A Star for Satisfied Staff

Bales Worldwide’s one-star rating by Best Companies sent a message to staff and job seekers that it cared about its employees.

The rating is based on employees’ responses to 16 key questions which measure how engaged they feel at work. It covers areas such as the quality of the leadership, how staff feel about their boss, their stress levels, the balance between work and home life, whether they feel valued and how much they think the company gives back to society.

To be accredited, an average of 85% of employees must feel engaged with the company. Only 42 companies achieved three stars this year, 107 got two stars and 124 received one-star status which, according to Best Companies, is still considered ‘first class’.

“It is a fantastic achievement as this was the first year we applied for accreditation,” said human resources director Vivienne Thorn.

Vivienne said she applied for entry to Best Companies in order to get an independent opinion of how staff feel about the business and to find areas for improvement. “If employees are unhappy, you want to hear about it, and this scheme was an opportunity for us to get an audit.”

Staff fill in the questionnaire online and, as all replies are anonymous, Vivienne said it was a good way to get honest feedback. “We were pleased to find that staff felt Bales was a caring company, and felt engaged with their team.”

One area where staff felt Bales could do better was in its charitable work. “We support initiatives overseas, such as rebuilding schools in Sri Lanka after the tsunami, but I think we can improve on the work we do in the UK,” added Vivienne.