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Glassdoor reveals ‘top places to work’ in the UK in 2020

11 Dec 2019

Tech companies dominate Glassdoor’s list of the top 10 places to work in the UK, with Google sitting at number one.

Job review and recruitment site Glassdoor today (11 December) announced the winners of this year’s Employees’ Choice Awards, listing the ‘best places to work’ in 2020 across the UK and eight other countries.

The rankings are based on the input of employees giving anonymous feedback on their job, work environment and employer over the past year. Majors points of assessment for organisations include work-life balance, the company culture, and respect for and from leadership and senior management.

Top companies 2020

For 2020, tech companies have dominated the top 10 list in the UK, with Google making it to first place for the third time. The wider top 50 list saw 19 newcomers for 2020, including Equal Experts, Topps Tiles, Mace and AstraZeneca, while EasyJet was the biggest climber, moving up 26 places since last year.

Here are the top 10 UK workplaces, according to Glassdoor:

  1. Google
  2. Equal Experts
  3. Salesforce
  4. Hiscox
  5. Softcat
  6. Abcam
  7. Microsoft
  8. SAP
  9. Topps Tiles
  10. Arup

Annual lists

Glassdoor has also published its list of ‘best places to work’ in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Singapore.

Methods for deciding the awards included rules for the minimum number of ratings required across eight workplace attributes that employees can vote on. And, in an effort to achieve consistency, Glassdoor said it uses an algorithm to look at trends over time relating to both quantitative and qualitative insights shared by employees.

This year’s lists feature employers hiring across a range of industries, with technology, hospitality, finance, insurance and construction leading the way.

‘Culture over cash’

Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor president, chief operating officer and incoming chief executive officer, said: “This year marks the shift to a culture-first decade in the workplace.

“Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards winners are prioritising their culture and mission and putting employees at the heart of everything they do. This year’s winners stand out for providing exceptional career growth opportunities and encouraging work which is driven by impact and purpose.”

Glassdoor’s chief economist, Dr Andrew Chamberlain, added: “Workers are increasingly prioritising culture over cash and research consistently shows that culture is the leading driver of long-term employee satisfaction.

“That said, business leaders have quantifiable proof that culture is one of the smartest investments they could make for the success and longevity of their companies. However, being a culture-first organisation isn’t about expensive perks, but about articulating a clearly stated mission that resonates with employees’ own aspirations and fuels their best performance.”

Lisa Ardill
By Lisa Ardill

Lisa Ardill joined Silicon Republic as senior careers reporter in July 2019. She has a BA in neuroscience and a master’s degree in science communication. She is also a semi-published poet and a big fan of doggos. Lisa briefly served as Careers Editor at Silicon Republic before leaving the company in June 2021.

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