Pharma group GSK remains the most attractive employer in Belgium

The pharmaceutical company GSK emerged as the most attractive employer in our country for the second year in a row. Namur wins the trophy in a separate ranking of local authorities.

The HR services provider Randstad declared GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) the winner of its 24th competition on Tuesday evening.^ste Employer Brand Research. The election of most attractive employer is based on an online survey last January of 12,000 Belgians of working age. Only companies that have at least 1,000 employees in our country are eligible.

Of those surveyed who know GSK, 55 percent said they would like or very like to work for the company. That is slightly more than last year (53.2%). The company scores above average on nine of ten criteria examined. The financial health, remuneration and future opportunities in particular stand out.

The British pharmaceutical group, which has several branches in Walloon Brabant, is the first company to win the Randstad title six times. If it succeeds again in the next three years, it can take a place in the Randstad ‘Hall of Fame’, a circle of 16 global companies to which all Janssen Pharmaceutica colleagues also belong.

The Swiss inspection and certification company SGS, with Belgian headquarters in Antwerp, makes a remarkable jump to second place in the Randstad ranking, pushing the media group DPG to third place. Together with the public broadcaster VRT (seventh place), GSK and DPG are also the only companies to remain in the top ten for two years in a row. In addition to SGS, the media company Roularta, the cleaning group Care and the aviation company Sonaca are also making a strong climb to the top 20 of the Randstad list this year.

This year, the HR group also conducted research into the attractiveness of local authorities. The city of Namur emerges as the winner, ahead of Brussels and Ghent. Job security is mentioned by respondents as the most important criterion for wanting to work for a local government, followed by work-life balance. Local governments also score better than private companies in both areas.