A company that brings so much sparkle into the lives of its customers is rewarded today for sprinkling a touch of stardust on the working lives of its dedicated staff. Beaverbrooks the Jewellers is this year’s Sunday Times Best Company to Work For, six years after debuting on our list of Britain’s top employers in second place.

In the intervening years, Beaverbrooks has never finished lower than fourth place. To triumph this year, amid the doom and gloom on the high street and in the retail sector, is a tribute to the inspirational leadership of the company and the passion and dedication of its 803 staff.

This is not a victory founded upon high salaries, bumper bonuses and a champagne lifestyle. Almost half the staff earn less than £15,000 a year; just 52 earn more than £35,000 a year. No, Beaverbrooks’ advance from third place last year to first is founded upon things money can’t buy. Love and respect. A positive score of 86.2% for loving to work for the high street jeweller is exceptional for the retail sector.

There is a certain symmetry in an organisation whose £7.2m profits are founded on people’s affirmation of their love, receiving a similar commitment from its own workforce.

Mark Adlestone, managing director and the grandson of one of the three brothers who founded the business in 1919, explains. “We look after people as if we were a family. We really do listen to our people. Our people become part of a family that has been in love with this business for 90 years. Our passion for jewellery is only matched by our passion for our people.”

This love is reciprocal. Staff are inspired by Adlestone (recording the highest positive score in our survey, 87.2%) and they believe the senior management team lives the values of the organisation (83.6%).

The company’s values are typified by its commitment to give away 20% of post-tax profits each year to charity. It used to be only half that amount and the decision to double it was made specifically with the aim of increasing staff engagement with the business. And it’s worked.

Looking at Beaverbrooks’ results over the past six years for the 66 statements that make up our employee survey, the one to show the greatest improvement in its score is: My organisation makes a positive difference to the world we live in. A huge rise of 15% from 65% to 80% positive, is almost double the gain achieved by the next biggest improvers.

Staff believe that Beaverbrooks’ support of good causes is not driven by a desire for good publicity (up 8.3% since 2004 to 75%) nor that making a profit is the main driving driving force in the organisation (also up 8.3% to 85%).

The company’s scores in the Giving Something Back (GSB) factor have seen the biggest year-on-year gain of 4% overall. The 66 statements in the employee questionnaire all fall into one of eight clearly-defined areas, or factors, success in each one of which is an essential to make the Best Companies to Work For lists.

The eight factors are:

Leadership: how employees feel about the head of the company and senior managers.

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