Included in this year’s Sunday Times Best Places to Work list, recognition that comes directly from employee feedback and reflects the culture we’ve built together as a team.
The ranking is based entirely on employee feedback, gathered in partnership with leading employee experience platform WorkL. No nominations, no submissions, just an honest account from the people who work at YFM of what it actually feels like to work here.
What the results showed
Our employee engagement score has consistently exceeded all external benchmarks. In a sector not always associated with people-first culture, we think that says something. What sits behind those numbers is equally important: a 14% pension contribution, ten trained mental health first aiders, trust-based flexible working, paid study leave, and a culture where quarterly career conversations are the norm rather than the exception. These aren’t perks bolted on to a demanding environment. They are part of how we think a well-run business should operate.
What this reflects
We have always believed that the culture inside a business shapes the quality of its decisions. How a team operates, the standards it holds itself to, the way it handles difficult moments – these things show up in how we work with the businesses we back. We trust people to succeed, we balance ambition with approachability, and we pair the high standards that come with being an FCA-regulated firm with a culture that values integrity, respect, flexibility, and collaboration. People are encouraged to have open conversations about workloads, development and wellbeing, and leaders are expected to listen and act on what they hear.
For us, this recognition matters not as a milestone but as a measure. It tells us something honest about where we are, and what we need to keep doing.
“This means a lot, but not because of the ranking. It means a lot because it came directly from our people. They told the Sunday Times what it feels like to work here, and this is what they said. That’s not something you can engineer. It’s something you have to earn, every day, through the way you treat people and the standards you hold yourself to. I’m proud of this team, not just for what they’ve built, but for how they’ve built it.”
Jamie Roberts, Managing Partner, YFM Equity Partners
