Contractor Brookwood celebrates top employer listing

The only contract caterer to be listed, Brookwood ranked 54th in the list, up from the 81st position the company achieved in 2008 award. Among the reasons the company won its place is the effort invested on employee communication, especially the introduction of Brookwood TV, which staff can access through the company's website. Among the categories taken into consideration when assessing a company's overall performance, Brookwood was 24th in 'wellbeing' among all the 2010 Top 100. Judges heard that employees felt they were not stressed or under pressure, they also felt they had a good balance between work and home life and that this had a positive effect on their own health and performance. Good marks were also achieved in relation to team spirit, having fun at work and feeling a sense of belonging to the company, with staff saying that, within their job, they feel they can make a difference to the organisation. Employees also said they take value and pride in working for Brookwood, which specialises in the independent schools sector. The contractor Brookwood scored very well within the leadership category, displaying that employees felt positively towards the Managing Partners, senior management and felt very positively towards the values and philosophies of Brookwood. Brookwood ranked within the top 33 companies in the country in relation to management, with employees reporting they feeling supported, trusted and cared for by their immediate manager. In response to the award managing partner Sue Parfett, said: "The process involves employee surveys and is confidential so as far as management is concerned, you are never quite sure what is going to happen, but being 54th was absolutely wonderful. "I think one of the reasons behind our success is the level of communication that we have introduced to the company. This ranges from traditional face to face communication to the introduction of new technologies such as Brookwood TV, which allows us to talk to our people online through our intranet service and to our clients via our website. "I also view this is one of the awards that we have won that really means something to our clients because it is a general, industry-wide award, rather than just a catering award so it is key to showing our success to our clients. "When you look at the quality of our teams, and My Team and My Manager were two of the headings in the awards, the survey showed that we do have great teams and that clearly influences clients especially when they see them delivering a great service and that everyone is pulling in the same direction." Founder and chief executive of Best Companies Jonathon Austin said: "We would like to congratulate The Brookwood Partnership Ltd on their outstanding achievement. An engaged workforce is essential as organisations move out of the recession and into a more stable economic situation. "No doubt many organisations have tackled redundancies and rapid change this year. But organisations like The Brookwood Partnership Ltd that have kept on engaging their staff and making sure they are involved in the business will be in a good position for the future and should be congratulated for their efforts."