Great Place to Work Institute to identify top small and medium companies in the UAE

Like its Top Companies Programme, the country's best SMEs will be evaluated on the levels of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie within their organizations.

The launch of the Top Small & Medium Companies List follows increasing demand from firms with less than 50 employees to participate in the Institute's workplace assessment. GPTW says the SME list will also contribute to the development of the sector, identified as a top priority by the UAE's leadership.

The annual SME ranking will list the country's best employers based on the confidential feedback of their staff and an independent culture audit of their HR practices by the Institute. Combining more than 25 years of proprietary research, the benchmarking study assesses the level of trust between three key relationships within the workplace - employees and their managers, employees and their jobs, and between employees and other employees.

Registrations for the 2013 Top SMEs list will remain open until 30th June with the winners to be announced in Q4 of this year. Any UAE-based company that is two years or older with 20 to 99 employees is eligible to participate in the fee-based programme.

Commenting on the Top Small & Medium Companies List, David Robert, CEO of Great Place to Work Gulf, said: "The SME sector really is the backbone of any economy and an important driver of entrepreneurship and innovation. We commend the efforts of the UAE Government to advance and grow this important sector and hope our SME workplace benchmarking study, with its focus on high-trust working environments, will help to develop HR practices among the country's SMEs."

Widely acknowledged as the preeminent corporate award for workplace practices, the "Top Companies to Work For" research programme and its various sublists are recognized by leaders in a variety of industries, including government and education institutions, as a chief means to improve their workplace environment, public image and financial performance. Best Companies in the U.S. have consistently outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin since the first list was announced in 1998. They also experience at least 50% less voluntary staff turnover compared to the industry average and enjoy higher levels of customer satisfaction.