Lush Cosmetics has been named among the top ten retail businesses to work for in 2016 by employee engagement specialist Best Companies.
The retailer, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, made it onto Best Companies’ best retail organisations to work for in 2016 list, appearing in fourth place. In first place was jeweller Beaverbrooks, second place was lingerie seller Bravissimo and third place was drinks retailer Naked Wines.
Lush employs 4,057 staff in the UK and 13,652 staff globally. Asked what Lush thinks about its ranking, Rowena Bird, Lush Co-founder and Product Inventor, told Cosmetics Business: "Disappointed not to be first! All joking aside, I am obviously delighted that we've even been mentioned in recognition of being a good place to work.
"We do work really hard at being a happy place to work and to make our shop floors an enjoyable experience for staff and customers alike. Opportunity hangs in the air at Lush, it is a happy place to be but also a place you can stay for a long time if you want to, take ownership of your own role and to feel empowered."
The companies that appeared on the top ten list were recognised as having highly-engaged employees. Some of the benefits of working at Lush include 50% discount on products and a day off work on your birthday.
Bird added: "Benefits aside our employees like working for Lush because of the company ethics and values - they can volunteer for charity work and suggest ethical campaigns that we run, so actively do something to make a difference in the world. They are inspired by the work the company does in ethical buying, regenerative business, sustainable social enterprise, campaigning, fighting animal testing (actively discovering and rewarding safer scientific alternatives) and charitable giving. They also have fun at work, which goes a long way towards enjoying what they do."
Jonathan Austin, Founder and Chief Executive of Best Companies, explained: “While it’s fantastic to see retail businesses aiming to achieve a position on the List, the process itself can unlock so much more for your workplace.
“The journey will allow you to celebrate your strengths as an organisation and to work on your weaknesses in order to improve employee engagement across the board. In the long term, you could reap the benefits through higher productivity levels, happier staff, better customer service and higher sales.”
Listing alongside Lush Cosmetics was Savers Health and Beauty, a UK discount chain with more than 340 stores; the retailer ranked in seventh position.
Lush also secured a spot on the list of Best 25 Big Companies in tenth position.
Lush has had a good run publicly of late; at the end of last year it was named the third most popular retailer in the UK by OC&C in its Retail Propositions Index. In that study, Lush scored the highest ratings – beating Amazon and John Lewis – for customer service, store look and product quality.
