Best Employers Eastern Region

Holkham is an innovative and people-centric organisation who showed us considerable evidence of how Best Employers is supporting their people strategy. There's a clear correlation between previous results and how they continue to turn the dial by implementing progressive and inclusive initiatives and policies. The evidence they gave us across all three pillars of ESG shows how integral this is to their colleagues, and their ability to retain and attract talent in a rural community.

PolicyBee invest an impressive amount of time and effort in developing their approach to flexible and hybrid working. They've also put measures in place to promote collaboration and team-building. They combine these with a proactive approach to wellbeing and a commitment to the welfare of their employees.

The importance of employee wellbeing and psychological safety is at the heart of Lighthouse. Even as a small business, Lighthouse pride themselves on offering tangible and intangible rewards to their employees and giving back to their local communities.

Notcutts measure their effectiveness in terms of both business and people results. Concepts like rebranding their head office as the “support office”, “Feel Good Friday”, strategy conversations and bespoke development actions show their commitment to creating workplaces that engage their people.

Indigo Swan have integrated their values into everything they do – from customer service and experience, to the way they develop, manage, lead and reward their people. They really do place their people at the heart of what they do. “Happiness First”, one of their core values, means that the engagement and wellbeing of their people is always front and centre of the running of the organisation.

MS UK share and connect their sense of purpose with all new employees and use external speakers to engage with their teams. MS UK clearly measure diversity well, and carefully tailor training to the needs of the team rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Amarinth involved their employees in developing their values which help guide day-to-day decision making. There are clear career paths and an emphasis on personal development through individual training plans. Their ESG [environment, social and governance] strategy is impressive and includes elements like an electric car scheme and charging points – they even have beehives on site. Local charities and schools are part of the mix too as they offer work experience to three local high schools, as well as sponsoring the Woodbridge 10K.

From their 2021 results, Soler & Palau's employees have shown the largest growth in engagement out of all the organisations that took part. This is testament to their commitment to creating an engaging and supportive place to work.