It’s official – we’re #25 on The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for!

By Phil Fernandes, Recruitment Business Partner

​It’s been a journey for us all.
Back in early 2018, I had joined Guidant as a Recruitment Business Partner within the Professional and Technical team.

Initially, I was placed on two public sector accounts, and as my knowledge and experience developed, I was given another two accounts to manage. It was very exciting considering I had no prior recruitment experience and had come from a logistics background.

Guidant have always supported me in my development. While I’ve been given the opportunity to attend lots of workshops as well an online learning platform to help me to develop more skills, my manager, in particular, played a big part in my personal development. Guidant, on the other hand, have brilliant career paths mapped out – which made it easy for me to see how I could progress.

There are two main factors I look for in an employer.
The first is career progression. It’s important that you know what a role’s progression path would look like, and knowing you’ll be supported to move through different levels.

The second thing I look for is opportunities around flexible working. Personally, this is a really important factor – where and how I work needs to fit in with my needs and wants. Having that flexibility and understanding gives me peace of mind and helps me achieve my best.

In 2018, we were #97 on The Sunday Times Best Companies list.
We had some great people-focused initiatives back then and ended up placing #97 with a two star accreditation. While it was a great achievement for Guidant, we knew we needed to rally together and share all the great people-centric initiatives we were doing across the business.

This was the reason that led to the birth of our People Team! They were dedicated to continually improving our employee engagement, as well as ensuring our values weren’t lost as we grew bigger and merged with our sister company in the United States in October 2018.

Ranking #51 in 2019.
When we found out we had made the 100 list, we were invited back to The Sunday Times Best Companies Awards event, where we sent 10 of our people (who were nominated by all of us) to represent us on the evening (and more importantly, let their hair down!).

Coming in at #51 was significant because we managed to not only keep our friendly work culture the same after a rebrand and merger, but improve on it too!

The plan after #51.
Our People Team focused on picking up areas that would strengthen our culture. We launched a team of Mental Health First Aiders (you can read Hannah and Ben’s stories here), held an amazing Summer Celebration at The Belfry (absolutely gorgeous hotel), strengthened our remuneration strategy and released a transparent career progression map to help our people understand how they can progress.

And as a result…
No spoiler alert needed, but we ranked higher than ever, coming in at #25! Some highlights include:

• 90% of our staff agreed: “I feel that my manager talks openly and honestly with me."

• 89% of staff agreed: “My team is fun to work with.”

• 93% of staff agreed: “I believe I can make a valuable contribution to the success of this organisation.”

You can read all the details in our Best Companies profile page.

Personally, I find the culture within Guidant very supportive and understanding. Recently, it’s felt even more like everyone within Guidant is truly united. It’s largely been owed to Workplace, our internal Facebook platform for sharing successes, insights, news and even pictures of our pets!

It’s easy to reach out to a colleague no matter where they may be across our global business and it really does feel like everyone is always ready to help their fellow colleagues.

And why I love working at Guidant?
If the above didn’t already give it away, it’s the people! Guidant feels like my wider family who are always there to support me.

At Guidant, we use OpenBlend (a coaching and performance management system) which allows my manager and I to discuss my career goals and progression and understand me better as a person. Being able to bring my whole, authentic self to work helps me to be comfortable and achieve my best.

At other companies I’ve worked for, it was easy to get lost in the crowd, and for my own ambition to become swallowed up by the day-to-day priorities. But at Guidant, I’m encouraged to proactively take up additional courses on our online learning platform, and attend virtual classroom learning that furthers my own development.

Congratulation to all my Guidant colleagues on making it #25 – here’s to another great year of working together!

We couldn’t be prouder of our achievement this year! Join our supportive and inclusive team that strives to lead by example in making a positive impact in the world of work >