The Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards have just been announced, with employees naming the best places to work in the UK.
We all know the power of peer-to-peer communication and personal recommendations.
I think these awards are worth highlighting because they come from the most important critics – employees.
Congratulations to everyone who made the list, which cites the top three as Expedia, ARM Holdings and HomeServe.
I attended the Employer Brand Management #EBMconf conference in London yesterday. Glassdoor was mentioned frequently as a method of understanding the reality of organisations.
Did your company make the #BPTW list?
Glass what?
If it’s new to you, see my previous blog posts – think of Glassdoor like Trip Advisor for organisations. It’s a website where employees can share views on pay, rate the CEO, give advice for interviewees and much more.
Companies who are savvy have claimed their profiles and actively use the site to respond to employee feedback.
Harrods do this well for example and have even used the site today to mention their listing: “We are delighted to be named as the top ranking retailer in Glassdoor’s list of the UK’s Best Places to Work 2017. This is a wonderful reflection of the positive feedback shared by our employees” says Managing Director, Michael Ward.
It’s a brilliant listening tool, but is even better if you take the opportunity to respond.
In public. Out loud. It’s not scary – take a look and give it a go.
I regularly use the site with All Things IC clients as an illustration of the types of information being shared publicly by employees.
I referred to it only last week in an All Things IC Strategic Internal Communication Masterclass.
What you read may surprise you, perhaps even in a good way.
The winners are listed below:
- Expedia
- ARM Holdings
- HomeServe
- Mott MacDonald
- Hays
- Peninsula
- Unilever
- Salesforce
- Screwfix
- Financial Derivatives Plc.
Further reading: See Glassdoor’s blog to discover the companies listed 11-50.
How do the awards work?
The awards are based entirely on employee feedback.
Glassdoor often honours companies for standing out for a particular workplace factor, such as work-life balance, career opportunities, or compensation and benefits.
It’s been interesting to see how companies are celebrating their listings today.
I met the comms team at HomeServe, who came third, at the IoIC awards a couple of months ago.
I’m a fan of their work, particularly their Big Red Sofa idea. It tours sites and is used as the basis for their face-to-face broadcasts. I know they read my blog too *waves*.
HomeServe held a special Big Red Sofa show today and streamed it via Facebook (internal/external comms blurring in action…)
If you missed it, we went live on Facebook to celebrate third place on @GlassdoorUK‘s Best Places to Work! #BPTWUK https://t.co/7mFGDSJrEf
— HomeServe UK (@HomeServeUK) December 7, 2016
You can watch the special edition of their Big Red Sofa live show online:
They also shared this Tweet – I imagine the pizzas went down a treat!
Here come 450 pizzas! @dominos @GlassdoorUK #BPTWUK pic.twitter.com/aVJF6QaEqk
— HomeServe UK (@HomeServeUK) December 7, 2016
We’re proud to have been named #1 @GlassdoorUK’s Best Places To Work! #BPTW https://t.co/kD8HjiMDaD pic.twitter.com/WLj1JR6v81
— Expedia.co.uk (@ExpediaUK) December 9, 2015
What employees say…
- Expedia: “Fast growing dynamic environment” Amazing leaders, very accessible and communicating a lot with all employees. Flexible environment…
- ARM Holdings: “Freedom is the best.” The atmosphere in the company is really great. Everybody is keen to help each other.
- HomeServe: “Flexible & supportive place to work.” It’s an exciting, dynamic, growing company.
- Mott MacDonald: “Great careers at Mott MacDonald.” A firm that you join for a career and not a job.
- Hays: “Excellent career company.” Hays is a genuine career company. They will support & develop you provided you show the drive.
- Peninsula: “Forward Thinking, Dynamic Company.” Unbelievable amount of growth, which has led to opportunities for employees.
- Unilever:”Great Place to Learn.” Flexible working hours along with a team full of friendly people who want you to learn.
- Salesforce: “A Great Culture of Inclusivity.” Salesforce is an amazing company! It has a strong and inclusive culture as well as great people.
- Screwfix: “A company that is constantly growing and will grow you too.” There are countless pros. Real team spirit and fantastic opportunities.
- First Derivatives: “Dynamic and rapidly growing company with good opportunities.” The company is filled with well-educated and sociable people.
What do your employees say about your company?
Do you know what your Glassdoor profile says? Take a look.
Further reading: See Glassdoor’s blog to discover the companies listed 11-50.
Further reading: Wake up to employee branding – by Helen Deverell for Alive with Ideas.
Award winners are determined using feedback employees have shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year.
Employees complete an anonymous company review that captures their overall job and company satisfaction, as well as qualitative insights into the best reasons to work at their company, along with what needs improvement.
Based on feedback employees share during the year-long period of eligibility, Glassdoor then applies a proprietary algorithm to each award category. As part of the algorithm, Glassdoor considers the quality, quantity, and consistency of reviews.
Congratulations to everyone who made the list. Enjoy the celebrations
P.s. I picked up a book at the Employer Brand Management conference yesterday. Will be sure to share anything useful I read in there.
Glassdoor represented on stage now #ebmconf. I just picked up a fab free book on their stand, thank you @Glassdoor pic.twitter.com/tW1A8UErl5
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) December 6, 2016
Rachel
Post author: Rachel Miller
First published on the All Things IC blog 7 December 2016.
