A HARTLEBURY-based communications company has climbed a national newspaper's list of the best small firms to be employed by.

Drpgroup has risen from 80th to 62nd in the Sunday Times Top 100 Small Companies to work for list.

The Top 100 were announced during a dinner held in London and Drpgroup was represented with winners of the agency’s internal recognition scheme, the Drpbrilliance awards.

The Top 100 companies scheme, administered by the Best Companies organisation, saw the group move from a two star-ranked business to a three star, the highest rating the scheme awards.

A series of special awards for each of the best company criteria were also presented on the evening, with Drpgroup awarded runner-up status in the wellbeing category.

Drpgroup had its most successful year in 2013, launching a number of initiatives focused on professional development for its team. An innovative training programme delivered through a mix of internal and external trainers complemented the group’s annual conference and an innovation day, showcasing the latest technological developments in the industry, was held.

A total of 897 organisations from a range of industries used the best company’s employee survey to measure the engagement of their employees in 2013.

The responses from the surveys were collated and combined to produce an overall score for each organisation. Only the organisations with the highest level of overall employee engagement qualified for the Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list in 2014.

Drpgroup managing director Dale Parmenter, said: “It was fantastic to see the group climb so many places in 2014 and what was even more gratifying was our runner-up position in the wellbeing award.

"We know that wellbeing and work-life balance can be challenging areas for agencies and so it’s great to see that the feedback and initiatives suggested by our team have really made a difference to our working environment.

"To progress to a three-star accreditation is also fantastic and a real achievement. We’ll continue to use the information we get from this process to improve our workplace and, hopefully, see a similar improvement next year.”