logo
2 BCP businesses named among the UK's best places to work

2 BCP businesses named among the UK's best places to work

Great Place to Work has revealed its 2025 list of the UK's Best Workplaces for Wellbeing.
The list champions 350 companies that are "leading the way in creating positive, supportive work environments for their employees".
It is broken down into four categories based on the company's size: small, medium, large, and super large.
Explaining the methodology, Great Place to Work says: "To determine our UK's Best Workplaces for Wellbeing list, our culture experts analysed thousands of employee surveys.
"They assessed their holistic experiences of wellbeing at work through fundamental facets of employee wellbeing, including work-life balance, sense of fulfilment, job satisfaction, and financial security.
"Evaluations also included an assessment of how well the organisation was able to deliver consistency of their employee experience across all departments and seniority levels."
In the small category, Bournemouth's Just Shutters and Poole's Vizst Technology were recognised.
Two BCP businesses named among UK's best places to work
Just Shutters was founded in Bournemouth by Chris Rocker back in 2006, and is a leading provider of plantation shutters.
Discussing the business on its website, Rocker says: "We live and work in Bournemouth and luckily we are only about half a mile from the sea. I spent most of my school years here but moved away to join the Royal Air Force."
He continued: "In 2006 after having fallen in love with Plantation Shutters, a dream of starting a specialist company to meet the growing demand in the field was realised, Just Shutters was born.
"We have grown steadily and strongly over the past decade and now there is a Just Shutters franchisee covering over 150 towns and cities in the UK."
According to Great Place to Work, there are 14 employees at the Bournemouth site, and 100% say it is a great place to work.
This is in comparison to 54% of employees who would agree with that sentiment at a typical UK-based company.
Alongside that, Vizst Technology had 98% of its 46 employees say it was a great place to work.
Recommended reading:
Based in Poole, it is a privately owned, UK-based technology partner which works with a number of enterprises and public sector organisations.
They offer services such as networking and cybersecurity that encompass innovative IT strategies.
Overall, in the small businesses category, Just Shutters ranked in 6th place out of 100, and Vizst Technology was in 34th place.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Britain is missing its chance to divert investment from America
Britain is missing its chance to divert investment from America

Times

time5 minutes ago

  • Times

Britain is missing its chance to divert investment from America

The uncertainty around the US economy created by President Trump's trade war and his domestic agenda should be a golden opportunity for the UK to attract more international capital. John Flint, the outgoing chief executive of Britain's National Wealth Fund, which has been capitalised with £28 billion to help accelerate private investment into the UK's clean energy and growth industries, told MPs last week: 'The world has got very strange in the last few months. The UK looks good right now on a relative or comparative basis. 'There is a government with a big majority, institutions that work, respect for the rule of law … The biggest consumer of capital internationally [America] is on a different track right now. We have a window and a moment where we can appear to be different.' However, the view among some powerful Wall Street investors is that while more opportunities for investing outside the US would be welcome, the UK government hasn't given them any good reason to deploy their capital. As one Wall Street executive told me: 'I think the UK has really significant challenges. It's not leading in enough places to attract capital. It doesn't have the innovation engine going and it has other structural challenges still lingering: inflation, very sluggish growth, very high social spend. 'They've got an entitlements problem, just like we have an entitlements problem. But we have a more innovative, dynamic economy. I don't see a real plan. And they're chasing away capital, not attracting capital.' Flint, who is due to leave his role in August, told MPs that the UK does not yet have a list of investable projects ready to present to prospective investors. When asked how long it would take to create the list, he said: 'I cannot give you an answer, because it depends on so many different factors. Planning is one of them, which I know the government are reforming.' Meanwhile, the government has no apparent plan to stop the decline in UK-listed growth companies. Overseas takeovers of UK-listed companies have accelerated, while those companies have not been replaced with new listings. Worryingly, it was revealed last week that Sir Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, Britain's most valuable public company, would like to move its stock market listing to the United States. The government's series of U-turns and the rebellion within the Labour Party over welfare reforms have not helped improve the UK's image to global investors, instead raising questions about the government's ability to manage spending. The uproar on Wall Street over Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs in April raised hopes elsewhere that Europe could reverse the increase in global inflows to the US since the pandemic. The US received 41 per cent of global gross capital inflows in 2022-23, the highest share of any country and nearly double its pre-pandemic share of 23 per cent, according to the US Council of Economic Advisers. So far this year, outflows from US equity funds have more than doubled to nearly $87 billion, while more than $100 billion has flowed into European equity funds — up threefold on the same period last year, analysis from LSEG's Lipper Fund research database showed. However, Wall Street is warning that the minor reallocation of capital from the US at the start of the year could be coming to an end as the early impact of Trump's tariffs is less severe than feared. Stuart Kaiser, Citi's head of US equity trading strategy, said: 'There was a period of probably six out of nine weeks where you saw net selling of US ETFs [exchange-traded funds] and long-term mutual funds. So I think the initial shock of the tariff headlines did hurt consumer sentiment and did hurt investor sentiment, but it does also feel like those investors are kind of re-engaging back in.' The UK cannot only rely on America's problems alone to attract more investment. Policymakers need to come up with a catalyst to entice more investment away from the US. Louisa Clarence-Smith is US Business Editor of The Times

