Beaverbrooks named best mid-sized retailer

Beaverbrooks the Jewellers has been named best mid-sized retailer and ranked number 16 in ‘The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For 2016.’

This is the 13^th consecutive year the family-run jewellers has featured in The Sunday Times Top 100 (250-3,000 employee category), seeing off competition from over 1,000 businesses.

Now in its 16 ^th year, The Sunday Times awards, described as the most comprehensive guide to workplace engagement in Britain, celebrated the UK’s leading companies at a ceremony in London on Thursday 25 February 2016.

Employees of all competing firms are asked to anonymously answer questions about management practices, career progression, workplace culture, job satisfaction, relationships with their colleagues and their working environment.

The multi-retailer, which is celebrating its 100 ^th anniversary in 2019, was recognised by employees for providing inspirational leadership, its open and honest company culture and for its strong company ethos and commitment to the wider community.

Beaverbrooks donates 20 per cent of post-tax profits to its charitable trust and matches the funds that its people raise for local charities, continues to score highly each year. Since the year 2000, the Lancashire-based company has given away almost £10m to worthy causes.

Chairman Mark Adlestone, who introduced the concept of charitable giving in the company and created the Beaverbrooks mission of ‘enriching lives’ which simply means making a positive difference, was recognised for his philanthropic values on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2015 and awarded an OBE for his services to business and charity in the North of England.

Mark, who was also recognised as UK’s Best Leader for the fifth time in 2015, said: “To be named among the UK’s top 25 workplaces for 13 consecutive years is quite an accomplishment. Our people are what make us so special and together we have achieved remarkable things over the past 12 months.

“We’ve continued to grow while retaining our strong family values which are engrained in the business and I am very proud of the culture that we have created. We are a fantastic team and together we collaborate to make Beaverbrooks the success it is today.” Anna Blackburn, Beaverbrooks’ CEO, said: “We’re delighted that this year we achieved our highest ever response rate to the Best Companies engagement survey which means we’ll be able to really identify what’s important to our people, which in turn will make Beaverbrooks an even better place to work where our people are inspired to be the best they can be.”