The Children’s Centre has achieved a ‘Two Star Status’ in the Best Companies rating system for the second year running. The Best Companies awards are based on a survey of employees and from the results organisers produce a comprehensive analysis of employees’ engagement across eight key factors in the workplace. The Best Companies star rating is granted for entrants achieving high marks in the survey and is structured in a similar way to the Michelin ratings for restaurants. Star Status awards range from a ‘First Class’ one star award; an ‘Outstanding’ two star award; and the ‘Extraordinary’ three star award. John Knight, Chief Executive of The Children’s Centre, said: “The accreditation of ‘Two Star’ status reflects the outstanding levels of employee engagement that the charity has demonstrated. I am delighted that, as a team, we have been able to maintain this standard for two years in a row. I believe that this recognition shows our determination to invest in our people and to approach our service delivery in a business like manner.” Best Companies was established eight years ago with a vision to identify the drivers of sustainable business performance following research which showed that the key to this was ‘workplace engagement’. Using responses from nearly 740,000 employees in thousands of organisations Best Companies has now developed an academically rigorous methodology to measure levels of ‘workplace engagement’ and it is this method which is used to assess whether or not companies merit Star Status awards. The Children’s Centre was included in the 2010 Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies To Work For list and is now waiting to hear whether it will be included this year. The charity was 83rd in the 2010 list and was one out of a total of 565 businesses and charities which applied for inclusion. Sunday Times’ managing editor Richard Caseby described all of the organisations included in the Top 100 list as ‘beacons of excellence, continuing to define leading workplace practice and engaging and motivating their employees even in today’s troubled economic times’. The 2011 list will be announced in March. The Children’s Centre is the Isle of Man’s leading children’s charity and works directly with more than 1,000 children, young people and families each week. It develops, manages, and pioneers a variety of community initiatives and services aimed at enabling children, young people, and families to realise their full potential. - ENDS -