Investment bank Nomura has been crowned Britain’s healthiest workplace
The results of the UK's healthiest workplace award are in – and the sector that the UK's most limbered up company is from might be a surprise to some.
Japanese investment bank Nomura has clearly trained well to overcome the sector's reputation for punishing hours and a poor work-life balance, as it has been crowned the overall healthiest large company in the UK in the comprehensive annual corporate wellness test.
The Capitalist is pleasantly surprised to see that nowadays an investment bank can top the charts of a holistic survey that looks at lifestyle, mental wellbeing, leadership and organisational policies.
Read more: Forget the work-life balance, we need to find the right "blend"
There are probably some pretty green-eyed employees at other banks who are perfecting their CVs as we speak.
Developed by VitalityHealth, the workplace assessment is delivered in partnership with the University of Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer.
Though perhaps Nomura has a knack for picking health-conscious staff in the first place – it also won top prize in the healthiest employees category, though pharma giant GSK won out as the country's healthiest employer.
As the survey was conducted among the 160 included companies between February and August, it's also unclear whether slimming down its staff numbers made any difference (as the majority of 750 Europe, Middle East and Africa job cuts were announced to be focused on London in April this year).
Read more: These 20 jobs give you the best work-life balance
Chris Bailey, partner at Mercer, said:
The results we see from those organisations who understand the importance of healthy engaged people evidence the clear link between investing in people and sound returns.
Regardless of sector, productivity is increasingly key, people bringing their best to work each day is essential in today’s society.
Hear, hear, we say.
See below for the full list of winners:
| Category | Company winner |
| Overall healthiest workplace (large companies) | Nomura International |
| Overall healthiest workplace (medium companies) | Adidas UK |
| Overall healthiest workplace (small companies) | Forster Communications |
| Healthiest employer (large companies) | GSK |
| Healthiest employer (medium companies) | Adidas UK |
| Healthiest employer (small companies) | Eversholt Rail Ltd |
| Healthiest employees (large companies) | Nomura International |
| Healthiest employees (medium companies) | Sweaty Betty |
| Healthiest employees (small companies) | Forster Communications |
Source: Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey 2016