Audible review: the audiobook service is still worth it — get three months FREE this Prime Day
Audible review: the audiobook service is still worth it — get three months FREE this Prime Day

The Sun

time40 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Audible review: the audiobook service is still worth it — get three months FREE this Prime Day

LET me get this out of the way: I've never liked audiobooks. I know it's not a modern mindset, but they feel too much like cheating to me; books should be books, not podcasts. However, since moving last year, my method of transport to work has switched from a train to a bus, and I've quickly discovered that reading a paperback on the 141 to London Bridge is no easy feat. So can Audible, the Amazon -owned audiobook service, change my mind on the idea of listening to books, and restore order to my morning commute? With a Prime Day deal that snags Prime members their first three months completely free, it's certainly a convenient solution. I've done an Audible review to find out. Pros: Cons: No biggies from me — it'd be nice to have a more widely available TV app, and some customers have complained about the customer service Rating: 9.5/10 How I tested Audible I'm a keen reader — I have been since I was a child, before doing an English Literature degree at uni. As an adult, I'm a card-carrying book-clubber and read every day. For this review, I downed my usual paperback and tried Audible for a couple of weeks to see if it offers a good, reasonably priced and easy-to-use service for book lovers. Audible review: Quickfire Q&A How does Audible work? You can use it without a membership, but the best way to use Audible is to pay for a Premium Plus Subscription, which awards you a credit every month to purchase an audiobook of your choice. How much is Audible? The Premium Plus subscription is £8.99 per month. You can get your first three months completely free if you're a Prime member, as part of a Prime Day deal. Who's it best for? People who love reading but don't have the time to sit down and read an actual book. If your life involves many long, solo car journeys, this is a no-brainer. What we loved: The number of titles available — over 800,000, apparently. The in-app experience is also extremely easy, and Amazon has worked hard to compile a bank of exclusive content for Audible members. What we didn't: I haven't had any negative issues so far. Some online reviewers have complained about the company's customer service, with several saying that it's almost impossible to speak to an actual human. How to cancel an Audible membership: You can cancel anytime by going to your account settings on the desktop site (as far as I can tell, it's not possible to cancel on the app). If you have unused credits, you'll lose these if you cancel, so it might be wiser to pause your membership. Audible review: The Nitty Gritty First impressions CLAIM HERE Getting set up with an Audible account is incredibly easy, especially if you've already got an Amazon account. Simply log in with your Amazon credentials, then activate your subscription. Audible generally runs attractive deals for new subscribers — at the moment, Prime members can get their first three months for free for Prime Day. You don't have to go down the subscription route — you can just purchase individual audiobooks — but the subscription bags you a free audiobook every month, while purchasing an individual audiobook can run you up to £20 or even more. So if you're going to be listening to a book every month or two, it's certainly the cheaper method. The subscription also grants you access to the Premium Plus catalogue, a library of thousands of audiobooks and podcasts, many of which are exclusive to Audible. Does it deliver? Prime Members get 3 months of Audible FREE for Prime Day In short, yes. Audible celebrates its 30th birthday this year, and it shows: there's a dizzying amount of content to be discovered. The official number is that there are over 800,000 titles, but in short, you'll find any book you might fancy. There's a regularly-updated list of bestsellers, which tends to comprise a mixture of self-improvement books, celebrity authors (Richard Osmen, Bob Mortimer and David Mitchell are stalwarts) and, somehow, still, the