Growing businesses most desirable to work for

30/04/07 17:42

The most satisfied employees work for innovative firms, prone to diversification, which are typically small, growing businesses, it has been claimed.

According to the Vodafone UK Working Nation report, the core non-financial traits of a successful business are risk-taking, innovation, openness to diversification, having a clear single identity, having a long-term strategy and adopting new technologies early.

The report found that post start-up firms with between 10-50 employees are most likely to fulfill this model – thus they were deemed the most desirable to work for.

Furthermore, growing firms are three times as likely to keep hold of their workers than stagnant or declining companies, the report found.

Commenting on the findings, Kyle Whitehill, director of the Enterprise Business Unit at Vodafone UK, said: “In this age of technological, social and business change, it is pertinent that the qualities most frequently associated with this definition of employee satisfaction, such as innovation and risk-taking, are found most frequently in smaller businesses.”

Gerard Burke, director of the Business Growth and Development Programme (BGP) at Cranfield School of Management, added: “The research provides a valuable insight into the vital characteristics that successful businesses share.

“My own work with owner-managers from hundreds of successful growing businesses has shown me that important conclusions can be drawn from businesses that succeed and those that fail.”

However, the report also found that, whereas attracting and retaining talented staff was cited as a challenge by the majority of businesses, in reality there is an alarming disparity between what employers and employees deem to be important in the workplace.

For instance, the study found that whereas 52% of employees felt that social and ethical responsibility will be a key factor in future growth, just 36% of small business employers agreed.

Likewise, less than 30% of employers believe that recognising and managing employee work/life balance will be critical to future success, whereas almost two-thirds of employees see this as central.