Childbase ranks eighth in Top 100 companies list

It has also achieved ‘top five scores’ nationally in two categories, personal growth and leadership. It is the only nursery group to appear on the Sunday Times list, published online this week.

Childbase has maintained its third place ranking for personal growth from last year by continuing to put time and investment into continuous training, mentoring and development. This means that the company’s 1,343 employees, working in 41 day nurseries in the south of England feel that their skills are valued and are happy with their career development opportunities.

The founder and CEO of the company Mike Thompson and his senior team were voted into fifth place nationally for their leadership. Mr Thompson sends hand-written cards to every new employee welcoming them to the partnership, writes postcards to people that have gone the extra mile and personally signs letters sent out to all of his employees. The company announced its commitment to total employee ownership in 2001 and this now stands at 64 per cent.

It also ranked at number 11 for the My Company category which rates the pride factor felt by employees about their company.

Helen Bass, HR director at Childbase Partnership, said, ‘These results are phenomenal in what has been a challenging year for UK businesses generally and our sector in particular. They are a clear demonstration that at the Childbase Partnership we really are listening to each other as we pursue excellence in every area of our working life.’

The company entered the Sunday Times competition with a three star ‘Extraordinary’ rating by workplace engagement specialists, Best Companies, which was achieved by just 121 UK companies this year.

The ‘listening culture’ has been attributed as the key to success for the country’s top performers that ensures all employees’ views are heard to introduce workplace initiatives.

Examples of these initiatives are a phased plan reducing the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours while maintaining pay and benefit levels and a ‘Well-being’ strategy which recognises the fact that working in the early years sector can be demanding as well as rewarding.

Natalie Harrad, who is preparing for her NVQ Level 4 studies at Woodlands Day Nursery, in Barnet said, ‘I am so very proud of the company and especially proud of my team who helped make this wonderful achievement possible.’

Support extends further than the workplace with programmes offering opportunities to visit centres of excellence overseas and employee challenges like the charity fundraising climb of Mount Kilimanjaro last year.

Employees are also given paid leave to support local charities and community projects and recognised and rewarded for their efforts as volunteers.

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