PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and PA among top 25 UK companies to work for
Social business platform LinkedIn has unveiled the most attractive companies to work for in the UK. The 2017 edition of the list sees three of the Big Four retain their place in the annual ranking, with PA Consulting Group the only other consultancy among the top 25 employers Brits want to work.
The world’s largest professional network is fed data continuously by its global user-base of job seekers. Utilising information gathered from billions of actions taken by their 433+ million members, the network’s insights and global editorial teams analysed the input to come up with a blended score that they used to rank the most desirable employers in particular locales.
In a year of mixed fortunes for consulting firms’ perceived attractiveness in the eyes of the British public, three of the Big Four professional services have maintained their reputations amongst the top places British people want to work. While Deloitte managed to climb 5 places, breaking into the top 20 to sit at 16th place, PwC have failed to break into the top 10, remaining in 11th since the year previous, and KPMG has seen its rating decline by 10 positions from 7th to sit 17th this year.
In 2015, none of the Big Four were present in LinkedIn table, and the group’s final constituent member EY meanwhile has continued to miss out on a top 25 ranking. Strategy consultancy McKinsey & Company has also remained outside the poll’s top selections since the company’s maiden appearance in 2015, when it reached 20th place.
PA Consulting Group, with around 2,500 employees globally (of which 1,800 in the UK) one of the larger UK-origin management and technology consultancies, is listed on 24th spot. In the past year, PA helped retailer John Lewis build a new e-commerce platform and organised Etihad’s transition from a single entity airline to a global aviation group.
Retail dominance
In other fields meanwhile, retail continued to push ahead of City institutions, as well as previously extremely desirable tech companies as the best place to work in the UK. Internet behemoth Google meanwhile fell further to eight place, having slumped to fourth last year from number one in 2015, while Facebook climbed to 9th from 17th. British media institution the BBC climbed into the top 10 for the first time while UK-based bank Lloyds squeezed in the top 20 at 18.
Sainsbury's, Selfridges and Burberry also made the list from the retail world, based on analysis of the professional network's 23 million British users. Asos, Topshop owner Arcadia and Harrods each ranked in the top 10, while British high street favourite John Lewis, which notably grants employees lucrative end-of-year bonuses, resultantly triumphed for a second year.
Whether it will maintain pole-position in 2018 remains to be seen, after the store announced slashing that bonus to 6%, in spite of the company posting a 21% increase in pre-tax profit, in March this year. Retailers are expected to face a squeeze in income resulting from Brexit and wage-stagnation, according to a recent report from McKinsey.
Further reading: The full list of most sought after employers on LinkedIn.
