Bromford celebrates top three ranking

The social housing company has overtaken its Black Country neighbour in a top 50 of the best places to work in the UK.

In today's annual Employees' Choice Awards, recognising employers with 1,000 or more staff, the Wolverhampton-based housing association was ranked third overall.

Walsall-based HomeServe is in 10th place, down from last year when Walsall's biggest private employer was also named third best in the UK to work for.

Bromford, founded in 1963, has its head office at Venture Court, Broadlands, is new to the top 50 this year. It is ranked ahead of Facebook in fourth place and Apple. Google tops the table with Anglian Water in second place.

The rankings, part of a respected annual survey organised by jobs website Glassdoor, are determined entirely on anonymous reviews provided by employees.

Bromford has 1,200 people working across the Black Country, Staffordshire, Birmingham and beyond.

Philippa Jones, Bromford’s chief executive, said: “Being named by Glassdoor as one of the top three best places to work in the UK is a brilliant accolade – although we know there’s plenty we still want to improve. It is testament to our colleagues really living the Bromford DNA, relishing the opportunity to deliver on our purpose, and making a difference to people’s lives every single day.

“Fundamentally we’re a social business which believes in people. The trust-based relationship we aim to have with colleagues is central to our culture of empowering our people to use all their skills and ultimately find better ways of working that put customers first. Our focus remains on making the biggest difference to our customers by attracting the best people to work with us and for us.”

In a recent review left on Glassdoor, one employee said: “I’ve recently completed 20 years at Bromford, working in a variety of roles across different office locations during that time – the consistent factors have been great colleagues and working culture throughout.”

Earlier this year Philippa was named in another Glassdoor survey as the highest ranking female chief executive in Britain, finishing 11th in a list of the top 50 UK chief executives.

Bromford has more than 28,000 properties across its central England operating area. Its turnover in 2016-2017 was £167 million and its profit of £49m was all invested into delivering more homes and services.

Today's survey remains a feather in the cap for HomeServe. It may have slipped to 10th, but it is still ranked ahead of global brands such as Capital One, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft and American Express.

The home repairs firm, which has its headquarters in Cable Drive, was launched in 1993 as a joint venture with South Staffordshire Water but became a separate entity in 2004.

One employee told Glassdoor that HomeServe had a real sense of belonging and people at all levels genuinely care about the customers and each other.

"The Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards recognise employers that are truly best places to work because they’re determined by those who really know best – the employees,” said Robert Hohman, chief executive and co-founder of Glassdoor, which is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world.