The Times Best Councils To Work For 2008 list is based on the views of employees and the policies and processes of employers. It uses a methodology developed by Best Companies Ltd to ensure that rigorous measures are in place to provide a fair and consistent approach to all councils that participate in the survey. The system was designed for the British workplace and identifies best practice, ranking councils according to their performance in key indicators of staff satisfaction.

Eligibility: All London boroughs, unitary, metropolitan, county and district authorities may participate in the survey. However, schools, police and fire services are not included in the survey.

Free entry: This year’s survey has been sponsored by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Local Government Employers. Participation was free of charge. All participating councils receive a results summary along with a benchmark to allow comparisons with other councils.

Employee input: The views of 48,099 employees were requested from all participating councils. Surveys were distributed to a randomly selected group of staff. At least 30 per cent of these had to be returned for a council to be eligible.

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The survey contained 67 questions, measuring equally weighted workplace factors that have been identified from extensive research in the UK.

This research demonstrates that a person’s experience of their workplace is a result of their perceptions in the following areas: leadership (the heads and senior managers of a council); my manager (the local management on a day-to-day basis); personal growth (opportunities to use skills and advance); wellbeing (balancing work/life issues); my team (immediate colleagues); giving something back (giving back to society and to the community); my council (the council and the way it treats staff); and fair deal (pay and benefits).

Council input: A detailed survey was distributed to all participating local authorities. This sought information on policies such as pay, maternity, benefits and healthcare, processes including recognition, promotion, recruitment and communication, and facilities such as sports, training and catering.

Scoring: Final council rankings are calculated from the responses to the employee survey.

Ranking table: The league table of the top 25 councils is published opposite. The staff figures given include full-time, part-time and contract workers.

Statistics: Throughout this supplement, percentage results on individual questions from the survey are reported in tables, articles and council profiles. In all profiles, these represent the percentage of the maximum possible score on each question and are expressed as the percentage positive score.

Staff completing the employee survey responded to each statement by indicating their level of agreement on a seven-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).

These scores were averaged and turned into percentages of the maximum score. For example, if a council gets a 67 per cent positive score on the statement “This is my dream job”, this means that its overall mark is 67 per cent of the score it would have had if all its staff had indicated that they strongly agreed with the statement.

Best Councils To Work For 2009: applications are invited from councils for next year’s lists. www.bestcompanies.co.uk/bestcouncil

Ways to hit the mark

Councils were commended for:
Flexible working Councils that provide at least five different flexible working options to at least 50 per cent of employees
Sabbatical/career breaks Council offers employees the chance to take a sabbatical or career break, either paid or unpaid
Wellness Council provides a wellness programme for its employees
Charity Council allows its staff to undertake charity/voluntary work during working hours
Women in Senior Management Awarded to councils where at least 33 per cent of senior managers are women

How to use this guide

Each top 25 Best Council has been profiled and appears in ranking order from this page. The profiles summarise the practices, pay and benefits that are available to employees. Every profile is accompanied by the council’s ranking in the top 25 and a fact box that outlines basic facts about the local authority. Number of staff – the total number of employees within the council, including all full-time, part-time and contract workers.

Male/female ratio – the percentage split between the sexes of all full-time and part-time workers. Average age of staff – full-time and part-time employees, on April 30, 2008. Staff turnover – the percentage who left the council in the year to April 30, 2008. Earning £35,000+ – the percentage of a council’s workforce with a gross annual income of at least £35,000.

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