Ranked: the top 10 UK companies to work for in 2018
Google has once again been named the best company to work for in the UK, having fallen from top place in 2015.
Consistently named as one of the top 50 best places to work in the UK, the tech giant beat off stiff competition from the likes of Facebook, Salesforce and Apple, which came in fourth, fifth and ninth place, respectively.
The rankings are based on employee reviews submitted on jobs site Glassdoor between November 2016 and October 2017, with the website using a proprietary algorithm to produce a score out of five for each company. Companies are only included if they have 1,000 employees or more.
Last year's winner Expedia is now in 14th place, with a score of 4.3 – 0.2 percentage points less than Google.
It is the fourth consecutive year that Expedia has made the top 50 best companies list, together with JP Morgan (32nd place), Unilever (42nd place), Waitrose (43rd place), PwC (50th place) and Hiscox (8th place).
Top 10 | Best places to work
Alongside corporate giants such as Apple and Facebook, lesser-known organisations including Bromford, a social enterprise providing affordable housing support services, and Lookers, a car dealership chain, also made the top 10 list. All four companies had scores of 4.3 out of five, or above.
Among the more than 700,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average company rating was 3.3 out of five.
Google, the only firm on the list to be awarded with a 4.5 out of five rating, was described by one employee as an "exciting company" with "tons of opportunity and amazing people". Another pointed out the positive work culture where "everyone in different departments works collaboratively".
The same employee also remarked on the excellent benefits provided by the internet conglomerate, such as "free food, health insurance, dental insurance, travel expenses and shares".
Second on the list, Anglian Water, was described as putting its employees "at the heart of what it does", while Bromford, in third place, was commended for its "development opportunities and flexible working approach".
Facebook – in fourth place – has a "team [that is] driven by an absolute ambition to make the world a better a place," one employee wrote. "The teams are collaborative, creative and welcoming to new ideas."
Employees rated the companies based on key workplace attributes such as career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, senior management and work-life balance.
Earlier this year, The Daily Telegraph browsed dozens of company profiles on Glassdoor to find the worst companies to work for in the UK, based on anonymous ratings from their employees on the website. The Financial Ombudsman, Laura Ashley and Ladbrokes were three of the companies to make the list, with ratings of 1.9 out of 5, 1.8 out of 5 and 2.3 out of 5 respectively.
