Everton Football Club has been named one of the best places to work in the UK for the fifth year running.
The Blues are ranked as one of the ‘100 Best Large Companies To Work For’, and also make the ‘Regional’ and ‘Leisure And Hospitality’s 25 Best Companies to Work For’ listings.
Everton is the only football club represented on all the lists of the Best Companies guide, which provides an annual ranking of Britain’s best employers, based on a survey of employees.
Published annually, the guide is widely acknowledged as one of the most extensive studies into employee engagement in the country, with businesses ranked on responses from colleagues on areas such as leadership, charitable giving, employee wellbeing and personal development.
Everton, the first football club to feature on the list back in 2018, improved on last year’s position in the Leisure and Hospitality sector, by climbing from 12th to 10th.
The latest accolade follows the Club achieving a ‘Two-Star’ Best Companies accreditation status, in acknowledgement of its “Outstanding" workplace engagement.
Kim Healey, Chief People and Culture Officer at Everton, said: “We are again extremely proud to have been named on the list of best employers for the fifth year running.
“This acknowledgement recognises the hard work done by the Club, Community and Free School and our talented, dedicated and ambitious colleagues.
“It is also a reflection of the people-centric leadership instilled by our Chief Executive, Denise Barrett-Baxendale.
“As a responsible employer we always aim to ensure we are communicating and engaging with colleagues to help in any way possible, both at work and in their home life.
“The survey provides us with further evidence that The People’s Club is living up to its name and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
The survey, which was open to everyone at Everton Football Club, Everton in the Community and Everton Free School and Football College, led to a record 75-per-cent engagement level and highlighted the wide-ranging work undertaken in health, wellbeing and inclusion.
These include a reaffirmation of being a Principal Partner of the Living Wage Foundation, which the Club first signed up to in 2016, to ensure everyone employed by Everton receives a fair day’s pay.
Flexibility around work patterns was embraced, while measures were introduced to enhance paternity leave and assist with the current cost of living crisis.
Club colleagues continue to support and celebrate the city region's LGBTQ+ communities, while as part of Everton’s ‘All Together Now’ initiative, work groups have created networks promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.
The Club has introduced mental health and wellbeing champions and a peer-to-peer recognition scheme, aimed at recognising and rewarding colleagues who go the extra step in assisting others.
A Performance Management programme and ratings were introduced to bring fairness, clarity and consistency regarding performance expectations, along with a ‘Lead the Line’ programme for all colleagues, supporting leadership and management development.
As part of a Club-wide commitment to social mobility and advancement opportunities, school leavers were supported to gain a foothold in employment, gain insight into the core functions of a business and participate in work-based tasks.
And, finally, an uplift in employer pension contributions for Club and Community colleagues was supported by a benchmarking of all roles to external market, to ensure the Club remains fair and competitive.
