Best places to work in the UK revealed

Online travel company Expedia tops the ranking for the second year in a row

Thee online travel company has been voted number one Place to Work in the UK in 2017 in Glassdoor's annual Employees' Choice Awards (Glassdoor)

Travel company Expedia, has been named as the best company to work for in the UK, beating tech giants such as Google and Apple, for the second year running.

Jobs website Glassdoor’s UK best places to work in 2017, which ranks businesses with more than 1,000 employees according to feedback from employees, features winning employers across diverse industries, spanning technology, banking, retail and engineering.

Expedia was praised for its strong friendly work culture, as well as a good work life balance and a very supportive management team.

To determine the best places to work, Glassdoor looks at company reviews made by employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

Software firm ARM Holdings was second, followed by home assistance firm Home Serve, consultants Mott MacDonald , and recruitment firm Hays.

Meanwhile, Google slipped out of the top 10 best places to work list for the first time, coming 13th in the annual ranking

Petra Wilton, director of strategy for the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), said the award not only revealed what made an employer great to work for, but also what made the business highly productive.

She said: "CMI research shows that high growth is directly linked to high levels of trust in management who operate in open, transparent cultures. Setting the right work/life balance is also crucial, and our research shows that an ‘always-on’ expectation from leaders is a productivity killer. Employers need to invest in developing skilled management teams capable of keeping staff happy, motivated and productive. Congratulations to these great businesses on their success.”

Gary Morrison, senior vice President, retail, brand Expedia added: “It’s a great honour to be recognised by Glassdoor UK for the second consecutive year, particularly as the results are calculated solely from employee feedback."

One of the main reasons our employees love working here is they are given a voice to directly shape our path and are invested in our success. We empower everyone at all levels to share their ideas and test and learn new ways to make the travel experience better, which, in turn, fosters a creative work environment.”

1. Expedia

Company Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Employee review: “Amazing leaders, very accessible and communicating a lot with all employees. Flexible environment (cope easily with having children or other lifetime events).”

2. ARM Holdings

ARM's CEO Simon Segars delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016 (Reuters)

Company Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Employee review: “The atmosphere in the company is really great. I see everybody keen to help each other and lots of new cool technology stuff every day. There are lots of internal training opportunities and a whole bunch of internal sessions about new technologies being developed.” - Software Engineer.

3. HomeServe UK

Homeserve fined £34.5m for ‘mis-selling’ (Homeserve)

Company Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Employee review: “It's an exciting, dynamic, growing company. The focus on customers and employees, makes it impossible for you not to thrive here (unless you don't want to thrive, of course). I've had 3.5 great years and am proud of what the company has done, but also proud of what I've contributed personally.”

4. Mott MacDonald

Company Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Employee review: “A firm that you join for a career and not a job. The fact that the firm is owned by the senior staff makes a real difference. Always looking to make the right decisions for the future.”

5. Hays Plc

Hays is a leading British company providing recruitment and human resources services across 33 countries (iStock)

Company Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Employee review: “Hays is a genuine career company. They will support & develop you provided you show the drive & ambition to be a successful recruiter. Hays are very customer focussed & believe in doing business in the right way."

6. Peninsula

Peninsula is a British company providing human resources, employment law, health & safety and employee well-being services to employers in the UK (Istock Photo)

Company Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Employee review: "I have found that Peninsula recognises, in most cases its employees are its greatest asset and the company tries hard to retain those who are motivated and demonstrate their achievement through a high standard of training and incentives. There are plenty opportunities to boost salaries through hard work and various incentive schemes."

7. Unilever

Unilever has seen off Kraft. For now

Company rating 4.2 out of 5

Employee review: "Flexible working hours along with a team full of friendly people who want you to learn as much as possible is the best part about it. Each Brand Manager also loves their brand personally which makes them put so much effort into their work."

8. Salesforce

huck Robbins CEO of Cisco Sytems (L) and Marc Benioff speak at the Salesforce keynote during Dreamforce 2015 (Getty Images)

Company Rating 4.2 out of 5

Employee review

Salesforce is an amazing company! It has a strong and inclusive culture as well as great people. It offers lots of opportunities for career growth and defining your own path as well as very good salary.

9. Screwfix

Company Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Employee review: “There are countless pros. Real team spirit, fantastic opportunities to progress and make a career for yourself (note, this does not include slackers!), great customer base, supportive staff and managers. In company training in health and safety, first aid and city and guilds in retail management.”

10. First Derivatives

Company Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Employee review: “The company is filled with well educated and sociable people. The company organizes get-togethers for staff to meet outside of the workplace. This could be dinner and drinks, paintballing, watching a match... Nearly anything.