Waltham Forest College Named in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025

The official The Sunday Times Best Places to Work UK, powered by WorkL has been published by The Sunday Times in partnership with the leading employee experience platform, WorkL, showcasing the Best Places to Work in the UK.

Waltham Forest College has been named as a Sunday Times Best Place to Work and successfully recognised for having consistently high levels of employee experience and wellbeing. The survey revealed exceptional results with above national average in engagement, empowerment, wellbeing, communication, and confidence in management.  Waltham Forest College is one of only two further education colleges in the UK to make the prestigious list of leading employers – and the only one in London.

This nationwide workplace survey honours and celebrates the UK’s top employers – which number over 500 organisations across industries and sizes – and acknowledges the best workplaces for women, LGBTQIA+ community, disabled employees, ethnic minorities, younger and older workers, and wellbeing.

The Sunday Times partnered with employee-experience platform WorkL to deliver fresh insights into what makes a Best Place to Work. The awards use 26 questions from WorkL’s employee engagement survey, developed by behavioural scientists, data analysts, psychologists, business leaders, academics and other independent parties to most accurately monitor employee engagement, wellbeing and discretionary effort in the workplace. To achieve a high overall engagement score, an organisation must score well across WorkL’s six-step framework:

1. Reward and Recognition

2. Instilling Pride

3. Information Sharing

4. Empowerment

5. Wellbeing

6. Job Satisfaction

Zoe Thomas, editor of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work, said: “The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list is the UK’s biggest survey of employee engagement, compiled in partnership with workplace expert WorkL. Spanning a raft of sectors and located throughout the UK, the organisations in this year’s list range from innovative start-ups with a handful of employees to big multinational corporations staffed by thousands. These organisations know that happy employees are the superpower helping them thrive.”

Lord Mark Price, Founder of WorkL, said: “Many Congratulations to the 2025 Sunday Times Best Places to Work, powered by WorkL. The recognised organisations lead the way in employee experience and will now benefit from improved retention and recruitment for the year ahead. WorkL is proud to power these awards and support organisations to measure employee experience and to retain and recruit the very best employees.”

Janet Gardner, Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Waltham Forest College, said: “I am incredibly proud that Waltham Forest College has been recognised as one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work in the UK; it is a testament to our unwavering commitment to fostering an environment where every team member feels valued, empowered, and inspired.

“This achievement reflects the collective dedication of all our staff to create a culture of excellence, integrity and inclusivity. Our staff are our most important asset, and we believe that by investing in our people, we not only enhance their professional growth but also enrich the experiences of our students. Together, we are building a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”