There are 30 better companies to work at in the UK than W+K

We're delighted to see that we've made it into the Sunday Times 2008 Best Companies to Work for list. We came in at number 31 in the top 100. This is the 'small companies' list. (Under 250 employees.) Here's what they say:

Chaos is what Wieden+Kennedy encourages, along with unpredictability and creativity. There can’t be many companies that have these values but it seems to be doing the trick — the advertising and communications company has broken into the top third of our small companies list this year, one of 54 new entries into the top 100.

The London-based firm believes “you can’t process creativity”, so it encourages a relaxed, chaotic atmosphere to nurture ideas for advertising campaigns for clients that include Nike, Honda, Orange, Save the Children and Pizza Hut.

Its employees find their work stimulating, giving the sixth-highest positive score (88%) in our survey and a further top 20 score of 83% for lack of boredom at work. Another of the company’s unique values is to “embrace failure: it’s better to learn from glorious failures than from losing in the marketplace due to fear of failure and inaction”.

Staff appreciate this room to learn without fearing for their job — they feel secure (81%) and say the company is run on strong values, giving an 87% score.

An annual training and development plan ensures career development. Employees feel their job is good for personal growth (90%) and think there are opportunities to learn and grow in the company, with a 77% score.

People don’t believe they are put under too much pressure at work to concentrate (76%), but they often feel exhausted at the end of the day (only 53% positive) and say they spend too much time at work. A 61% score ranks the company 70th for this question.

Despite these relatively low scores, staff say work is an important part of their lives (84%). Everyone can take their birthday off, as well as one duvet day a year, have summer Friday afternoons off and the office is closed over Christmas. This is on top of standard holiday, which increases from 20 to 25 days after three years. Five years’ service is rewarded with a four-week paid sabbatical and there is a 10-week paid break after 10 years*.

Every year employees can also take two days off to do charity work. Events have included running marathons and sponsored bike rides. People say the firm’s support of good causes is genuine and isn’t driven by a desire for publicity (71%).

We try to be a place where people can achieve their full potential, so it's nice to see that our folks feel we're having some success in achieving this. There are very few agencies in the top 100, so it's hard to tell whether our comparatively low scores for tiredness and spending too much time at work are exceptional or just a reflection of norms in the industry. (Not that we should be complacent about this, even if it is normal for agencies.)

Other agencies in the top 100, include Meteorite Marketing at number 9, TBG London at number 14, Pearlfisher at 37, Haygarth at 38, Zed Media at 43 and RPM at 50.

*NB: Sunday Times has got this bit wrong.