STR Group sponsors


Businesses needed to demonstrate just what makes their company ‘a great place to work’– whether that is its new and innovative working practices; the provision of wide-ranging staff facilities; an inclusive work culture; strong environmental policies; or in any other ways


Best Company to Work For


Winner: Just Develop It


Building, developing and investing in a range of industries, Just Develop It aims to provide a professional and valuable service for its customers. Starting out in 2008 as a single company with three staff, today it is based at Fareham and employs over 175 people working across many established market- leading companies, investments and partnerships.


What the judges said


Richard Crawley, CEO of the STR Group revealed: “This company really hit home with the judges with its passion for inspiring creativity and innovation. With an amazing culture that allows staff to truly work in an environment that is conducive to success, the business has been enabled to continually grow. Promoting healthy living, this company really does have a unique and fresh approach.”


Words from the winners


Nick Jackson, vice-president of marketing at Just Develop It explained that trying to be ‘the best company to work for’ was an objective that had also helped recruit a successful diverse and international workforce. “We have a great laid-back place to work, but more importantly it is a very productive atmosphere.”


HR manager Carla Bannister highlighted staff wellbeing and good work- life balance. “We want to encourage our people to wake up on a Monday morning looking forward to coming to work, and by achieving that we have a really good culture and work ethic within a fun, vibrant office.”


In second-place


Performance in People – based in Ryde, IOW, with 85 head office staff, and with 35,000 mystery shoppers and assessors. The judges noted its “impressive growth, fabulous induction programme, excellent in-house training and commitment to create career paths and internal ascendancy.”


And in third


Mayflower Theatre Trust – the renowned theatre in the centre of Southampton, and in fact the biggest theatre on the South Coast. The judges praised its “clear vision and values, outstanding environmental policy, excellent intranet communication, and really robust on-boarding, progression and retention policies.”


Highly Commended finalists


Digi Toolbox – Founded in 2007, based in Fareham, a website, IT and telephony provider.


Loadbalancer – Based at Portsmouth, experts in scalable application delivery, with five offices, covering 74 countries.


nDreams – Farnborough-based, rapidly-growing developer of virtual reality games.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – NOVEMBER 2016 businessmag.co.uk 29


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