Any one of our staff who has been touched by an emotive and sad situation that has occurred within their life or someone they know, is able to bring this to the attention of our company. Each case is considered on its merits and then the staff vote to decide where they wish the money to go.

Above gives you a flavour of the environment our staff work within and hopefully goes to explain the reasoning behind the decision I took when a highly unusual situation occurred with one of our contractors recently.

To set the scene, I have worked for Jenrick IT for thirteen years and have never known anything like this to happen before.

I had a contractor, that I had not worked with before but who came to me with excellent references and a history of working with companies on a long-term basis, who accepted an initial six month contract with one of my clients.  After he had been on site two weeks he came to me and said that, due to personal reasons, he was unable to continue with his contract.

The contractor told me that he felt an obligation to compensate for the fact that he had to walk away from my agency as he recognised I had placed him in good faith and through no fault of my own, he was letting me down. Therefore he made the decision not to accept money due to him for the two weeks that he had worked on site and requested that Jenrick IT keep this money (£2,375) as a way to make up for what had occurred.

I thought about this situation for a little while and decided that the only right way to handle this situation would be to pass this money on to a worthy cause. I spoke to both the contractor, the client (luckily they were able to replace this contractor quickly and understood the reasons for his departure) and my MD.

My choice, as far as I was concerned, was clear. Our company and certain individual staff members, already give money to the NSPCC as the staff at Jenrick IT, as so many others, are moved by stories we hear in the media of children much less fortunate than our own.

However, I also favoured the British Heart Foundation, another charity that we raise money for.  Some of us having cycled from London to Brighton to raise funds on their behalf as well as fighting against the elements to complete various sponsored runs.

Therefore I decided it was only right to split the money down the middle so that both charities could benefit from this unusual situation.

I am writing this blog whilst a letter that has just come in to me from the NSPCC sits in front of me on my desk thanking Jenrick IT for their support and reminding us that 87% of their income comes from donations and funds raised by supporters like ourselves, so that they can prevent cruelty to children.

I hope this story goes to highlight the fact that as a company, although we work within a very fast paced IT environment, handling business worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, we do not lose sight of the bigger picture within this world we live in and value the fact that we able to give something back to the community that we live within.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article

Jane Stevens - Jenrick IT

The fact that Pearson, the largest education resource supplier within the UK, has chosen Jenrick is an incredible honour in its own right.

Pearson is only producing eight company profile films for the series, which will highlight companies that display ‘industry best-practice’ and could have chosen any number of companies throughout the UK and beyond from which to feature.

The reason that they specifically wanted to profile Jenrick was due to our company’s notable success within the Sunday Times Best Company Awards, as Pia Luck, project co-ordinator for Pearson, highlighted:

“The fact that Jenrick had achieved such success over the last three years within The Sunday Times Awards and the associated Best Companies Accreditation, confirmed to us that your organisation was clearly a shining example of how a company can operate with commercial success whilst maintaining a 100% commitment to your staff.

What particularly drew me to Jenrick was your website. It was so different to other businesses, even others that had achieved similar success within the Sunday Times Awards.

It immediately said to me that there was so much personality within the company; the entire website was built around all the individuals within the company. It made me want to learn more about what made Jenrick ‘tick’.”

The filming took an entire day, full of intensive interviews from individuals within the company, complemented by associated footage from the offices.

Once complete (should be by late summer 2009), Jenrick will have a film profile that will be utilised in Universities throughout the UK to provide essential current case study material for Business Studies Under-graduates Students.

As soon as a copy of the profile becomes available we will let everyone know.

Alex Goodman, Director of Filming, summarised his thoughts on how well the filming had gone and what he had learnt about Jenrick:

“The quality of information that we received from everyone today was amazing. We have so much excellent footage to work with from several different business perspectives.

What came through so clearly was how engrained the core values of your organisation are within everyone here. Each person used different words to describe how they felt about Jenrick and what it meant to work with the company, yet all carried the same message.

We are fortunate that our job enables us to interview leading companies from all round the globe and as such, we are in a position to comment honestly and impartially on how each of the these companies comes across.

I can openly say that all of you should be incredibly proud of Jenrick – everything about your company impressed me and the sincerity of everyone here and their approach to their work, is second to none.

I am really looking forward to seeing your company grow and develop and hope to come back in the future and create another profile on your business.”

More Information:

In addition to the Pearson Education corporate profile, Jenrick was also chosen by Best Companies, the Workplace Consultancy company behind the Sunday Times Awards, to form part of an industry whitepaper they are developing.

