HLM Architects - General - Awarded 85th Best Company To Work For

Date: 06 Mar 2006

HLM Architects has been awarded 85th place in the Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For Awards 2006, an honour bestowed on the practice by its 150 staff. The awards are a key benchmark for staff satisfaction and reward businesses that value their staff, look after their clients and work in partnership with the communities in which they operate.

HLM Architects is an architectural, interior design and landscape architecture practice with offices in London, Guildford, Sheffield, Glasgow and Belfast. It is one of only four architectural practices that appear in the top 100, one of 11 companies that operate in the property and construction sector, and has a strong "team" ethos central to its design culture.

The comments made by the judges were: "Passion, innovation and inspiration are part of the design at this architects and the company is in the top 20 for not sending their staff home exhausted. The fact that colleagues are fun to work with, their job is stimulating and their health is not suffering because of their work also contributes to a general feeling of wellbeing."

Christopher Liddle, chairman of HLM Architects, said: "We are delighted that our staff have awarded us such a prestigious accolade. Our most valuable asset is our people and we make it a priority to invest in them, inspire them and support them in the development of their career.

"We adopt a 'family' approach and actively encourage a work-life balance. Our staff are happy and more productive as a result. We reward our people with an excellent benefits package and profit share scheme - everyone shares in the practice's success.

"In an industry that is experiencing a shortage of staff, ensuring their well-being and career development is of prime importance in ensuring their retention and personal growth", he added.

The third best 100 list for small companies is for organisations with fewer than 250 employees and is researched through capturing the opinions of 19,803 small business employees. It is the biggest ever survey of the SME workplace culture and the resulting database is the gold standard in mass human resources research in Britain.

The categories for entry include:

Leadership: feelings about the head of the company and senior managers.

Wellbeing: how staff feel about stress pressure and the balance between work and home duties.

My Manager: feelings towards immediate bosses and day-to-day managers.

My team: feelings about immediate colleagues.

Fair deal: contentment with pay and benefits.

My company: feelings about the company staff work for.

Personal growth: the extent to which staff feel they are stretched and challenged by their job.

Where do I go now?: » View the latest news items » View the news archive » Subscribe to Weekly Construction Newsletter » Submit news