Online portals, consumer firms lead the way

They are replacing banks and tech giants as the best of UK’s workplaces

Online travel company Expedia climbed 24 places to top a list of employees’ 25 best places to work in the UK, in which only 10 companies from last year’s rankings made it on to the list again.

Google was knocked from top spot into eighth place, and banks fell down the rankings. The annual list, now in its second year, was drawn up by employer review website Glassdoor, which seeks to make the marketplace for recruiting more transparent by combining free and anonymous reviews, ratings and salary content with job listings.

Glassdoor’s 25 UK Best Places to Work in 2016 list features employers from a diverse range of industries spanning technology, banking, retail, fast-moving consumer goods and engineering. Of the UK employers on the list, only half are based in London, with others headquartered in regional cities.

A London-based finance manager at Expedia in London said in the Glassdoor report: “Strong, friendly work culture. Work-life balance is seen as very important by all.”

The 15 new names in this year’s list included ideas and innovation company AKQA (third place), GE (4) and highstreet shoe brand Schuh (5). Oxfam, in sixth place, was the only charity to make the cut.

The highest-ranking companies from last year’s list that did not make it in this year were Microsoft, Accenture and Jaguar Land Rover.

Hays, the UK’s largest listed recruiter, climbed from 14th to second place this year while Unilever, which has a reputation for flexible working and sustainability, jumped from 24th to ninth.

Fast-moving consumer goods replaced banking for the first time as the most popular career for business students worldwide, according to an annual survey a year ago from professional services firm Deloitte.

— Financial Times