Computer Weekly today announces the 49 IT departments that have
made it on to our roll-call of the UK's best places to work in IT
2003. From an impressive list of nearly 500 nominations, our panel
of experts identified IT departments in both small and large
organisations across 10 industry sectors that are giving IT
professionals a chance to shine
In Computer Weekly's quest to identify the best places to work in
IT, we asked the judges to consider a wide range of factors when
making their selection.
A successful and healthy IT department should be defined by a
number of criteria: the working environment and culture, team
spirit, employee benefits, the level of involvement with the
business, and the job satisfaction that comes from working with new
technologies and tackling fresh development work.
Feedback from our panel demonstrated the high quality of entrants.
Ceri Diffley, an occupational psychologist working with the Work
Foundation, said, "The entrants were very impressive. A good IT
department encapsulates a lot of facets - I was looking for a high
level of staff morale and an involvement in a wide range of
projects.
"I was also looking for IT departments made up of a diverse
workforce, both in terms of age and gender. Many of the entrants
put lie to the belief that IT is a profession simply made up of men
in their 20s."
Diffley was also keen to find IT departments where the staff felt
integrated with the business as a whole. "IT can be seen as
isolated from the rest of the business. It is sometimes regarded as
an invisible part of an organisation, as part of the logistics side
of the workforce," she said.
"But IT is an an integral part of any initiative that takes place
in today's working environment. Any significant change management
project does not happen without a high level of IT
involvement."
Andrew Davies, a professor specialising in IT strategy at the
Cranfield School of Management, said, "It is often said that money
is not everything, but is certainly important when it comes to
deciding where to work. Even though the job may be interesting and
the culture good, it will not be seen as a good place to work if
the rewards are inadequate. Managers in a good place to work study
the market and ensure that the rewards are competitive and do not
damage any good work already done in other areas.
"A particularly successful way of rewarding people is
performance-related bonuses, but these have to be sensible and easy
to understand. Profit-related bonuses are probably the best way to
achieve this."
The level of job security offered was another point highlighted by
Davies. "Organisations with a 'hire and fire' culture give little
security and are only seen as good places to work in the short
term. People want to work in an environment where management views
job security as important and tries to avoid redundancies," he
said.
Over the following weeks Computer Weekly will profile the
shortlisted IT departments, reporting on the work they are doing,
the technologies they are using and the views of the IT
professionals working in them. Then, after further scrutiny, the
winners in each category will be named at the beginning of next
year.
But make no mistake, the IT departments listed here are all
exemplars in their field that show the IT industry remains a
buoyant and exciting place to work.
The Best Places To Work in IT 2003: the
finalists
Central and local government:
Fewer than 250 employees
- East Lothian Council
- Education IT Team, Stoke-On-Trent Council
- Perth and Kinross Council
More than 250 employees
- Hampshire County Council
- Hertfordshire Constabulary
- Leicestershire County Council, ICT Services
Banking and Finance:
Fewer than 250 employees
- Barclays Bank, Enable, Service Point
- Firstplus Financial
More than 250 employees
- Birmingham Mishires
- Friends Provident
Retail, wholesale and distribution
Fewer than 250 employees
- Actamed
- Holstan (UK)
- Hyundai Car (UK)
More than 250 employees
- Asda
- Avon Cosmetics
- Sainsbury's
IT software, hardware and services
Fewer than 250 employees
- Data Connection
- IT Resource Management
- Kingston Technology Europe
- Teksys
More than 250 employees
- Computer Associates
- Compuware Corporation
- Mastercare PC Service Call
Media, hospitality, leisure and
entertainment
Fewer than 250 employees
- Earls Court Olympia
- FireFly PR
- Unique Pub Company
More than 250 employees
- Carlton Television
- Scottish and Newcastle Retail
- Universal Music
Other public sector and non-profit
organisations
Fewer than 250 employees
- Comic Relief
- The Food and Drink Federation
- The Woodland Trust
More than 250 employees
- Ashbridge Business School
- C2k
- WWF
Manufacturing and engineering
Fewer than 250 employees
- Eli Lilly and Co
- Global Marine Systems
- The BWB Partnership
More than 250 employees
- BAE Systems
- Perkins
- Smiths Aerospace Wolverhampton
Unspecified company size
Utililites and communications
- Economy Power
- Virgin Mobile
Construction and agriculture
- Arup Group
- BAA Terminal 5 Project
- Hanson Aggregates
Business Services
- Gartner
- Mason Communications
- The Corps
The judging panel
- Ruth Spellman, Investors in People UK
- Angela Baron, Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development
- David Clarke, British Computer Society
- Jonathan Exten-Wright, DLA
- Karen Price, E-Skills UK
- Andrew Davies, Cranfield School of Management
- Jane King, Personnel Today
- Ceri Diffley, Work Foundation
- Peter Scargill, Federation of Small
Businesses.
The sponsors
The Best Places to Work in IT 2003 survey was sponsored by
Huxley Banking, Madison Black, New Wave Resourcing, Progressive,
Huxley Engineering, ComputerFutures and Real IT.