Luxury retailer Harrods, energy supply organisation Ovo Energy, retailer QVC, financial business Santander and building and construction supplier Travis Perkins are among the 90 organisations that have been certified as 2019's top employers in the UK by independent HR certification organisation the Top Employers Institute.
To gain certification, organisations must complete the Top Employers Institute's global HR best practices survey, which asks around 100 questions covering 600 people development practices across 10 key topics.
These topics include compensation and benefits, culture, talent strategy, workforce planning, talent acquisition, on-boarding, learning and development, performance management, leadership development and career and succession management. Employers have to achieve a required minimum standard in order to be certified.
David Plink, chief executive officer at the Top Employers Institute, said: "We believe that the 2019 certified organisations demonstrate exceptional conditions and encourage the development of these practices by putting their people first. These [organisations] help enrich the world of work with their outstanding dedication to HR excellence and because of this, they are recognised as an employer of choice."
For 2019, 12 organisations have been certified for the first time. This includes beauty supplier Avon Cosmetics, Bouygues Construction, outsourcing and energy organisation Mitie Group and Wythenshawe Community Housing Group.
Others certified this year include Bureau Veritas UK, DHL International, Experian, Goodyear UK, Heineken UK, JD Wetherspoons, Manchester Metropolitan University, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, PepsiCo UK, Sackers, Saint-Gobain UK and Ireland, Starbucks, Vauxhall Motors and Whitbread.
Certified employers celebrated at an evening awards ceremony on Thursday 31 January 2019 at Hilton on Park Lane, London; more than 600 HR professionals attended the event.
Katie White, HR director at Bureau Veritas, said: "We're absolutely delighted to be awarded this prestigious status for the seventh year running. At Bureau Veritas, we work hard to provide our valued employees with the best working environment possible and to have that recognised year-on-year is a great achievement."
Phil Sproston (pictured), UK country manager at the Top Employers Institute, added: "This year's top employers are really leading the way when it comes to creating progressive people first HR practices. We've seen outstanding best practice across every aspect of the employee life-cycle; leading edge people strategies that are truly delivering a better world of work."
