Tánaiste congratulates 10 Irish Companies included in list of 100 Best Workplaces in the EU

Intel Ireland awarded the Overall EU award in the area of diversity

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney, TD. Today (Friday 28th March, 2003) congratulated ten Irish companies on their achievement of being included in the 100 best workplaces in the EU. In congratulating the Irish companies on their achievements, the Tánaiste acknowledged their contribution to raising workplace standards in Ireland. The results of the "Best Workplaces in the EU" contest were announced in Brussels by the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Ms Anna Diamantopoulou.

The Ten Irish companies, Microsoft European Operations Centre, MBNA Ireland, BUPA Ireland, the Mill Gandon Logistics, Filestores, Hilton Hotels Ireland, Bank of Ireland Retail Operations, the Electric Paper Company Ltd, Arup Consulting Engineers and Intel Ireland were listed in the top 100 workplaces in the EU. Intel Ireland was awarded the overall EU award for their achievements in the area of diversity.

The Tánaiste said, " I am delighted that ten Irish companies have made this prestigious list. I would like to take this opportunity to pay a special tribute to Intel Ireland for having received the overall EU award for diversity. I was particularly proud that Ireland was the only country to have two companies, Microsoft and MBNA Ireland, listed in the top 10 European workplaces."

The contest forms part of an initiative by the European Commission to recognise organisations in which employees are provided with a great work environment and to encourage other organisations to do likewise. In addition to listing the 100 Best Workplaces in the EU, the Commissioner honoured three companies with exemplary practices in the fields of lifelong learning, diversity and gender equality.

More than 1,000 organisations including companies, non profit entities and state enterprises from all 15 EU Member States entered the competition for these awards. Each organisation submitted a questionnaire that detailed its HR practices with particular emphasis on the areas of lifelong learning, diversity and gender equality. In addition, the Great Place to Work Institute Europe, an independent research organisation, conducted a survey of a random selection of more than 100,000 of their employees.

The EU contest to list the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland was conducted by Discovery Research Ltd, with sponsorship from FÁS and the Irish Independent. The winners of the three EU awards and the list of the 100 Best Workplaces in the EU were selected from the national nominations by a jury chaired by Mr Pehr Gyllenhammar, Chairman of Aviva UK, former executive chairman of Volvo (Sweden) and founder of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

The Tánaiste said, "Research has shown that companies that respect and value their employees by providing a pleasant working environment are not only more productive but share greater profits and are less likely to experience industrial disputes."

The Tánaiste praised the European Commission for having taken the initiative in this area and explained that it complemented measures being taken by the Government to reconcile work and family life. She hoped that the contest would promote competition among companies who wish to be considered employers of choice.