KPMG tops list of most employee-friendly companies

By Sona Hathi, Assistant Editor, Melcrum

Virtually all businesses have pulled the purse strings overall, be it due to a mountain of debt or as a precautionary measure, with "softer areas" of investment, such as employee engagement or CSR seeing the most cut backs. According to many IC practitioners, (too many in my opinion) far from thinking about engagement, leaders in their businesses see little need for engagement initiatives during the downturn – employees should be happy they've still got their jobs.

I'm interested in seeing exactly what happens to retention levels in these companies once the job market picks itself up again. So, with that in mind, this year's Sunday Times top 100 companies to work for list is one to pay particularly close attention to. Let's face it, being on a budget, whether at work or at play - is depressing, so who's managed to keep employees happy and motivated in the past year? Whose employees still have faith in their leaders despite the widespread fear of mass redundancies?

For the third time in four years accounting firm KPMG has topped this year's list of the 20 best big companies to work for. Whoever thought being an accountant was mind numbingly dull might want to think again. It seems that working for one of the Big Four firms, that includes Pricewaterhouse Coopers (dropping five places to number 11 in the list), Deloitte (number nine, up three from 2008) and Ernst & Young (fails to make an appearance), you could well be one of the 73% of employees who find their work stimulating, or who feel empowered and taken seriously.

They say you don't leave a job, you leave a manager, if this is true then it's no surprise that KPMG's staff turnover is only 16%, while an enormous 70% of employees believe their managers help them fulfil their potential.

While KPMG ranked number one overall, Morgan Stanley is top in terms of leadership. With no shortage of negative press coverage in the last year, including redundancies and ‘that’ leaked memo, 65% of employees say senior managers listen, laud their leadership skills (81%), and believe senior managers live the values of the organization (73%).

Around 78% believe Walid Chammah, head of the UK business, runs the company on sound moral principles and have a great deal of faith in him (79%). That 67% say that work interferes with home responsibilities and health is perhaps somewhat worrying... but then the fact that Morgan Stanley has acknowledged this issue, while many companies choose to turn a blind eye, is why it's considered one of the best companies to work for.

Top of the pile in the top 100 best companies to work for comes the lesser known Beaverbrooks the Jewellers. Step into a store and you will be served with a cup of tea, a comfortable seat, a few minutes of chat and detailed advice about the products on offer. The company’s 803 staff do all they can to boost the buying experience, and put a smile on the face of shoppers. Founded by three Adlestone brothers in 1919, Beaverbrooks remains a family business. People are inspired by the managing director, who earns a top score of 87%, and have a great deal of faith in him (90%). Number two and three best 100 companies to work for were Bourne Leisure and American Express.

It's great news for us that Vodafone still features in the list (number 18), its head of communications and employee experience, Annette Ware, will be presenting at our Employee Engagement conference next month on Inspiring employees to connect with the organization. So, what are your thoughts on the list? Who's employees feel that their company genuinely cares about the stress that the workforce is under due to limited resources, leaner workforces, and that gut wrenching fear that every time your name is called out you’ll become the next casualty on an already long list of redundant employees.