Small is beautiful

I work for an SME surveying practice that employs 15 fee-earning staff. Having been round the block a bit I can’t think of any construction-related firm that comes close in terms of leadership, social responsibility and working environment. For example, as a father of five I get to work from home two days a week and can start my day after the school run ends. I couldn’t enjoy the work/ life balance I have with my employer in a larger firm. All staff here contribute to the decision-making process, the buzz is great, and we all feel we are going places.

In the Guide to the Guide on your website the criteria for excluding smaller firms seems to be a cop out: that a proportion of employees won’t submit responses so less than 30 is insufficient to produce a statistically accurate sample from which to base your selection. Maybe employees don’t return responses because their company “ain’t all that”. All 15 non-admin staff here would submit a response if invited to, because they love working here.

Perhaps an SME Good Employer Guide is called for. If you changed your criteria in the main guide to 10 staff or more, my prediction would be the Top 250 consultants and contractors would take a good kicking because SMEs are inherently more flexible, fast-moving and inclusive because of their size. Staff matter in SMEs, because we aren’t just a number. Food for thought? 

Andrew Field, business development manager, Glovers Project Services