Employees rank firms on site dubbed ‘TripAdvisor’ of HR
Job search and employer reviews website Glassdoor has unveiled its top 20 employers for work/life balance after analysing data from employee ratings on the site.
The results reveal a diverse range of sectors including technology firms, which dominate the list, travel, recruitment, banking and market research, although retail brands were notably absent.
Market intelligence service Euromonitor was rated number one with a 4.6 out of five rating for its work/life balance, it was closely followed by the Bank of England and MediaMath in second and third place respectively.
Reviews left on the site offer an unvarnished insight into what employees really think as past and present employees can anonymously rate their company on a number of measures familiar to HR such as pay and reward, culture and management. This no holds barred approach has earned the site comparison with fellow review site TripAdvisor, which is the scourge of poor quality hotels and restaurants.
Diarmuid Russell, Glassdoor senior vice president and general manager, international, said: “Work/life balance is really a subjective thing and the definition of what qualifies as good varies from one person to the next. In any case, who better to award employers with the 'best work/life balance' accolade than the employees themselves.
“Many organisations may feel that they offer this 'perk' but might just pay lip service to the concept. What comes through clearly in the Glassdoor reviews for the employers on this list is that people feel empowered through technology and working practices to integrate work into their lives in a way that helps them be the best that they can be, both in the office and at home. Employees are increasingly looking to work for companies that genuinely offer a good work life balance and it is clear that employers who understand this generate much higher loyalty and hold on to people for longer.”
However, there is a caveat to consider when looking at the Glassdoor list: anonymous reviews mean there is no way of verifying whether comments are fair, justified or have even been left by a real employee.
Top 20 employers for work/life balance
1. Euromonitor International, market research
Review comment: “Great potential for success and evolution within the company; healthy work-life balance; interesting clients and territories; led by a talented CEO” Euromonitor Business Development Executive, London
2. Bank of England
Review comment: “Company culture is really warm, relaxing, not too much stress.” Bank of England Analyst, London
3. MediaMath, marketing technology
Review comment: “MediaMath promotes work-life balance. There are great benefits like flexible work hours, free food, company drinks and team building.” MediaMath employee, London
4. Unibet, online gambling
5. Equal Experts, software developer
6. Holiday Extras, booking service for airport hotels and parking
7. FinancialForce.com, cloud based accounting software
8. Aspire, digital media and marketing recruitment
9. Swiss Re, reinsurance
10. Pentland, clothes brand group
11 Commerzbank, investment bank
12. Hitachi Data Systems, big data storage
13. Standard & Poor's, financial ratings agency
14. HomeAway, online holiday lettings
15. Peer1 Hosting, cloud host
16. Investigo, property and finance recruitment
17. Ticketmaster, ticket seller
18. Workplace, digital workforce management and customer services provider
19. Marcus Evans, business information provider
20. Cornerstone OnDemand, which provides an online employee training