Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Lloyds Banking Group and McDonald’s are among the organisations recognised at 2017’s Top Employers Awards, hosted by Workingmums.co.uk.
The awards, now in its eighth year, celebrates organisations that are leading innovation and best practice in gender diversity and flexible working.
The winners were announced in a ceremony on 7 November 2017 at The Soho Hotel, London, with Ann Francke, chief executive officer at the Chartered Management Institute, delivering the keynote address on the night. The ceremony also included a panel discussion featuring the award judges, as well as a networking session for winners and shortlisted entrants.
Banking organisation Lloyds Banking Group took the top accolade of the Overall top employer award, as well as the Top employer award for talent attraction, in recognition of its agile hiring programme. Restaurant organisation McDonald’s won the Top employer award for innovation in flexible working due to its approach to zero hour contracts, while law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner was recognised for its family-family policies, winning the Top employer award for best for dads.
The award judges were Gillian Missim, founder at Workingmums.co.uk; Andy Lake, editor at Flexibility.co.uk; Jennifer Liston-Smith, director and head of coaching and consultancy at My Family Care; Dave Dunbar, head of digital workplace at Nationwide Building Society; and Clare Kelliher, professor of work and organisation at Cranfield School of Management.
The full list of winners at 2017’s Top Employers Awards are:
- Overall top employer award: Lloyds Banking Group.
- Top employer award for innovation in flexible working: McDonald’s.
- Top employer award for career progression: Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
- Top employer award for best for dads: Berwin Leighton Paisner.
- Top employer award for talent attraction: Lloyds Banking Group.
- Top employer award for family support: M and G Investments.
- Top employer award for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with 1 to 25 employees: Cuttsy and Cuttsy Limited.
- Top employer award for SMEs with between 26 and 250 employees: Genie Ventures.
- The working mums champion award: Dawn Moore, director of human resources at Morgan Sindall.
Gillian Nissim, founder at Workingmums.co.uk, said: “The Top Employer Awards is a chance to celebrate and be proud of the amazing work that we know is going on to ensure all [employees] can develop their potential. The standard of this year’s entries was very high and there was very fierce competition, particularly in the areas of career progression, family support and innovation.
“Time and time again what comes up most often in conversations around embedding a flexible work culture, because it is work culture which includes or excludes, is the need for good management. Many of this year’s shortlisted entries recognise the importance of management training in flexible working and the need to provide useful tools and strong case studies which show those who might be resistant the reality of what it means to people, to motivation and to the bottom line.
“The awards ceremony highlights not just good practice in employers of all sizes and across all sectors, but the need to continually push forward and innovate.”