Local Firms come out tops at Great Place to Work Awards

A NUMBER of businesses in South Dublin County were winners in the recent publication of the annual Great Place to Work 2017.

The report was published at the end of February and featured a list of winners in three categories – small, medium and large businesses.

Winners in the best small workplace category include Ballymount medical device distributor PEI (eighth place – 78 employees) and Parkwest company Certification Europe (26th place – 62 employees).

Winners in the best workplace for the medium category include Cherry Orchard firm Globoforce (sixth place – 200 employees), Citywest company Shire Pharmaceutical (17th place – 106 employees), Volkswagen Group Ireland in Liffey Valley (19th place – 153 employees), and Grange Castle biotech firm Zenith Technologies (22nd place – 208 employees).

Winners in the best large workplace category include Citywest biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Ireland (third place – 621 employees), and Kingswood-based software and services provider SAP (fifth place – 1,694 employees).

Great Place to Work Institute is a global research consulting and training firm that helps organisations identify, create and sustain their workplaces.

John Ryan, CEO Best Place to Work, said falling unemployment levels in recent years had led to a “war for talent” and this was likely to continue in 2017.

He said: “That is, without doubt, one of the key reasons why we have seen a spike in the number of organisations engaging in the Great Place to Work process – which makes the achievement of those companies recognised in this publication even more impressive.”

Mr Ryan cited pay as a “significant issue” over the last 12 months, and stated pensions, wellbeing, automation and leadership will be “key areas of concern over the coming years.”

With regard to automation rendering a wide range of jobs obsolete, Mr Ryan said the coming years will be “defined by organisations who effectively reskill employees” rather than implement redundancies.