Festo awarded Sunday Times Accreditation for the Best Companies to Work for 2011

This award recognises Festo as a first class company to work for. The award is given to organisations with more than 50 employees who stand out in the following areas: Best Leader; Wellbeing; Training and Development; Giving Something Back, Innovation in Engagement Practice and Best Improver. Designed to measure employee engagement, the Best Companies survey uses 70 questions to gain a comprehensive view of employee engagement across eight factors.

Festo has a long and well-respected track-record for its people development, so much so that a separate division was set up in 1968 to share its learning and development expertise with other companies in the manufacturing and engineering sector and beyond.

Gary Wyles, Managing Director of Festo Training & Consulting, comments: “We are proud to have been awarded 1* accreditation. This is our first year of entering the scheme and we are delighted to have done so well, first time.”

More than 90% of employees within Festo completed the survey. Of particular note, was Festo’s ability to communicate organisational goals and objectives to its staff. More than 90% were in agreement that organisational goals were clear.

Managers received high praise, providing a strong sense of empowerment and a commitment to the organisation’s values. 100% of employees stated that they felt trusted to get on with their job and 100% also felt that their manager put the organisation’s interests above his or her own personal interests.

Respondents also strongly felt that the senior management team made sound group decisions and there was a very high level of brand loyalty amongst employees.

Commenting on the results, Gary Wyles says, “It is clear that our employees enjoy working at Festo and are proud of where they work. There are always a few areas that we need to focus on, but the Best Companies to Work For survey has helped us to identify what we do exceptionally well and where our priorities should lie over the next year.”

Jonathan Austin, founder and CEO of Best Companies also comments: “I would like to congratulate Festo on its outstanding achievement. This year it is encouraging to see that more and more organisations are recognising the value of employee engagement and are willing to benchmark themselves against the best to ensure they are offering their employees a very positive experience. Organisations like Festo have continued to focus on their employees and have been rewarded with an engaged workforce who tell us that this is a great place to work.”