The Brookwood Partnership believes in working with its staff to achieve its aims and theirs. When an operations manager and a chef wanted to return to work part-time after maternity leave, positions were created for them. Another employee who wasn’t happy with his promotion because it meant more paperwork and less time in the kitchen was given the role of creating new dishes and dealing with ethnic minority and allergy menus.

Contract caterers to 64 prep and independent day and boarding schools in London and the southeast of England, Brookwood prides itself on serving up good working conditions for its 457 employees to ensure they feel happy, rewarded and valued for their contribution.

They do. Employees have fun with their colleagues, earning the company, based in Walton on Thames, an 81% positive score in our staff survey, and they say that managers regularly express their appreciation for a good job done (76%). Team spirit is very much part of the diet at Brookwood, with events such as menu competitions that turn ingredients into meals and staff into friends who go out of their way to help each other (77%).

Brookwood’s highest rankings are in the area of wellbeing, where it finishes 23rd overall among our top 100 companies. Providing catering services to schools by its nature means that employees can work on term-time-only contracts and allows many parents to gain the benefit of potential career development while retaining a full family life. Such flexibility has been extended to include those who want a secure job but to have access to longer breaks.

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The environment may be relaxed and friendly but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to keep people motivated. The organisation has its own NVQ centre, offering 84 different courses covering 33 topics, and this year is adding programmes that include supervisory skills and courses tailored to women in management.

On-the-job learning is also important and the company helps its staff maximise opportunities for personal growth within the framework of clear objectives and assessments. Each employee has an individual training plan to allow for career progression. This incorporates a mentoring system and, where appropriate, taking on new responsibilities within their existing role. All this makes sure that people don’t feel they need to leave their jobs in order to build their careers.

Despite all the training and development that comes with the job, employees say they are not spending too much time working (70%, a top 10 result), that the job does not interfere with their responsibilities at home (the positive score of 79% sees just six firms score better for this question) and that their health is not suffering because of their work (another 79% score).

Childcare vouchers, life assurance and a contributory pension, with the employee’s input matched by the company at 4%, are among the benefits on offer to staff, more than three-quarters of whom earn £15,000 or less.

Good bosses make people feel engaged and at Brookwood operations managers visit each site and each member of staff, whom they know by name, on a weekly basis. Consequently employees think highly of their bosses, saying they speak openly and honestly with them (81%) and care about people as individuals (77%).

Everyone is kept up to date with regular briefings, while B in Touch is a forum for employees to make their views known on any issues they wish to air.

The Brookwood Bite, the in-house magazine, further spreads company news. People feel fully involved at work (80%), a top 25 score.

An “on the spot” gift scheme acknowledges contributions to the organisation’s success and employees can look forward to birthday cards, a Christmas hamper and a further range of awards. Twenty-three managers were rewarded for their dedication with a trip to Paris last June.

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