Willmott Dixon has shone a light on construction as a great industry to work by coming first in the Big Company category of the Best Companies Awards that recognises the UK’s top workplaces.

The win is based on responses from Willmott Dixon’s people to an online survey of questions sent out by Best Companies, which seeks to improve workplaces by carrying out regular research into employee engagement. It was further supplemented with information supplied by Willmott Dixon about company culture, ethos, policies and innovative initiatives that engage our people.

The awards are open to companies from all sectors, and the top ten list that Willmott Dixon came first in also included Admiral Group, Skipton Building Society, Roche, Hobbycraft, MBDA UK, UK Power Networks, Murphy & Sons, Hotel Chocolat and Howdens.

The event also saw Group Chief Executive Rick Willmott named ‘best leader’ in a special award in recognition of how his style and approach has guided Willmott Dixon’s success. The company was also awarded the prestigious 3-star Best Companies accreditation, reflecting 'world class’ levels of workplace engagement.

Other factors that led to Willmott Dixon’s win includes its ambition to be zero-carbon in all operations without offsetting by 2030, and to increasing diversity within the construction industry, including the aspiration to achieve a 50:50 gender split at all levels by 2030 and the introduction of the award-winning Women’s Leadership Programme.

Group chief executive Rick Willmott (above with team) said:

“We work very hard to provide our people with a work environment where they feel challenged and contented, where they can grow, develop and achieve success, so they enjoy what we hope is a ‘career of a lifetime’ with us. Being first place in a field full of famous and well-known companies is a tremendous accolade and one that will spur us even more to providing a fantastic workplace for our people.”

“It’s also great news for our industry, which continues to face a huge skills challenge. We need to tackle this is by encouraging a higher proportion of younger people from all parts of our society to choose construction to make a career in. Therefore, standing out like this is important for construction’s ability to attract and retain the very best talent.”

The prestigious title came on the same day that Willmott Dixon was awarded gold accredited membership in The 5% Club’s 2022-23 Employer Audit Scheme. This club recognised that over five per cent of a company’s workforce are involved with apprenticeships, graduate schemes and sponsored students course placements, representing a huge investment in their growth as tomorrow’s next generation of leaders. The Employer Audit is a unique scheme which validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, as well as examining their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.

Rick Willmott was also named ‘best leader’ in a special award