The 50 best places to work in Britain

Lianna Brinded
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

The New Year is usually the mark of a new start for most people. And one of the first things people do is to look for a new job.

Luckily, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites Glassdoor has just released its benchmark list of the best places to work in Britain. Unlike many awards related to the workplace, Glassdoor actually collate input from employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback on aspects about their job, work environment, and employer over the past year.

Reviews had come from current and former employees between 23 October, 2017 and 21 October, 2018. Companies to be considered have to have at least 1,000 employees during this time frame and at least 30 ratings from UK based staff.

Glassdoor said that it then uses its proprietary algorithm, factoring in the employer’s rating based on “the quantity, quality and consistency of reviews during the eligibility timeframe.” To put into context, more than 830,000 employers are reviewed on Glassdoor and the average company rating is 3.4 out of 5.

The company that topped the list scored 4.5 and the company that ranked 50th still scored 4.2.

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“In today’s tight labour market, job seekers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to deciding where to work and they want to know the inner workings of a company before accepting a new job,” said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor Chief Economist.

“For employers, we know that a satisfied and engaged workforce helps drive financial performance. Glassdoor Best Places to Work winners are strategically investing in company culture, career growth opportunities and more, which also serves as a major recruiting advantage.”

Anglian Water came in at number 1 for the first time with a rating of 4.5. One of the reviews by an Anglian Water Asset Delivery Manager (Lincoln, England UK) said: “The workforce is clearly proud, passionate and really cares about the work they do, which results in a really positive culture and working environment.” It was the only utilities company to feature in the top 10.

Notably, tech giant Google (GOOG), investment bank JP Morgan (JPM), and global consultancy PwC are the only three employers to make the UK list every year, which started in 2015.

German software firm SAP (SAP) was also the only employer this year to appear on five lists (Germany, No. 1; Canada, No. 3; UK, No. 8; France, No. 23; U.S. large, No. 27).

Here is the full list of the best 50 places to work in Britain:

1. Anglian Water
2. Bain & Company
3. XPO Logistics
4. Bromford
5. Salesforce (CRM)
6. Sky Betting & Gaming
7. Hiscox
8. SAP
9. Taylor Wimpey (TW.L)
10. Royal London
11. Microsoft (MSFT)
12. Gartner
13. Google
14. Sytner
15. Capital One
16. IKEA
17. Arnold Clark
18. HomeServe UK
19. Nando’s UK
20. AppDynamics
21. Metro Bank
22. Arcadis
23. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG.L)
24. Screwfix
25. Civica
26. Shell (RDSA.L)
27. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
28. REED
29. O2
30. JPMorgan
31. Diageo (DGE.L)
32. Peninsula
33. Dunelm
34. Arup
35. Direct Line Group
36. Goldman Sachs (GS)
37. Cisco Systems
38. BBC
39. Rolls-Royce
40. First Utility
41. wagamama
42. easyJet
43. Apple (AAPL)
44. Severn Trent
45. PwC
46. Siemens
47. Helping Hands Home Care
48. Accenture
49. Hilton
50. Alexander Mann Solutions