The paper is designed to create a ‘blue-print’ for corporate wellbeing, taking examples of wellbeing best-practice from all the leading companies within the Sunday Times Awards.

To read this article, click on the following link: Best Companies interviews Jenrick

The call to action to employers is part of the Think Fathers campaign, launched last year by the DCSF to kickstart a national debate on the importance of dads.

The first national Think Fathers Summit was held in London last week.

Ed Balls said:

“I want all fathers to feel supported by their employers, so that they can make time for their families and work flexibly around caring for their children. That is why we are working with BT and other businesses to produce a guide for employers on the benefits of supporting fathers in the workforce and how to set up family friendly practices … Research has shown that children with highly involved fathers at age seven do better at school, have higher selfesteem and are less likely to get into trouble in adolescence. We need to get rid of the outdated assumption that dads are the invisible parent.”

Best Companies, the organisation that is behind the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For and the 3 Star Best Companies Accreditation, is one of the most experienced workplace consultancy companies within the UK.

Due to the high scores that Jenrick has displayed in ‘Corporate Wellbeing’ (Jenrick obtained the 3rd highest score from all the entrants in 2009 doing equally well in 2008 and 2007) Best Companies wanted to interview our company in person to find out why our approach to corporate wellbeing has been so successful.

Ian Jameson, Wellbeing Consultant within Best Companies, visited Jenrick’s Head Office to interview Kevin Matthews, Jenrick’s Marketing Manager, on April 16th 2009.

“Jenrick’s scores for Wellbeing are not just high, they are exceptional. I work with a substantial number of companies across the UK and I can honestly say that very few even come close to where Jenrick is.

When we see a company performing so well it is our duty to understand more about them and why they are successful. This knowledge then forms part of essential case study material which in turn is communicated to other companies that wish to improve their company’s approach to Corporate Wellbeing.” commented Ian.

More Information

If you would like to read more information on Jenrick’s previous success within the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for awards, please click on the links below:

Sunday Times Best 100 Companies 2009 - Jenrick profile page

3 Star success in the 2009 Best Companies Accreditation

7th place in the 2008 the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for awards

3 Star success in the 2008 Best Companies Accreditation

Turbulent times have often brought forth great leaders — and based on the findings of this year’s Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For survey, it appears the current global economic crisis is no different.

The biggest annual gains in employee ratings across our survey all relate to company leadership and the pivotal role played by middle managers. The unique and comprehensive Best Companies survey is a barometer of workplace opinion, based this year on the responses of 34,295 employees across 565 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) entering the contest, up from 513 companies last year.

The 66 statements put to employees to score from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” on a seven-point scale are designed to examine the key components of a happy, engaged and successful workplace. All 100 companies making this list can be said to be delivering on this front in spades, whatever the external pressures. Although people are worried about the economic climate, they have faith in their firms to lead them through it.

Working for a small company remains the place to be. In every question across all eight workplace factors, SMEs score better than their mid-sized and large counterparts. And Christians Against Poverty, the Bradford-based debt counselling charity, remains the top small company to work for overall, the third year running that our SME list has been headed by a charity.

The eight workplace factors by which companies are judged are:

— Leadership: how employees feel about the head of the company and senior managers.

— My Manager: people’s feelings towards their immediate boss and their day-to-day managers.

— My Team: people’s feelings about their immediate colleagues.

— My Company: feelings about the company people work for as opposed to the people they work with.

— Wellbeing: how staff feel about stress, pressure and the balance between their home and work life.

— Fair Deal: how happy the workforce is with pay and benefits.

— Personal Growth: whether staff feel challenged by their job, their skills are being used, and if there is scope for advancement.

— Giving Something Back: how much companies are thought by their staff to put back into society, and into environmental protection.

Overall, the positive scores for the Leadership factor, which take account of all shades of opinion on our seven-point scale, have risen by 1.1% from 81.2% last year. This puts SMEs now fully 9% ahead of the top 100 mid-sized companies, the biggest gap across all eight factors when comparing small and mid-sized company performance.

Results for individual questions on Leadership and My Manager (also up 1% this year to 79.9% positive overall) are even more striking. All of the top eight biggest rises in positive scores fall into these two factors, with the most improved score for having confidence in the leadership skills of senior management — the mean positive score rising by 2.2% to 85.3%.

Having a great deal of faith in the person leading the organisation (up 1.7% to 85.7%), confidence in the leadership skills of immediate managers (up 1.6% to 82.5%) and managers sharing important knowledge and information (up 1.4% to 80.6%) also show significant gains.

