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What is the best UK town or city to work in, in terms of employment prospects, job satisfaction and affordability? Cambridge, according to Glassdoor’s ‘Best UK Towns & Cities to Work in’ report. Northern cities feature strongly in the league table this year but London doesn’t even make it into the top 20.

The jobs and recruiting site compares UK cities and towns with a population of 150,000 and gives them a rating out of five in three areas: hiring opportunity, cost of living and overall job satisfaction. Hiring opportunity is the ratio of active job openings to population. Cost of living is the ratio of median base salary to average home value and overall job satisfaction rating is a combination of local company overall ratings, career opportunities ratings and work-life balance ratings.

Cambridge scored 4.1 overall, followed by Milton Keynes at 4.0 and Nottingham in third place at 4.0. The rest of the results are detailed in the box below.

So that’s locations that are good to work and live in. What about organisations that are good to work for? What are the best companies in the UK? Registration has is open for Best Companies, the three star accreditation system that identifies good employers in the country. Best Companies measures how fulfilled employees are, their levels of motivation and their levels of engagement.

So why should HR consider attaining Best Companies status?

Companies that make it onto this list hope the accreditation will make it easier to recruit and retain top talent by making them stand out from the crowd. The organisation’s annual survey informs The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work for Lists – the Best 25 Big Companies, the Best 100 Mid Companies, the Best 100 Small Companies and the Best 100 Not-For-Profit Organisations.

As with any benchmarking activity, HR and employers can also use the data gathered to identify strengths and weaknesses in their organisation, such as where employee engagement is high or low and then take action.

How does the process work?

Organisations are given a Best Companies Index (BCI) score from 1 to 1000, based on what employees say about their workplace in a confidential survey.  The whole organisation is involved in the process as every single employee is sent the BCI survey to complete. They are asked about eight factors of engagement – my manager, leadership, my company, personal growth, my team, giving something back, fair deal and wellbeing.

The scores that employees give in those eight areas are all added together to produce an overall score that gives the BCI score. Those that receive ratings over a certain level gain Best Companies Accreditation, on a three star status: Ones to Watch, One Star, Two Star or Three Star.

Who is on the latest list? Automotive group Inchcape UK topped the 25 Best Big Companies list while recruitment company Phaidon International topped the 100 Best Small Companies list. To find out more, visit Best Companies’ website at http://www.b.co.uk.

Glassdoor’s 2016 20 best towns and cities to work in

• Cambridge 4.1
• Milton Keynes 4.0
• Nottingham 4.0
• Leeds 3.8
• Peterborough 3.7
• Coventry 3.7
• Reading 3.7
• Bradford 3.6
• Northampton 3.6
• Swindon 3.6
• Manchester 3.6
• Aberdeen 3.5
• Warrington 3.5
• Bristol 3.5
• Glasgow 3.5
• Edinburgh 3.5
• Oxford 3.4
• Liverpool 3.4
• Birmingham 3.4
• Derby 3.4