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Glassdoor Reveals The 25 Best UK Towns & Cities To Work In 2020

London (26th February, 2020) Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, today announces the results of its latest jobs report which identifies the 25 Best UK Towns & Cities to Work In 2020. Slough retains the top spot for the third time, thanks in part to the number of job openings and its above average wages. Cambridge, Gloucester, Guildford and Reading make up the UK’s ‘Top 5’.

The fourth time Glassdoor has run this report in the UK, it is compiled by ranking UK towns and cities with the highest Glassdoor score (out of 5), determined by weighting three factors equally: how easy it is to get a job (hiring opportunity), cost of living (salary vs home value), and how satisfied employees are (job satisfaction).

Slough

Cambridge

Gloucester

Guildford

Reading

See the full 25 Best UK Towns & Cities to Work In 2020

The top five cities remain the same as in 2018, when Glassdoor last published the report, moving around positions in 2020. Cambridge and Guildford both move up one place, with Gloucester and Reading each dropping a place.

The North West has the largest coverage in the report, with five cities in the Top 25 including Manchester, Preston and Bolton. Just one Scottish city makes the list – Dundee (#14) – compared to two in 2018 – Aberdeen (#23) and Falkirk (#25) – and two in 2017 – Aberdeen (#18) and Dundee (#20). Belfast is the only Northern Irish city to make the list in the last three reports, slowly moving up the ranks to position 13.

Cities including Bristol, Aberdeen and Falkirk have dropped off since the last report.

“Our latest report shows that companies are continuing to look outside of the big cities to set up offices and recruit local talent, in part driven by ever improving access, favourable rents and salaries. The Golden Triangle between Gloucester, Cambridge and Guildford perfectly encapsulates the balance of open jobs and reasonable cost of living.” comments Amanda Stansell, Senior Research Analyst at Glassdoor. “The growth in flexible working also means employees are no longer spending every day, 9-5, in the office, meaning the location of the company is less important than it once was. Companies can get away with not having offices in the larger, expensive cities – like London – as employees are prioritising flexibility and convenience over the prestige of an office address.”

Towns like Slough and Reading, and cities like Cambridge and Gloucester, stand out ahead of the likes of London as they offer a good volume of jobs along with a reasonable cost of living. This allows employees and job seekers the chance to secure a job at a high-profile company, while living in an area where housing is relatively affordable. Major companies in the top five towns and cities include O2 (Slough), AstraZeneca (Cambridge), St James’ Place (Gloucester), BAE Systems (Guildford), Microsoft (Reading).

#ENDS#

Methodology

Glassdoor’s Best UK Towns & Cities to Work In report identifies UK locations with the highest overall Glassdoor Town & City Score, based on a comparison of 50 of the most populated UK Towns & Cities with populations above 100,000. Each region’s Glassdoor Town & City Score, based on a 5-point scale (5.0=best city for a job, 1.0=worst city for a job), is determined by weighing three factors equally: hiring opportunity, cost of living and job satisfaction.

  • Hiring opportunity is determined by the ratio of active job openings to population. (Job openings per Town & City represent active job listings on Glassdoor as of 15/01/20. Population data is according to the Mid-2018 ‘Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’ published by the ONS on 26 June 2019.
  • Cost of living is determined by the ratio of median annual base salary to average area home value. (Median annual base salary per town and city based on at least 200 salary reports shared by local employees on Glassdoor over the past year (01/01/19-31/12/19). Average home value is according to the Zoopla House Value Index, as of January 2020).
  • Job satisfaction ratings per location is based on at least 80 company reviews shared by local employees on Glassdoor over the past year (01/01/19-31/12/19; Ratings based on a 5-point scale: 1.0=very dissatisfied, 3.0=OK, 5.0=very satisfied). 

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 900,000 companies located in more than 190 countries.

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