From company outings abroad to gifts of Beaujolais Nouveau when it arrives and free ice cream if the air conditioning breaks down, people at Data Connection are valued assets. One in four employees has worked here for more than 15 years, which says a lot about how well staff feel they are treated and why it ranks so highly in our list.

Established in 1981, Data Connection is now one of the world’s leading software development companies, recording pretax profits of £7.4m last year, when it also picked up the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the international trade category.

The firm is owned by a trust fund run for the benefit of its 272 employees, which means everyone profits from its financial success. People are well paid and an annual £2,500 spend per head on social events keeps spirits high. Staff have confidence in the abilities of their colleagues (earning an 89% positive score) and say they go out of their way to help each other (86%), the highest and second highest scores respectively.

An excessive hours culture is not encouraged by the Middlesex-based firm. Employees can opt to take up to an additional 10 days’ unpaid leave to boost their holidays to 35 days each year. Family-friendly policies from job-sharing to home working, taking account of school hours and flexitime, mean work does not interfere with responsibilities at home (74%).

Equality and inclusiveness are bywords at Data Connection with the example set by chairman Ian Ferguson, one of the company founders, who regularly walks the floor.

Staff say the organisation really tries to help them (89%) and workers feel secure in their job (92% and another top score) and are happy to recommend the company to others (87%).

Data Connection, which donates 2% of its annual profits to charity, allows employees to do charity work in office hours, earning it a 70% score for supporting staff in their efforts to help good causes outside the business.

Perks include free private healthcare for employees and their families, profit-related pay and a noncontributory pension.

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