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Top Job award for Munich-based firm/Wolfgang Clement honours the country's best SMEs
Munich 01. February 2013 - Which German small and medium-sized companies offer their employees the most attractive working conditions? Top Job, the employer benchmarking competition organised by compamedia, has been providing the answer to this question since 2002. And this year, for the first time, b.telligent GmbH & Co. KG is among the companies winning an award. The Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of St. Gallen conducted extensive interviews with each candidate's employees and human resources management teams. As patron of the corporate competition, Wolfgang Clement will be presenting all the winners with the Top Job seal of approval at the Duisburg-Nord Industrial Landscape Park on 31 January.
b.telligent GmbH & Co. KG's runaway growth, from three employees at the company's foundation in 2004 to its current workforce of 85, indicates that the company has a winning human resources strategy. Indeed, the consultancy firm impressed Top Job judges in the Internal Entrepreneurship category thanks to its policy of not only scrutinising its customers' business processes but also constantly analysing and developing the entrepreneurial skills of its own employees.
The success of the Munich-based firm, which now also has branches in Düsseldorf and Hamburg, has not been at the expense of its employees, however. "Our employees need to think and behave like entrepreneurs, but above all, they need to remain individuals, with their own unique potential," explained founder and managing director Klaus Blaschek. "When all's said and done, it is they and the work they do for us that drive this company's success." Blaschek added that: "We are big enough to operate professionally. And in spite of our growing number of employees, we are small enough to treat each other with respect and consideration."
b.telligent GmbH & Co. KG offers career entrants and experienced employees alike a range of opportunities to develop themselves professionally and personally, and to take on responsibility. Katharina Moltz, a team leader who has worked for the top employer since 2007, commented: "I have been involved in a variety of projects in several sectors over the past five years and have seen my area of responsibility expand - all the while in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere."
"Receiving this Top Job award shows us that our employees enjoy working for us - indeed this is the only way that we can achieve long-term success," said Blaschek, adding: "We are delighted that we can attract attention to our company with this accolade. And in addition, the award and the findings from the extensive analysis of our personnel strategy will give us fresh impetus to continue successfully on this path."
The corporate comparison is based on a method developed by Prof. Dr. Heike Bruch of the Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management. Prof. Bruch and her team have been surveying employees and HR managers as part of the Top Job initiative since 2005. This current round saw 131 companies apply for a Top Job award, and 89 of these companies go on to win the accolade of top German SME employer.
This year's top employers have an average of 328 people. Every second company is family-owned. Forty per cent of those receiving the award pay their employees salaries higher than the collectively agreed industry standard. And these model employers are also commercially successful, with 26 German market leaders and 13 world market leaders among their number. All the Top Job companies have individual profiles on the initiative's website at: www.topjob.de.
The Top Job corporate benchmarking study
compamedia has been awarding SMEs the Top Job seal of quality for outstanding human resources management since 2002. For employers, the award is an effective tool for recruiting trained employees and executives and also for strategically developing and organizing their companies. The benchmarking study is academically overseen and managed by Prof. Dr. Heike Bruch and her team at the Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of St. Gallen. Patron of the competition is Wolfgang Clement, Germany's former Minister of Economics and Labour. Media partner for the annual event is the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, and support is provided from partners monster.de, hrm.de, meinestadt.de and the Personal and Zukunft Personal HR-related trade fairs.
compamedia – mentor to Germany's top SMEs
compamedia GmbH is a company founded in 1993, whose team of 20 employees organises the Top 100, Top Job and Top Consultant benchmarking competitions for German SMEs. compamedia also set up the Ethics in Business initiative. It supports and honours small and medium-sized companies for outstanding achievements in the fields of innovation, human resources management, consulting and corporate responsibility. The company collaborates on the projects with prestigious universities.
