A rapidly expanding telecommunications business has been named as the best company to work for in a prestigious and high-profile national awards scheme.
Christchurch-based telecoms provider 4Com was this week awarded the number one spot in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
Company chairman Daron Hutt was presented with the award for the mid-size company category by TV personality Ben Shephard at a glittering ceremony in London.
4Com, which specialises in providing telecommunications equipment, services and solutions for the UK’s small business sector, has become the highest ranked Dorset company as well as the leading telecoms company across all lists.
The company’s expansion to more than 300 staff meant it was competing in the medium-sized business category for the first time after previously featuring Best Small Companies List for the previous four years, achieving 12th place in 2015.
4Com Chairman and MD Daron Hutt said, “We are delighted to have been named as the Number 1 Best Company to Work For by the Sunday Times.
“This prestigious award is a massive step forward for us and, arguably, it’s even harder this year as we were up against bigger companies in a new category.
“It is testament to the commitment and positivity of our staff that we have been able to achieve this ranking as an independent mid-sized business.
“Everybody at 4Com works incredibly hard to continually improve the working environment and to build a place where people genuinely want to work, so it’s particularly gratifying to see this result as it is based entirely on what our team think. We simply focus on excellence – in the way that we have built our business, the way that we look after our 4Com family and the way that they in turn look after our customers – excellence in everything.”
“This award reinforces the fact that we have an amazing team at 4Com and so many of my colleagues put in a phenomenal effort to keep us moving forward.
This continuing progress has seen 4Com’s employees increase to 300-plus, the majority at head office near Bournemouth International Airport, with the remainder in sales, installation and maintenance roles across the country.
It’s not just their team that has seen rapid development – 4Com’s new HiHi business telephone handset – designed, developed and now built in the UK – was launched earlier this year and has been successfully deployed to thousands of customers already.
The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list, now in its 17th year, uses extensive data-gathering and analysis processes across all sectors to determine the rankings – taking into account the views of 270,429 employees, who anonymously give opinions about their employers and working environment.
Jonathan Austin, CEO and founder of Best Companies added, “I would like to congratulate 4Com on their outstanding achievement. We know that the main challenge for many organisations this year will be talent attraction and retention.
“Organisations like 4Com that have demonstrated an ability to create an engaged workforce and recognise the importance of caring about their employees puts them in the best position to retain and attract the talent they need.”
4Com was founded by Daron Hutt in 1999 in Salisbury and has also had offices in Southampton before moving to current headquarters at Aviation Park West.
The company handles 10 million minutes of calls a month and recently passed the landmark of 50,000 installations of apps and software.
The 4Com Foundation was established in 2014 and run by staff to aid charities with more than £200,000 raised through a series of events, including the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge and a 40-mile trek across the North York Moors.
