Northumbrian Water is celebrating ‘Best Companies Day’ after being named one of the ‘best companies’ to work for in the UK.
On Thursday, February 21, the company received national recognition for being a top employer and secured a spot in the 2019 Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For list, where they came in 19th place.
Over 75% of Northumbrian Water Group’s (NWG) 3,000 plus employees took part in The Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For survey, which measures employee engagement across a range of factors, including wellbeing, pay and benefits, personal growth and leadership.
NWG’s Chief Executive Officer, Heidi Mottram, said: "To be recognised nationally as a top employer, and to be the only UK water company to feature in the latest Sunday Times list, is a fantastic achievement and something I feel very proud of.
"This recognition would not be possible without our amazing employees, who every day go above and beyond to help make it a great place to work."
‘Best Companies Day’ is a day-long event happening on Friday, March 1, to celebrate the best employee engagement across the latest companies recognised as one of the ‘best companies’ to work for by the Sunday Times.
NWG is proud to celebrate ‘Best Companies Day’ and honouring the day to its amazing employees, who every day go above and beyond, making it a great place to work.
Here’s just some of the reasons why NWG is a great place to work:
1. Proud to work for NWG – results from their employee survey showed 74% of people who responded felt proud to work for NWG and 81% agreed that they provide a great service to its customers.
2. NWG encourage employee volunteers through the award-winning ‘Just an hour’ programme – last year 1,524 of NWG employees took part in volunteering in the community, giving time and supporting more than 614 different organisations across their operating areas.
3. NWG was recently named one of the ‘most ethical’ companies in the world by the Ethisphere Institute – only one of two UK based companies to make it on the 2019 ‘most ethical’ list. This is the eighth time NWG has been recognised globally and made honourees.
4. So great people don’t want to leave – the average length of time a typical employee will stay at a job is 4.6 years however the average at NWG is 13 years!
5. Celebrating success – throughout the year NWG’s ‘ViVa’ employee awards scheme recognises employees for the great work they do, and for living and breathing the company vision and values.
6. A winning approach to the workforce of the future – the NWG Academy aims to inspire, find and develop people with talent, and helps retain knowledge in the business. The programme includes work awareness and experience, an apprentice and graduate development programme and various outreach activities.
7. Leading the way with innovation – they listen and implement ideas from across the company encouraging employees to put forward ideas to make continuous improvements. Last year over 300 employees attended their annual Innovation Festival, to help tackle industry and global issues.
8. Investing in people – they recognise the value in developing employees and last year 2460 training days took place. NWG even offer interest- free loans for employees who have a passion for something not related to their role from canine therapy to plumbing!
9. Make my day – every year, employees help deliver random acts of kindness to customers and their colleagues during Customer Service Week.
10. A range of specialist support - they care about employee’s well-being, offering everybody resilience training, toolkits and access to free support services such as physiotherapy, counselling and mental health first aiders.
NWG’s HR Director, Sarah Salter, said: "Our employees are at the heart of everything we do and achieving 75% engagement of employees taking part in the survey demonstrates this and I'm extremely proud.
"We are committed to making sure that we continue to be a great place for people to work, and being the best employer that we can. That way we can continue to attract the best people to come and work for us and help us deliver the very best service for our customers."
If you want to be part of the team check out NWG’s latest vacancies – https://www.nwl.co.uk/your-home/Careers.aspx
For more information about the 2019 Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For and to find out who else made it on the list visit, https://www.b.co.uk/the-lists/big-companies