Everton Football Club has been named one of the best places to work in the UK for the fourth year running.
The Blues have been ranked 54th overall in the ‘100 Best Large Companies To Work For’ list, and, for the first time, also feature at 40th and 12th in the ‘Regional’ and ‘Leisure And Hospitality’s 20 Best Companies to Work For’ standings respectively.
The Best Companies guide is an annual ranking and survey of Britain’s best employers and is based on the views of employees. Businesses are ranked on responses from their staff on areas such as leadership, charitable giving, employee wellbeing and personal development.
Published annually, it is widely acknowledged as one of the most extensive studies into employee engagement in the country.
Everton, the first football club to feature on the list back in 2018, improved on last year’s position by climbing six places, from 60th to 54th.
The accolade comes after the Club achieved a ‘three-star’ Best Companies accreditation status for the first time in April in acknowledgement of its “world-class" workplace engagement.
Kim Healey, Director of People, Culture and Workplace wellbeing at Everton, said: “We are very proud to have been named on the list of best employers for the fourth year running recognising the work done by the Club, Community and Free School and our talented, committed and ambitious staff.
“The coronavirus pandemic completely changed our way of working, and this year we have placed a huge amount of focus and importance on staff wellbeing and welfare during what has been a truly challenging time for everyone.
“As a responsible employer we wanted to ensure we were communicating and engaging with staff to help them in any way possible – be that in their work or home life – and we introduced a range of resources and benefits to help support and manage their work and family responsibilities.
"This award is a reflection of the business vision and people-centric culture adopted by our Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale.”
Everton CEO, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale, added: “The people at Everton have always been central to driving positive change across our business.
“By listening to and supporting our staff, we have been able to make continuous improvements to our employee engagement strategy and enhance our commitment to staff welfare – which is now recognised as being the best in our industry and amongst the best in the country.
“Kim and her People, Culture and Workplace Wellbeing Team deserve a huge amount of credit for how they engage with our staff and how they have embedded the Everton values of ambition, authenticity, determination and family throughout our organisation. The past year has highlighted how much the staff at Everton live our values through their hard work, dedication, resilience and altruism.
“Today’s achievement illustrates that staff at Everton feel empowered and have a true sense of ownership and understanding of what it means to be part of the Everton Family.”
In response to the first national lockdown in March 2020, Everton introduced a range of initiatives and resources to allow staff to feel engaged and connected while working from home.
This included the launch of ‘Everton Connect’, an online engagement service provided through the Club’s internal staff intranet that has offered services such as virtual lunchrooms, yoga sessions, home-schooling advice from education specialists, healthy cooking classes from Everton’s First-Team Head Chef, as well as interactive radio shows, podcasts and quizzes.
Members of Everton and Everton in the Community staff also took the time to contribute to a wider cause during the pandemic by supporting Blue Family, the Club and charity’s co-ordinated outreach campaign which has helped more than 30,000 vulnerable people. Staff joined Chairman Bill Kenwright, Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Club Ambassadors and Manager Carlo Ancelotti and his players in making more than 26,250 check-in and welfare phone calls to supporters and members of the local community – many of whom vulnerable or isolated during lockdown.
As part of Everton’s All Together Now initiative, groups of Everton staff have created networks promoting equality, diversity and inclusion - including an LGBT+ network, women’s network and men’s network, while the Club has introduced mental health champions and ambassadors as well as increased communication around free staff counselling, wellbeing and health benefits.
Using feedback directly from Club employees, a series of ‘Together Everton’ pledges were also launched to further develop a culture that encourages staff to embrace and maintain a collective focus on health and wellbeing, especially while working from home. Flexibility around working patterns has been embraced, and the focus of mid-season and end of season staff reviews now covers all elements of wellbeing alongside performance.
Everton’s continued improvement on the ‘Top 100 Best Large Companies To Work For’ list follows on from the unprecedented backing of the Club’s supporters earlier this year. The Blues recorded their best-ever results in the Premier League Fan Survey’s 25-year history as Everton benchmarked higher than the Premier League average in every category, with fans supporting the Club’s leadership, fan engagement and contribution to the local community.
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