Stratford District Council one of the best councils to work for

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has come 25th in The Times Best Councils to Work For 2008 at an awards ceremony last Thursday 18 September.

The awards are the culmination of an in-depth confidential survey of employees from all the councils who entered the competition. Following the same format as The Times Best Company to work for, staff were asked what they really thought of their place of work, colleagues, managers, chief executive, pay and benefits. Employees were also consulted on how much they thought that their council put back into society and the local community.

The awards ceremony, hosted by Bill Turnbull, celebrated the achievements of the top 25 councils that were short listed for recognition.

Special honours were awarded to those councils demonstrating high levels of engagement in various categories - best for training and development, best for wellbeing, best for work and home balance, best for environment and local community and best leader.

"To get to this top 25 is a great achievement and recognition as to how far the Council has come over the past few years," says Paul Lankester, Chief Executive of Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

"It is the first year we have entered the competition and the survey result is a reflection of staff views.  The top 25 was dominated by District Councils, with other 'local' Councils such as Warwick (22nd), Malvern Hills (19th) and West Oxfordshire (20th) also recognised, with Wychavon coming out on top - which has definitely given us something to aspire to!"

In all, 90 Councils entered the awards sponsored by I&DeA and LGE, and then from a shortlist of entries, a final group of 25 Councils were put forward. 

To find out more about The Times Best Councils to Work For, visit Times Online here.