1 Cisco Systems
2 Microsoft
3 Capital One
4 Timpson Ltd
5 Asda
6 Intel
7 Abbott Mead Vickers
8 Bacardi Martini
9 Morgan Stanley
10 Pret A Manger
11 Sun Microsystems
12 Bettys & Taylors
13 Agilent Technologies
14 Wragge & Co
15 Hewlett-Packard
16 DLA
17 MBNA
18 Pearson
19 Churchill
20 Mondial
21 Carphone Warehouse
22 Ulster Carpet Mills
23 Pfizer
24 Simmons & Simmons
25 Future Publishing
26 Trifast Fastener
27 Fidelity Investments
28 Deloitte & Touche
29 Friends Provident
30 Nationwide
31 Arthur Andersen
32 Admiral
33 PA
34 Bulmers Cider
35 CMG
36 Co-operative Bank
37 KeyMed
38 BP
39 Iceland
40 Ernst & Young
41 American Express
42 Watson Wyatt
43 Sage Software
44 Accenture Management
45 One2One
46 Oscar Faber
47 IBM
48 Bayer
49 Kent Messenger
50 Maersk
4th Place
Shoe Repairer
Annual sales: £45m
Staff: 972
Female staff: 13%
Staff turnover: 16%
New jobs created: 7
Entry-level pay for branch manager: £12,220
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BENEFITS
RESPECT
PRIDE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timpson staff say they fit into the company as happily as feet in much-loved shoes. Timpson is a one-off: a family- owned business with 321 branches selling four main services: shoe repairs, key cutting, engraving and watch repairs. It also has a profitable sideline in umbrellas and dry cleaning for commuters who drop into London's Cannon Street station.
A quarter of Timpson's shops are run by a single worker, two-thirds by two or three. The rest have four or more staff, including the top-selling branch in Selfridges, the London department store.
"It is an amazingly peculiar company," says Rod Umpleby, development controller and shop designer. "It follows the giraffe theory: you would never invent it; it sounds ridiculous, but it works."
The firm employs individuals - characters who are good with their hands and good with customers. In fact, the company's guiding principle is "the customer is always right".
William Timpson, great-grandfather of the current chairman and chief executive, John Timpson, started the firm as a shoe manufacturing business in 1865. The company, based in Manchester, grew to include shoe repairs in 1903 and went public in 1926. The family share declined in the 1960s and the firm was taken over by United Drapery Stores. John was able to regain control of the business in 1983. He sold the shoe-making and bought out the repair business, which he has been building with the help of his son James, 29, director of sales and marketing. The shops' range of services was expanded to include key-cutting, engraving and watch repairs, which have proven a goldmine. The number of branches has doubled in 13 years.
With renewed stability, the management focus has moved to worker satisfaction and training. Benefits include a hardship fund, which provides interest-free loans for all workers (although the benefit is taxable). John Quantrill, a warehouse manager, has personal experience of the firm's generosity. "I was on holiday with my wife in Scotland when she had a stroke," he says. "The company booked a flight to the hospital for my daughter and arranged for an area manager pick her up. You cannot help but repay that sort of loyalty."
Care shown to workers is reflected in the long service of many staff 72% say they will stay here until they retire. Other figures are telling: 64% say they receive a fair share of the profits (11% higher than the average on our list), and 89% say they feel they "make a difference here" (16% higher).
Trust is a fundamental aspect of work at Timpson. Every manager has complete self-determination and can decide on prices, discounts and special offers. The only guiding rule is, if it works, do it.
Timpson also recognises that skilled workers are trained and not found and awards each new level of attainment with a wage rise. Similarly, bonuses are linked to performance: "The harder you work, the more you get," a manager told us.