“Although people are more worried about the future and job security has gone down a little, company engagement hasn’t really changed,” says Dr Pete Bradon, head of research at Best Companies Ltd, which compiles the list. “They aren’t blaming their company, even if perhaps they are blaming Gordon Brown. People recognise this is a global thing.”

The pattern of sharp improvement in positive scores for individual questions is markedly different in small companies compared with their bigger counterparts, where gains in the Giving Something Back factor, rather than Leadership, is the trend.

“Among small companies, we see a real improvement in the things which relate to surviving well in a difficult economic climate: strength of leadership, management and values,” says Bradon.

Strong positive feelings towards companies have been cemented in the past year, with the My Company factor score retaining its position as the highest scoring among SME employees (up 1.1% from 82.5% in 2008 to 83.6% this year).

Among the top 10 SMEs only, Giving Something Back scores are up again by 3.4% to 78.9%, building on the 5.3% rise in 2008. Christians Against Poverty comes close to a perfect score, hitting 99.5% for a question within this factor about making a positive difference to the world.

It’s not all plain sailing at the top though. The organisation’s overall marks have fallen by 2.7% since its extraordinary debut in 2008, with scores for fair dealing down the most, falling 9.7% from last year.

This is a place that isn’t driven by profit, though, and nor are its workers: their sense of Wellbeing rose by 0.3% and they have faith in the firm’s moral approach and leadership. As Simon Wilce, head of debt management, explains: “We’re so passionate about what we’re doing, no one is on a different page to anyone else.”

Not all of the questions we ask count towards the top 100 table, and some of these provide a litmus test for the impact of the recent economic turmoil. A question on job security is one such example. It shows people do not feel that their positions are as secure as last year, with mean positive scores falling by 4.2% to 76.7%. However, it is still a relatively high result, and considerably above that reported in big and mid-sized companies.

Perhaps because of these difficult times, people are also more inclined to feel they are spending too much time working (a 61.6% positive score, down 2.7%). Yet employees of small businesses remain happy with the balance of their work and home life, the 1.3% rise in the positive score for this question putting it among the year’s 10 biggest risers, with Jenrick Recruitment being ranked 1st for providing the least stressful working environment.

Some industries have been particularly exposed to the downturn, and compulsory redundancies have not been uncommon this year. People in marketing, public relations and construction companies have reported difficulties, while those in e-commerce are often still thriving.

For others, bad times can result in a greater need for their business. New entry Ellis Whittam (63rd) provides fixed fee advice in employment law, human resources and health and safety. Chief executive Mark Ellis explains that they are hoping to celebrate 50% growth in 2009 with their first keg of cider from the firm’s apple trees. “We are certainly not immune to recession,” he says. “We have seen some clients fall by the wayside.

“On the other hand, we have had to increase staff numbers to cope with the demand for our employment law and HR support services from clients wishing to downsize.”

While some companies’ scores have suffered, others such as Eland Cables, Fairbairn Private Bank, Tate and HLM Architects have made impressive jumps up the league.

People in the top 10 SMEs still feel extraordinarily well protected from the downturn: 56.2% of employees in firms who did not make the top 100 are very worried about their company’s future, compared with just 26% of staff in the top 10 small companies.

In times of adversity, it pays to find a fantastic employer and the evidence of this year’s survey of the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For suggests employees are well aware they have found one. Just 3.4% of employees in the top 10 SMEs (7.8% across the top 100) would leave tomorrow if offered another job. They clearly place the blame for the present commercial difficulties firmly outside the office door.

More information:

Sunday Times 100 Best Companies 2009 table - Jenrick profile page

Official Best Companies 2009 article on the Jenrick Group website

Sunday Times 100 Best Companies 2009 - Jenrick placed 6th

Jenrick followed up its two previous years of success within the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for, by reaching 6th position in the 2009 awards – the company’s highest finish so far.

What makes the accolade particularly special is that the ranking is based purely on the confidential surveys completed by every member of Jenrick, with the result clearly displaying Jenrick’s continued commitment to providing the very best working environment within the UK.

This year’s competition was even stronger than before with Jenrick having to compete against 565 other SMEs, an increase of 10% on the 2008 entries. The size of the survey becomes clear when you consider that a total of 34,295 employees completed questionnaires on behalf of their companies, making this the largest, most comprehensive and accurate survey of its kind.

