Member Article

Explore Learning named a Sunday Times Best Company

Popular tuition provider, Explore Learning, has once again been named a Best Company To Work For by The Sunday Times.

Explore Learning, which is headquartered in Guildford, employs more than 2,500 people throughout their 120 centres across the UK. They were named 57th overall and 8th for personal growth. This is the fourth year the company has been given this prestigious award.

Catherine Stoneman, Head of Recruitment at Explore Learning says: “Ensuring that our staff feel happy and engaged and that they’re making a difference is hugely important to us. We have worked hard to create a real atmosphere of camaraderie where centre teams support each other, while giving individuals the chance to be creative and to come up with initiatives that can impact on the business as a whole.”

Explore Learning was launched in 2001 by Chief Executive, Bill Mills, who is still very-much hands on. They provide English and maths tuition to children aged five to 14, working closely with local communities, schools and libraries.

Regular vision days and in-house and external courses are held within the company, with back-up support from senior leaders at head office who ‘buddy up’ with one of the 120 centres. Explore Learning was celebrated for the confidence staff have in their bosses’ skills, and the fact that teams have lots of fun and people really care about each other – both receiving top-15 scores.

Catherine adds: “Our aim is to deliver the best education by always conducting ourselves with integrity, family values, being inclusive, customer-centred and ambitious. We are thrilled to be recognisd for this.

“Most recently we have undertaken a number of charity events that get all staff and centres involved. We have very ambitious plans for further growth in 2016 and we can only do this with an enthusiastic and engaged team which we are absolutely thrilled to have!”

Explore Learning is currently growing at a rate of 25% year on year and in 2014 opened their first international centre in America, under the name ‘Explore Horizons.’ The business now has five US centres in Dallas.

This continues a winning streak for Explore Learning who were named the best Private Tuition Centre Operator in the EducationInvestor Awards 2014 and 2015, a finalist in the European Business Awards and a One to Watch in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100.

Best Companies has been producing and publishing the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ lists since 2001 to measure and acknowledge excellence in workplace engagement. According to BC, each year hundreds of organisations from a wide range of industries use its employee survey to measure their employee engagement.

The responses from these surveys are collated and combined to produce an overall engagement score for each organisation. Only the organisations with the highest level of overall employee engagement qualify for the 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katherine Adams .