Napp Pharmaceuticals helps to make sick people feel better and its employees to feel good. It’s clear from the responses to our questionnaire that this firm is more than just a place to work.

Employees are proud that the firm makes medicines that help relieve suffering in patients with cancer and respiratory diseases, earning it an 88% positive score. They think it makes a positive contribution to the world we live in (85%), a score bettered by just one other company.

Founded by Swiss chemist Hermann Richard Knapp the company was registered in the UK in 1923. It was taken over by new owners in 1966 and moved to the prestigious Cambridge Science Park in the early 1980s. The success of its research and sales operations has seen the number of employees grow to more than 800 and the firm is now rated 18th by size of prescription-only medicine sales among 230 companies in the UK pharmaceutical industry. It recorded pretax profits of more than £10m on a turnover of £155m in the last financial year.

Napp treats staff well, offering flexible working options, enhanced maternity pay and private healthcare. Employees have the option to buy up to one week of additional holiday, benefit from additional paid leave at the discretion of managers and can apply for extended leave for any reason.

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Then there are the little touches such as Christmas hampers, a stork box given on the arrival of a new baby and paid leave when employees move house or get married.

Of course, engaging staff is about more than pay and benefits. Napp also invests heavily in the personal development of its workforce, providing training and development for everyone. As well as the traditional approach to development (courses, workshops, coaching, skills training, secondments and job rotations) the firm offers a programme called Choose Your Attitude.

Run by an external organisation, the two-day off-site workshop is aimed at developing life skills that benefit employees on a personal and professional level.

A new leadership programme for all employees was introduced last year involving 75 two-day programmes at which at least one member of the senior leadership team is present. Managing director Antony Mattessich, who is an inspiration to staff (82%), spent several weeks in early 2007 travelling around the UK for question and answer sessions with regional sales teams and is doing the same again this year. Initiatives such as these make staff feel fully involved at work (81%) and that they can make a valuable contribution to the success of the company (82%).

An active policy of promoting from within means working here is good for personal growth (81%) and staff are excited about where the organisation is going (84%). Workers have fun with their colleagues (83%) and go out of their way to help each other (81%).

The firm rewards hard work and commitment and staff repay it with loyalty. Nearly half of the workers have been with the firm for five or more years, including 125 who have put in more than 15 years’ service.

Napp has a car sharing scheme and is in the final stages of implementing a travel to work policy. It is also investigating the possibility of having a wind turbine on its site to allow it to generate its own electricity.

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