Employee satisfaction: The key to a happy company

What makes for a happy employee? You might say it depends on who you ask – or whether there is more value placed on the core parts of the job or its perks.

Many industries conduct surveys like this, but what makes TV different to other sectors is that it is perceived as being creative, stimulating and, yes, fun.

According to our survey, 95% of staff at qualifying companies have fun at work. The boss of one company makes the case in stark terms: “Making programmes should be as much fun as possible – otherwise, what’s the point of working in the entertainment industry?”

Employees were given a series of questions on role satisfaction, which as an overall category scored 91%, compared with 82% among non-qualifying companies.

Encouragingly, 98% said they liked the work they did, compared with 91% of those working for companies that missed the grade. Some of the highest scores of all among our best companies related to line managers.

In total, 96% said their supervisors treated them fairly, and 95% that they were treated with respect.

Having a clear understanding of the job role, and of its importance to the company as a whole, matters too. Staff want to feel valued, with authority to make decisions and with their skills and abilities put to good use.

Making staff feel valued can be a nebulous notion in TV, where people often hop between jobs and a freelance culture holds sway. So perhaps surprisingly, as many as 81% said they believed their job was secure, while 84% planned to spend at least two more years with their company.

The companies featured here adopt many strategies to promote and retain staff: basic perks; comfortable working environments with elements designed to minimise screen time, such as large kitchen areas and breakout spaces; plus longer-term training, flexible working and bonuses.

Employers trumpeted open-plan offices and “a lack of hierarchy” as essential to nourishing creativity, suggesting that the best ideas come not from staff being at a computer screen 9 to 5 but from encouraging internal networking, external stimuli and, at Talkback, “impromptu fun and nonsense”.

A working week of up to 40 hours and deadlines that disrupt employees’ work/life balance are often part and parcel of a job in TV, but time in lieu is common and several employers claimed not to be clock-watchers. “We treat our staff as adults,” as one put it. (This corresponds to the 94% of staff who agreed with the notion that they were treated “like a person, not a number”.)

Loyalty is rewarded via a variety of bonus schemes at 13 of our 17 companies, and six offer a share in profits. Most tie bonuses to company performance, while Keo, Shine TV and The Garden all offer financial incentives linked directly to commissions won.

All bar two companies – Keo Films and Outpost VFX – offer formal career development or job advancement, while annual training hours range from two a year (Shine) to 97 (MG Alba). Nine companies have promoted from within in the past year.

Princess Productions, Blink Films and Icon Films lead the way with 75%, 70% and 60% of positions filled internally respectively. Many of these firms already carry a clear cachet for staff, who were attracted to work for them by the reputation of their work and now strive to maintain these ideals. A total of 91% said they look forward to going to work most days, and 95% said they were proud of where they worked.

But the ultimate test is on word of mouth, and here our companies scored highly: 96% of employees who responded would recommend their products or services to a friend and 95% would recommend working there.

Yet only Bloomberg states that it directly rewards them for doing so. Are the others missing a trick?