks staff to respond to 70 statements designed to assess people’s attitudes in eight areas of working life.

These factors are:

Leadership: how employees feel about the head of the company and senior managers;

Wellbeing: how they feel about pressure levels and the balance between work and home;

My Manager: people’s feelings towards their immediate boss and day-to-day managers;

My Team: people’s feelings about their colleagues and how they work together;

Fair Deal: how happy the workforce is with pay and benefits;

Giving Something Back: how much people believe their firm contributes to society in general and the local community in particular;

My Company: feelings about the firm, as opposed to colleagues;

Personal Growth: whether people feel challenged at work, how their skills are being used and scope for advancement.

The companies making it into the top 100 are coping much better with the challenges of the post-recession world. High scores in the Leadership factor helped put the winners out in front. “The engagement is coming from the leadership team and the relationships are formed by virtue of the managers,” says Austin. “Great managers build great teams and leaders make sure those teams are working well together.”

SLH Group wins 44 top scores in our survey this year

SLH Group, No 1 on the list for the second consecutive year, does even better this time around with 44 top scores. Staff work well together (82%) and are inspired by chief executive, Julie Fadden (93%).

On the first Wednesday of the month all staff at SLH, which includes South Liverpool Homes, a housing association that manages almost 37,000 properties, go on a walkabout around its 26 patches to talk to tenants and help them with problems. “For people in management it is easy to forget what we are trying to do. It refocuses your mind,” says Claire Ryan, director of business assurance.

Across the list, organisations are employing innovative initiatives designed to motivate staff and make them feel valued.

Social inclusion charity St Giles Trust, which is among the most improved groups for Wellbeing, has introduced duvet days to help reduce sick leave. Team spirit at London & Partners has been boosted by Fun Fridays, where staff finish work at 4pm for themed food and drinks. Calico, the Burnley-based housing group, got its people engaged by encouraging them to volunteer for a building project in Uganda, as well as singing in a staff choir or taking a subsidised evening class to develop their potential.

“If people feel cared for by their manager and their organisation they are more likely to deliver more for their customers,” says Austin. “It is the essence of employee engagement. That is why people strive for it.”