Looking at the numerous award categories in greater depth it was extremely pleasing to see the number of special mentions Jenrick received:

Providing a productive yet non-stressful workplace - Jenrick achieved 1st

For protecting and working ethically within the environment - Jenrick achieved 1st

For giving something back & working with the community - Jenrick achieved 2nd

For being the best company for Work/Life Balance – Jenrick achieved 3rd

For being the best company for Corporate Wellbeing – Jenrick achieved 3rd

For enabling staff to fulfill their potential - Jenrick achieved 5th

When Kate Silverton, presenter of this year’s awards, introduced Jenrick she also made a special mention of The Jenrick Experience scheme and how it has enabled ‘dreams to come true’ for an increasing number of staff within the company. In fact, Samantha Coates, a winner of the award, has been featured within the Sunday Times supplement this year, showing a photo of her when she was on her ‘Keeper experience day’ at London Zoo.

More Information

If you would like to read more information on Jenrick’s previous success within the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for awards, please click on the links below:

3 Star success in the 2009 Best Companies Accreditation

7th place in the 2008 the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for awards

3 Star success in the 2008 Best Companies Accreditation

18th place in the 2007 the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for awards

As we have briefly mentioned, what is quite unique about the accreditation is that the ratings have been compiled in a way which enables all companies, regardless of size, to compete on a level plain-field. Therefore, the final scores truly reflect which companies are the very best to work for.

In Jenrick’s first year (2007) of the awards our score was 756.9, to be followed by a 2008 score of 791.2.

2009 was even higher at 799.9!

Read more on our website: Best Companies Awards - Jenrick is a 3 Star Winner

You can read the full entry from Les below:

The PCF is a small charity that works directly with impoverished children in the Philippines. The UK side of the charity operates from a small office in Southampton with only one full time member of staff. There are no large marketing budgets and no highly paid executives. The Charity was formed by Jane Walker who, whilst on holiday in Manila, took a wrong turning and came across a rubbish tip where many children were sifting through the rubbish looking for items to sell. This experience moved her to set up the charity and she has since moved to Manila to oversee the operations there.

The main drive of the charity is to provide education for the children, they are currently constructing a new school, built entirely of recycled forty foot shipping containers. The picture shows what the finished school will look like. When this is completed it will be able to provide schooling for all of the children who currently work on the rubbish tip. Once at school the nutrition and health of the children can be monitored and support given to the families so that the children can stay in school and get the education and skills which will give them a chance to escape from this cycle of poverty. The average life expectancy for someone living and working on the rubbish tip is 40 years.

My involvement with the charity started two years ago and I currently sponsor an eight year old girl called Annie. Just £15 per month pays for all her schooling costs including uniforms and food. It’s quite humbling to think that such a small amount can make such a difference to a child’s life.

This year the PCF has come under increasing pressure due to the worldwide increase in food prices, which has resulted in many of the children leaving school and returning to forage on the rubbish tip in order to help feed their families. The practical response to this is to provide each child who attends school with a weekly supply of rice and tinned foods to take home to their families. This enables the children to contribute to the family and to stay in school and continue their education. However it puts extra demands on the charity’s funds and could possibly delay the completion of the new school project.

If the PCF was to receive the £1000, it would make an instant and significant impact on the lives of these children and help to give them the chance to grow up away from the rats and flies of the rubbish tip.

Website: www.p-c-f.org

Nominated by: Les Phillips – Simon Holdings

The day was full of fun and games, yet importantly, also raising valuable funds for Breast Cancer.

Who was the Best Dressed ‘Wear it Pink’ Jenrick person?
Well, the company has a colourful (excuse the pun) history of people dressing in all sorts of outfits to win the fancy dress competitions – but for this year’s Wear it Pink, a few people really pulled out all the stops!

It was a straight two-way tie this year between Karen Stilgoe and Scott Davies.

Karen was a ‘Pink Abrabian Princess’ whilst Scott was, well, ermm, err, quite

 simply . . . a woman!

Thanks to everyone for supporting such an excellent cause and for donating so generously!

Pumpkin Carving Competition
This event was held at the Clock Tower and was eagerly competed amongst several teams.

Mel Williams and Sally Piner were the judges faced with the difficult task of deciding who was the best pumpkin carver, or carver team, eventually choosing:

The Scariest – All the Commercial Girls (Sam, Sophie, Claire, Naomi)
The Most Creative - Emma Waddington (with apparently no help from her team)
The Funniest – Simon Murphy (with very little help from his team)

Well done everyone and thanks to Sal and Mel for being such excellent (and impartial) judges!