The Sunday Times has named its Best Places to Work awardees, which span various industries, for 2024.
The only financial services firms in the UK that made it to the top 10 of their respective size categories are Aldermore Group (very big), Vitality (very big), Convex (big), and YuLife (medium). No financial services company is listed under the top 10 for small organisations.
Here’s what The Sunday Times said about the four firms:
Aldermore
Aldermore’s 2,125 workers in Reading can take advantage of the pension and income protection schemes you might expect from a financial services company. But they also appreciate an inclusive culture that incorporates Change 100, which supports disabled talent, and the 10,000 Black Interns scheme. A mentoring programme helps staff from diverse backgrounds.
Vitality
The health and life insurer invests in the wellbeing of its staff, offering policies from flexible working to equal parental leave and ADHD and autism diagnosis and treatment. Based in London and with offices in Bournemouth and Stockport, it employs 2,600 people and has signed up to the Women in Finance Charter, with a goal of gender parity at senior levels by 2025. A development programme for female middle managers has also been introduced.
Convex
This international speciality insurer and reinsurer has its staff covered with policies that include agile working, generous annual leave, and a £1,300 annual budget to spend on learning and wellbeing. The London company, which makes our top 10 of big organisations, has offices in Bermuda, Luxembourg, and Guernsey and employs 436 people. It holds an annual summer festival for workers and their families and an annual Dream Pitch where Convexians, as staff are known, can win the time, money, or resources (or all three) to achieve a personal goal.
YuLife
This London insurance provider ensures its staff are protected, with benefits including life and health cover and a healthy living programme where staff can earn rewards by doing activities to improve physical and mental wellbeing. A benefits review led to the introduction of globally inclusive health insurance, an additional day’s leave, and a salary sacrifice pension scheme. Training and development enables the 259 employees to expand their skills and advance their careers.
The Sunday Times Best Places to Work awards survey uses questions from WorkL’s employee engagement survey. To achieve a high overall engagement score, an organisation must score well across reward and recognition, instilling pride, information sharing, empowerment, wellbeing, and job satisfaction.
‘Very big’ are companies with at least 2,000 employees; big ones employ 250 to 1,999 people; medium, 50-249; and small, 10-49.
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