The 20 Best Places to Work
“Dear boss, I’m not having fun, you’ve never said thank you and I feel like a fish out of water. I quit! Goodbye from your most productive worker.” Bosses at the best places to work don’t get emails like this one. Bette Flagler discovers why.
Tuesday, March 29 2005 || BY Bette Flagler
We are the champions
The top five medium workplaces (100–399 employees)
The top five small workplaces (Fewer than 100 staff)
Profits up in best places to work
The Top 20 Workplaces
2004
HR Initiative of the Year
Regional winners Auckland: Beca
Wellington: Hosting & Datacentre Services
Highly commended: The Freeflow Alliance
Six Tips for a Better Workplace
1. Redefine advancement
Most employees think of advancement in hierarchical terms — moving up the ladder. Many of today’s flat organisations are unable to provide this sort of progression, but if advancement is redefined in terms of opportunities for personal growth and new experiences, an employee can stay in the same role and his or her career can still advance.
2. Management training
Many people are promoted into management/supervisory positions due to their technical competence. But this does not automatically mean they will be effective people managers and they often struggle to maintain a motivated and productive team. Management and/or leadership training for middle management is a must.
3. Culture and values fit
Chief executives of Top 20 companies agree that it is important to hire people who already share the values of your organisation. Hire for attitude, train for aptitude.
4. Walk the talk
Employee confidence in leadership is important and nothing undermines efforts to encourage desired behaviours from staff as much as management setting a bad example. When top management are vague, aloof or pessimistic, staff are likely to follow suit.
5. Recognise excellence
Employees like to know that their efforts have been noticed and appreciated. It doesn’t have to be a big deal — “thanks” will often be enough — to show people their contribution is making a difference.
6. Communicate with staff
The old clichés are true. Everyone likes to be in the loop, and no one likes being the last to know. If a plan, decision or change affects staff, ensure that they at least know about it before it affects their work.
Source: Leighton Abbot, Consultant, John Robertson & Associates
How the winners were selected
Records tumbled in the 2004 Unlimited Best Places to Work Survey with 161 organisations and 16,646 employees participating. That’s an increase of 34 (27%) organisations and 2,938 employees (21%) over 2003. Compare that with the inaugural year of the survey — 2000 — when just under 60 organisations and 3,400 employees took part. In order to be eligible for the Best Places awards, a minimum 50% response rate and at least 30 individual employee responses are required.
Human resources consultancy John Robertson & Associates designed and analysed the survey, which was sponsored by Haines Recruitment Advertising and business training company David Forman.
The survey consisted of 58 rating scale questions and two open-ended questions structured around seven categories and was designed to explore how employees feel about their job, their team, their organisation in general, communication and cooperation, reward and recognition, leadership, and development. From the responses, John Robertson & Associates calculated a weighted performance index, which was the score used to rank the 20 best workplaces overall as well as the category winners.
Top five by category
The top five large workplaces (400+ employees)
| Ranking | Company (last year’s rank) |
| 1. | Flight Centre (1) |
| 2. | AMI (4) |
| 3. | Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (3) |
| 4. | Manukau Institute of Technology |
| 5. | Vero |
The top five medium workplaces (100–399 employees)
| Ranking | Company (last year’s rank) |
| 1. | Waikato District Council (3) |
| 2. | Microsoft New Zealand (1) |
| 3. | Fletcher Easysteel |
| 4. | DDB NZ |
| 5. | Toyota New Zealand |
The top five small workplaces (Fewer than 100 staff)
| Ranking | Company (last year’s rank) |
| 1. | More FM Auckland |
| 2. | Outward Bound Trust of New Zealand |
| 3. | Obex Medical |
| 4. | Queensberry & Company |
| 5. | Equinox |
Profits up in best places to work
 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Companies that reported an increase in staff numbers over the last 12 months | 78% | 71% |
| Companies that reported an increase in revenue growth over the last financial year | 91% | 80% |
| Companies that reported an increase in net profit (after tax) over the last financial year | 74% | 60% |
| Companies that reported higher customer satisfaction compared to major competitors | 78% | 66% |
| Companies that reported higher market share compared to major competitors | 56% | 49% |
The Top 20 Workplaces
2004
HR Initiative of the Year
Regional winners Auckland: Beca
Wellington: Hosting & Datacentre Services
Highly commended: The Freeflow Alliance
Six Tips for a Better Workplace
1. Redefine advancement
Most employees think of advancement in hierarchical terms — moving up the ladder. Many of today’s flat organisations are unable to provide this sort of progression, but if advancement is redefined in terms of opportunities for personal growth and new experiences, an employee can stay in the same role and his or her career can still advance.
2. Management training
Many people are promoted into management/supervisory positions due to their technical competence. But this does not automatically mean they will be effective people managers and they often struggle to maintain a motivated and productive team. Management and/or leadership training for middle management is a must.
3. Culture and values fit
Chief executives of Top 20 companies agree that it is important to hire people who already share the values of your organisation. Hire for attitude, train for aptitude.
4. Walk the talk
Employee confidence in leadership is important and nothing undermines efforts to encourage desired behaviours from staff as much as management setting a bad example. When top management are vague, aloof or pessimistic, staff are likely to follow suit.
5. Recognise excellence
Employees like to know that their efforts have been noticed and appreciated. It doesn’t have to be a big deal — “thanks” will often be enough — to show people their contribution is making a difference.
6. Communicate with staff
The old clichés are true. Everyone likes to be in the loop, and no one likes being the last to know. If a plan, decision or change affects staff, ensure that they at least know about it before it affects their work.
Source: Leighton Abbot, Consultant, John Robertson & Associates
How the winners were selected
Records tumbled in the 2004 Unlimited Best Places to Work Survey with 161 organisations and 16,646 employees participating. That’s an increase of 34 (27%) organisations and 2,938 employees (21%) over 2003. Compare that with the inaugural year of the survey — 2000 — when just under 60 organisations and 3,400 employees took part. In order to be eligible for the Best Places awards, a minimum 50% response rate and at least 30 individual employee responses are required.
Human resources consultancy John Robertson & Associates designed and analysed the survey, which was sponsored by Haines Recruitment Advertising and business training company David Forman.
The survey consisted of 58 rating scale questions and two open-ended questions structured around seven categories and was designed to explore how employees feel about their job, their team, their organisation in general, communication and cooperation, reward and recognition, leadership, and development. From the responses, John Robertson & Associates calculated a weighted performance index, which was the score used to rank the 20 best workplaces overall as well as the category winners.
