Haywards Heath firm First Central awarded UK’s Best Workplaces™ recognition

First Central has been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ (2023) today by Great Place to Work®, the global authority on workplace culture. The company, based in Haywards Heath, were ranked 23rd in the Super Large Organisations category.

The ranking is a result of rigorous evaluations of hundreds of employee survey responses alongside Culture Audit™ submissions from leaders at each company to create the 2023 UK's Best Workplaces™ list. Great Place to Work® then used these data insights to benchmark the effectiveness of companies' employee value propositions against the culture their employees actually experience.

Those businesses who achieve the highest scores after evaluation receive Best Workplaces™ status.

Michael Lee, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “I'm proud we've been recognised in the UK's Best Workplaces. In the Trust Index Survey, 91% of our colleagues believed that First Central is a Great Place to Work - which is fantastic. The culture we’ve built at First Central is unique and is something that we continuously focus on. Through putting our people first and looking after them, we know that they’ll adopt the same caringapproach when it comes to interacting with our customers. I look forward to seeing how our culture continues to thrive in the future.”

First Central’s workplace has thrived through a sustained effort over the past 18 months and more to build a culture of care across the company, with staff testimony playing a key role in their ranking success. Among the staff input to the GPTW Trust Index Survey was the below:

“This is genuinely a company that cares about its people. Many companies say it, but First Central shows it on a daily basis, from how we treat others to how we pull together at times of difficulty without blame or politics across multiple departments. It’s a company that knows my family set up and the importance of work/life balance and will always say ‘family comes first’ when you need to hear it the most.”

“Nothing is a big ask - you’re not afraid to propose something that will benefit the customers and the business. You feel like you count, and your opinions and suggestions are considered.”

“It's such a good place to work that we have seen colleagues who have previously left come back. Despite growing substantially over the past 10 years I have been here, we have managed to maintain a good culture and it still feels like a small company in the sense that you can speak to anyone or approach any of the Execs etc. Plus - there are always lots of events, incentives, recognition/rewards, and competitions which make it a fun and rewarding place to work.”

Benedict Gautrey, Managing Director of Great Place to Work® UK, said: “As the global authority on workplace culture, our mission at Great Place to Work® has always been to build a better world by helping organisations become a great place to work for all. We strongly believe in the notion of ‘better for business, better for people, better for the world.”

“A great workplace is more than lavish perks, fancy parties, and amazing benefits. While those elements are present in many Best Workplace™ organisations, at its core a great workplace is about the level of trust that employees experience in their leaders, the level of pride they have in their jobs, and the extent to which they experience camaraderie with their colleagues.”

This recognition comes off the back of First Central being recognised in the UK’s Best Workplaces to Work for Wellbeing list earlier in the year, where we ranked 7th in the Super Large Organisations Category.

You can view the entire list of the UK’s Best Workplaces at: greatplacetowork.co.uk/awards/uks-best-workplaces/uks-best-workplaces-2023/