Throughout their eight-year journey with Great Place To Work, Charlie Bigham’s has embedded employee voice into the heart of their People Strategy – and it shows! In 2025, this leading brand of premium prepared meals for families soared into 19th place in the top 100 UK’s Best Workplaces™ List (Large) – a massive leap from rank 72 the previous year. Below, we share some of the key elements that make Charlie Bigham’s such a great workplace for all.
For close to a decade, Charlie Bigham’s has been on a journey of growth, innovation, and most importantly, of trust. Since 2018, the company has partnered with Great Place To Work® to continuously measure and improve its workplace culture, recognising that a great employee experience is the key to prolonged business success.
Here are some of the ways in which leaders of this Best Workplace ensure that each of their 710 employees – from kitchens to support teams – feels heard, valued, and empowered:
1. They started with great leadership
It’s no secret that high levels of trust mean better engagement levels and better financial results. But trust can only happen when leadership is ready to listen and put their people first.
With a response rate of 80% and an overall score of 66% in their first year conducting the Trust Index employee survey, Charlie Bigham’s already had the foundations of a great workplace. Employees praised the company’s Founder, Charlie, for his leadership, and gave high scores for statements around CSR, strategy, and team spirit and camaraderie.
Workplace wellbeing, values, and employee recognition were highlighted as key focus areas which leaders used to inform their People Strategy moving forward. By 2021, the company saw a marked improvement in all areas of their company culture, earning their first official recognition on the UK’s Best Workplaces™ List that same year.
Today, Charlie Bigham’s continues strengthening their leadership practices and effective communication strategies, working hard to ensure their leaders role model the company’s values and enable all their people to have a consistently positive experience of work. As one employee shared:
“Charlie makes an effort whenever he is in the office to speak to as many people as he can, there are not many big companies that you would find that, and I believe it makes a huge difference.”
This visibility and approachability have become a hallmark of the company’s leadership style. Not just from the top – also enhancing mid-level and frontline managers’ understanding, buy-in, and participation in disseminating important information, clearly and consistently, to keep building trust locally and ensure alignment across the organisation.
Some of their top 2024 employee survey scores include:
2. They’re cultivating a culture of fun
Fun is one of the top key drivers of employee engagement for 8 in 10 companies surveyed by Great Place To Work UK. This proves that having fun at work is at the core of a positive employee experience, which organisations like Charlie Bigham’s recognise and continuously nurture.
In the year 2022-2023, 78% of the company’s Trust Index survey statements had improved by 5 percentage points (pp) or more. Feedback from respondents showed that colleagues felt they could be themselves at work; that special events were celebrated by leaders; and that management had improved the way they show appreciation for good work and extra effort.
Knowing that fun has a powerful impact on employee satisfaction, advocacy, and retention, leaders at Charlie Bigham’s seized the opportunity to investigate further what fun looked like across business areas and positions, and how managers could cultivate a sense of fun in their teams.
For example: Our generous social fund allows for more team specific moments of joy (e.g. Birthdays, marriage, etc.) and the Bigham's Fun Group (BFG) came together to look at fun initiatives on a wider scale, such as organisation-wide competitions and kitchen-based events where the BFG committee, as a representation of our teams, promote ideas and agree activity as a collective.
In the last year alone, we have hosted football and pool tournaments and always encourage our teams to come up with ideas which are more than fun, they're inclusive too.
In 2024, leaders built on the momentum of the previous year, which saw results get even better, ultimately earning Charlie Bigham’s recognition on five Best Workplaces Lists that same year:
As one employee shared: “The focuses on fun and celebrating, I love all the different events and the way that kitchen and support are treated so similarly”.
3. They built a strong culture of care and cooperation
Employees who work in a high-trust, high-engagement workplace willingly help others, even if it’s not their job to do so. They feel supported by and trust their immediate managers and, in turn, are more likely to go the extra mile for their customers.
For manufacturing and production, this can be especially tricky. Employees often work in rotating shifts across various locations, and may come from highly diverse cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds. Manufacturers are also under constant pressure to reduce costs whilst increasing output within tight delivery schedules and an everchanging socioeconomic climate.
But Charlie Bigham’s is proof that a great experience and long-term, fulfilling career in their industry IS possible.
Throughout their Great Place To Work journey, leaders have analysed their survey data and listened to their people to develop a workplace with a genuine culture of care and inclusion. This involved exploring the data and comments, at an organisation level and at department and team levels, to create organisation-wide action plans and plans which are owned by each team. These plans are reviewed frequently and successes celebrated and adjustments made where necessary, so our progress can be remeasured by pulse and full Great Place To Work surveys.
The result today:
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81% of Charlie Bigham’s employees agree that ‘people care each other here’ (v. 67% in 2018)
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81% say ‘you can count on people to cooperate’ (vs. 61%)
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79% agree ‘this is a psychologically and emotionally healthy place to work’ (v. 55%)
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90% say ‘people celebrate special events here’ (v. 80%)
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A third of their workforce has remained with the company for 6-20+ years (v. the CIPD reported 27% average turnover for the sector)
“It is, without doubt, the best place I have ever worked. People genuinely care about me as an individual, the benefits are much better than anywhere I have worked before. If I have any personal problems, I can discuss them and my manager, and the business do anything they can to help,” said one employee.
“Everyone is friendly and wants to get to know everyone, so recognise new faces and greet people,” says another employee. “The monthly catchup meeting of all staff members [called Café Briefings, run by Charlie], gifts and certificates are given to praise those who have worked hard, had a birthday or completed a course.”
4. Leaders continue to prioritise employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing is vital for engagement and directly affects retention and employee referrals.
For 3 years running, Charlie Bigham’s has earned recognition as a UK’s Best Workplace for Wellbeing™. They’ve committed to making the company a fun, inspiring, and supportive place to work, with leaders focused on encouraging their people to balance their work life and personal life, ensuring this is being driven from the top.
Nurturing wellbeing through the years has ranged from increasing flexibility pre- and post-pandemic, to:
- ensuring our on-the-ground leaders are well trained, understanding the importance of leadership as a human relationship;
- improving our reward package with benefits which encourage and support physical and emotional health;
- listening to suggestions & concerns through survey results and our Employee Councils (You Said, We Did boards);
- thoughtfully curating moments in the year which may be about raising awareness (e.g. Mental Health Awareness Week, Black History Month);
- and celebrating our people (e.g. Christmas parties, Long Service Suppers) and having fun (e.g. Family Fun Days, volunteering together).
Continuing the journey
Soaring into the top 20 from the top 100 large-sized organisations on the UK’s Best Workplaces List in a single year is a phenomenal achievement! And leaders at Charlie Bigham’s have no plans to sit on their laurels.
Like many other Best Workplaces, the company will soon conduct their 2025 Trust Index Survey to measure, benchmark, and improve their employee experience once again this year.
“We don’t just want people to like working here. We want people to LOVE working here” ~ CEO Patrick Cairns.
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