The Awarding Organisation ranked 56th in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not for Profit Organisations to Work For, climbing up the list from number 70 in 2015.
The Newcastle-headquartered company, which employs almost 300 across the UK, faced tough competition as almost 50,000 employees from 250 organisations cast their vote.
The Top 100 allows colleagues to comment on eight specific areas, including staff opinions on their organisation’s leadership, their manager, immediate colleagues, pay and benefits, wellbeing, their organisation’s willingness to give something back, people’s personal development, and overall sense of affiliation with their employer.
NCFE has featured in the list since 2011, and was first included in the Small Companies category back in 2007.
This year’s list highlighted the company’s ongoing commitment to colleagues through the use of incentives and motivational tools, including a personal development fund of £200 per year. This is designed to support colleagues’ continuous development, enable them to learn new skills and pursue their own personal ambitions and goals. NCFE also invests heavily in tailored employee training and this is reflected in the fact that the organisation’s highest-ranked factor in the list is ‘personal growth’.
David Grailey, Chief Executive of NCFE, said: “Gaining recognition as one of the Top 100 companies to work for again this year is an achievement we’re extremely proud of. We’re particularly delighted to have improved upon last year’s position. However, we never rest on our laurels and are always looking to make improvements to the working environment and to act upon colleague feedback, which we actively encourage from all our colleagues.
“Our people, who we value very highly, are our strongest asset. They have been instrumental in making NCFE one of the top national qualification providers in the UK by demonstrating their commitment, innovation, and hard work every day which helps to make NCFE such a success, even during a turbulent time for the education sector.
“Over the past year we have acquired the market-leading CACHE awarding organisation, and our commitment to our people has helped ensure a smooth transition of back office services to our Newcastle head office whilst maintaining the breadth and depth of our sector-specialist teams. We’ll continue to invest in our people, recruit the best and build upon our strong culture. Staff engagement is a key metric of success at NCFE and we will strive to ensure all staff feel valued, developed and fully committed to our core purpose of creating opportunities for success to enrich society.”
Full details on the Sunday Times 100 Best Places to Work can be viewed on www.b.co.uk.