Our 2021 Top Employers crowned at online ceremony

McDonald’s has been named our top employer for 2021. At an online awards ceremony held yesterday we announced the winners of our Top Employer Awards across seven categories. 

The Awards are now in their 11th year. But this is the first time they’ve been held online. Just as the ceremony had to adapt to the current circumstances this year the awards themselves recognised how employers have responded to the huge challenges caused by Covid.

This year’s categories were Best for Mental Health, Best for Line Manager Support, Best for Flexible Working, Best for Family Support, Best for Employee Engagement and Best for Diversity and Inclusion. Headline sponsor was MTR Elizabeth Line. 

Overall Top Employer Award

Winner of the Overall Top Employer Award, based on the winners of all the other categories, was McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd.  The judges felt that, in a year when hospitality has been so badly hit, McDonald’s was a very strong performer in all the categories it entered. The company showed experimentation with a breadth of different ways of connecting with employees and franchisees. They could provide statistics to back up their success.

McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd also won the Best for mental health award, sponsored by Kearney. The award celebrates employers who have been exemplary in seeking to protect employees mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. The judges were really impressed by the broad and inclusive range of support McDonald’s offered in such a challenging environment for retail. The company went out of its way to support staff and franchisees and to make sure they felt safe.

The judges also highly commended Capco in the mental health category for its long-standing, holistic focus on mental health and employee empowerment.

The other categories were shared among a number of winners:

Best for Line Manager Support

Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank

Winner: UBS

This award is for employers who demonstrate initiatives aimed at supporting and equipping line managers to deal with these unprecedented times.

The judges felt UBS offered a broad range of support for line managers across mental well being, flexible working and diversity and inclusion, from toolkits to webinars and training. For instance, they introduced a line manager toolkit focused on resilience, including mindfulness leadership and positivity.

Best for Flexible Working

Winner: PwC

This award is for employers who show how they have used flexible working to respond to the challenges created by the pandemic, how an existing flexible culture has helped them respond to the crisis and/or any long-term impact on their working practices.

The judges were really impressed by the way PwC had introduced a time off for dependents time code to recognise that parents in particular were balancing other issues during lockdown; by their innovative Virtual Park to support remote onboarding, and their ongoing commitment to flexibility.

Best for Family Support

Sponsored by McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd

Winner: Teach First

This award is for employers who demonstrate initiatives aimed at helping parents and carers at work during and following lockdown. The judges really liked the way Teach First openly embraced a diverse range of families and their broad range of policies to support them, from premature birth policies and paid carers’ leave to compassionate leave policies and a fully flexible approach.

Best for Employee Engagement

Winner: Sky Betting & Gaming

This award is for employers who demonstrate initiatives that have promoted engagement between employer and employee.

The judges were really impressed by Sky Betting & Gaming’s positive, holistic and proactive approach to employee engagement, based on their three pillars of physical and mental well being and good vibes based on positive, interactive engagement, including the way they encourage employees to give something back to the community.

Best for Diversity and Inclusion

Sponsored by PwC

Winner: IBM UK Ltd

This award is for organisations who demonstrate actions taken to ensure equality of opportunity for all.

The judges praised IBM UK Ltd’s broad focus on diversity and inclusion, including hidden disabilities and neurodiversity. They liked the way they monitored progress; and how they recognised the importance of the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter with their comprehensive training and support on both topics provided with the IBM Emb(race) pledge.

Highlights

The Award judges were: Gillian Nissim, founder of WM People*; Andy Lake, editor of Flexibility.co.uk; Jennifer Liston-Smith, Head of Thought Leadership at Bright Horizons Work + Family Solutions; Dave Dunbar, Head of Digital Workspace at the Department for Work and Pensions; and Clare Kelliher, Professor of Work and Organisation at Cranfield School of Management. 

They spoke after the ceremony about their personal highlights among the entries. And they identified what they see as the major issues for 2021.

And the presentation was followed by an expert Q&A on embedding diversity and inclusion, sponsored by Roche. The experts contributing included Rob Hopkin, co-founder of Axis, Diana Parkes, founder of Women’s Sat Nav to Success, diversity and inclusion expert Salma Shah and consultant Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris.

WM People

The event also saw found Gillian Nissim unveil our new brand identity as WM People. The new name brings together workingdads.co.uk and our sister sites workingmums.co.uk and workingwise.co.uk under one umbrella.

Gillian Nissim, Founder of WM People, says: “This has been the most challenging of years for HR. Yet we know many teams and individuals have gone above and beyond in the way they’ve supported their employees through so much uncertainty. We feel all that hard work deserves to be celebrated. The quality of entries to this year’s Awards has been the highest ever, making shortlisting and choosing a winner extremely difficult.  Many employers have demonstrated a deep commitment to embedding diversity and inclusion, to ensuring the well being of their people and to building resilient organisations and have been able to demonstrate the business benefits of doing so. We hope that the high standards shown this year and the increased focus on diversity and inclusion will continue to drive innovation and progress so that everyone is able to fulfill their potential at work.”

A spokesman from MTR Elizabeth line said: “We are committed to opening up opportunities for under-represented groups in the community and challenging stereotypes regarding career prospects for women in the rail industry. The Top Employer Awards are a strong fit with our own values. As a sponsor, we wish to reflect the important role employers play in actively seeking ways to support their employees.”

*WM People brings together workingmums.co.uk, workingdads.co.uk and workingwise.co.uk. A copy of the Best Practice Report based on last year’s Top Employer Awards is available here. The next Best Practice Report will be out in late Spring 2021.

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