More than three quarters of UK employees want to work for a company with a good reputation.
This is according to the “Everyone’s Business” report conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The report found that 76 per cent of UK citizens desire to work for a business with a good reputation.
Business reputation on the whole has increased since September 2018 as 60 per cent now believe business reputation is good. This is a four percentage point rise from 2018.
The public has also become more aware if a business has a positive impact on wider society (59 per cent). However, only 42 per cent believe that businesses are actively trying to improve people’s lives in their local area.
People seem to base a company’s reputation on whether it is treating employees well (61 per cent), a greater focus on gender pay gap (40 per cent) and its treatment of the environment (38 per cent).
Due to Brexit, under half (49 per cent) believe businesses will find the upcoming year difficult and so they wish for companies to stick to the basics, with 53 per cent wanting to receive training and development and 49 per cent for their company to focus on health and wellbeing.
Josh Hardie, deputy director-general of the CBI said:
There is no question that more can be done, as 76 per cent of the public say they would want to work for a business with a good reputation, the benefits of demonstrating firms positive impact can affect everything from a company’s bottom line to the talent it attracts.
Employees are key. They are a company’s ambassadors and the public trust their voices and seek them out. So great firms are doing all they can to engage them and help them tell on the ground stories.
This starts with championing social causes that they feel are important, from closing the gender pay gap to reducing their carbon footprint.
Amid the uncertainty of Brexit businesses can be the foundation stone of communities, improving livelihoods, fuelling ambition and driving investment. High profile initiatives by Richer Sounds, BT, Capita and others show business doing more than ever before to ensure the UK’s prosperity is inclusive, shared by everyone in all regions and nations.
The CBI worked in collaboration with Porter Novelli, a public relations firm and Opinium, a market research consultancy and asked 2,000 UK adults in order to obtain these results.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.