BEST PLACES TO WORK

Summary:

This small, niche, automotive and engineering PR consultancy was awarded Investors in People status in 2008. The inspector was so impressed with the company she recommended it apply for the Sunday Times Best Places To Work award. Staff at the Banbury-based agency are encouraged to follow their own passions – 15 per cent of their time is spent developing and working on business outside the core areas. ‘Being a good employer is particularly important for us due to the small pool of people available with the right skills for our very specialist sectors,’ says founder Richard Gotch. ‘That means attracting and keeping the best people and training them in-house. It’s a constant challenge.’

Benefits:

Job sharing, flexible hours, working from home, childcare vouchers, private healthcare, bonuses, sabbaticals and career breaks, flexible benefits package, performance-related pay, share ownership in the company, education sponsorship, study leave, awards for success, team events, laptops for all account handling staff.

Training and development:

The company spends £2,000 per head per year on training and development. Every employee at every level has quarterly career planning meetings to help them focus on their education and experience needs and progress their careers. ‘The system helps align company skills requirements with people’s career objectives and provide the skills and experience required to satisfy both,’ says Gotch.

Work/life balance:

‘We are very supportive of this partly because we would like people to be happy, and also because to attract the best people we have to provide something more than money’, Gotch says. One manager lives 90 miles from the office so is allowed to work from home two days a week, and a second staff member works four days a week to have more time with her family. Staff are also allowed to leave early if they need to, for example to pick up children or go to an evening event, and staff have also been given paid leave for special activities, such as an employee who was a member of the UK elite-level triathlon team. The company also takes a flexible approach to transport – one staff member requested a bike and a small car, instead of the large executive-level car they were entitled to, and Market Engineering provided a £1,000 bespoke bike rack for them.

Graduate recruitment and new joiners:

The company has a graduate recruitment programme in place and all senior staff have engineering or business and marketing qualifications. New starters are given an induction programme and teamed up with a buddy or mentor from within the agency.