Harry Potter series. (I'm no hater, but The Philosopher's Stone came out nearly 30 years ago). Of course, there's also centuries' worth of classics to be discovered, with the 21st century-spin of being narrated by A-List actors: The Great Gatsby by Jake Gyllenhaal; Alice in Wonderland by Scarlett Johansson; The Wizard of Oz by Anne Hathaway. However, where Audible really comes into its own is its extensive library of exclusive content, which you won't find at any other provider. One of my first downloads, for instance, was an Audible-exclusive rendition of George Orwell's 1984 (one of my literary blind spots), narrated by a frankly astounding cast of actors: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott and Tom Hardy are the first four names on the list. There are six Oscar nominations between those four names! There's also a version of Pride and Prejudice coming out with a cast led by Harris Dickinson, Glenn Close and Bill Nighy, while bookworms will love Audible's exclusive version of the Sherlock Holmes collection narrated by Steven Fry. And there's a seemingly endless selection of exclusive thrillers that would be perfect for a low-effort holiday read. There's also a range of exclusive podcasts, including Alan Partridge's From The Oasthouse and French and Saunders Titting About. And it goes without saying that, after three decades and with a parent company as big as Amazon, Audible has got the app down — it's unfussy and simple, and I don't see even the least tech-savvy people having too many issues getting to grips with it. People who love listening to an audiobook on the road will also love the driving mode, which further simplifies the display and makes the buttons bigger to make it easier and safer to pause and play while on the go. My only small complaint is that there's no Audible TV app unless you have an Amazon TV or Fire Stick, which would have been handy for when I'm cooking or tidying the living room. How much is Audible? As I mentioned earlier, there are a few routes you can go down with Audible. Unless you're only planning on getting through a book or two a year, the best course of action is the Premium Plus Subscription, which costs £8.99 per month. Each month, you get a credit to use to buy an audiobook of your choice, meaning that, if you're getting through roughly a book per month, the £8.99 monthly cost is all you'll need to spend. That's more or less the same as buying a paperback every month — if not cheaper. If you're a real bookworm, then you can pay a smidgen extra — £14.99 — to get two credits per month, or you can make use of Audible's Premium Plus library, which contains loads of books that you can listen to completely free of charge. Audible alternatives Audible has been in the game so long that it has something of a monopoly over the audiobook industry. There are a couple, though, including Libro, Xigxag and although I haven't tried these services. Presumably, in an attempt to get a leg up on Audible, a couple of them run more attractive sign-up offers. If you have a subscription to Spotify or Apple Music, you can get some audiobooks through those, which can be helpful if you don't want to double up on subscriptions.

UK bank hit with huge fine for ‘anti-financial crime' failures
UK bank hit with huge fine for ‘anti-financial crime' failures

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

UK bank hit with huge fine for ‘anti-financial crime' failures

Digital bank Monzo has been fined over £21 million by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for significant anti-fraud failures. The FCA found that Monzo allowed customers to open accounts using "obviously implausible UK addresses" such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. These shortcomings in Monzo's anti-financial crime measures date back to between October 2018 and August 2020. Monzo also breached a regulatory requirement by failing to prevent the onboarding of over 34,000 high-risk customers between August 2020 and June 2022. The FCA stated that Monzo's financial fraud systems and controls "failed to keep pace" with its rapid customer growth, though Monzo claims "substantial improvements" have since been made.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store