A NORTHERN Ireland firm has been ranked in the Sunday Times Best 100 UK Small Companies to Work For listing for the fourth year in a row.
Novosco, the IT infrastructure expert, which employs over 120 people, appeared at 79 in the ranking, while Learning Pool, based in Londonderry, appeared at number 77; its first year to be listed.
The judges highlighted recent wellbeing initiatives at Novosco as one of the reasons for its success, including offering to buy all staff Fitbit trackers to encourage them to be healthy and active.
They said this was just one idea stemming from managing director, Patrick McAliskey, “who leads the way with charity challenges, such as climbing Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland’s highest mountain”.
Novosco, headquartered in the Northern Ireland Science Park, Belfast, also has offices in Dublin, Cork and Manchester.
Its clients include around 60% of Northern Ireland’s top companies, as well as health trusts, educational establishments, housing associations, leading companies, and other organisations across the UK and Ireland.
Managing director Patrick McAliskey said: “A significant part of our strategy and culture at Novosco is ‘wellness’.
“We encourage staff to eat well, stay active, and look after themselves. As part of this, we provide free deliveries of fruit, we have a masseuse visit our offices, and we run active events for staff such as charity walks and cycles. We also provide free health and dental insurance.
“We also offer staff Fitbits to encourage them to be active every day. As part of this, we have an online league table, automatically updated from the devices, which is intended to get team members pushing themselves to be a little bit more active through competing with their colleagues.
“It’s great for morale and team work, as well as helping keep staff fit and well.
“From a business perspective, that’s fantastic — as happy, well staff are more productive, better employees, and they are more likely to stay with us,” he added.
Some of the key factors taken into consideration in the Sunday Times listing include:
Leadership: How employees feel about the head of the company and its senior managers.
Wellbeing: How staff feel about the stress, pressure and the balance between their work and home duties.
Giving something back: How much companies are thought by their staff to put back into society generally and the local community.
Personal growth: To what extent staff feel they are stretched and challenged by their job.