Workplace

IG Group is a rapidly growing company and provides a fast-moving and successful working environment. Our employees have pride in what we have achieved and a strong sense of belonging.

All of our employees are offered membership of a generous pension scheme, private health insurance, permanent health insurance and death-in-service insurance. During the year we also introduced employee counselling on matters ranging from housing to personal finance. In 2010, we offer our fifth consecutive year of the Inland Revenue approved IG Partnership Shares Scheme to all of our London office employees.

We also operate schemes to encourage and reward innovation from employees, and senior management staff frequently consult with employees to achieve business objectives.

Up to 90% of our workforce comprises university graduates, and we consider our employees to be a great source of talent and ideas for generating the future growth of the business. Investing in training and education to equip employees with the skills and capabilities required to unlock their potential is part of the Group’s long-term business strategy.

Our graduate recruitment programme intake was six in 2009 and this is expected to be 16 in 2010, of which 10 will work in IT. The programme involves intensive training over a period of 12 to 18 months.

Top employer

Our positive working culture was recognised when IG Group was named one of Britain’s Top Employers for the third year running in 2011.

The award, by the Corporate Research Foundation, was based on a strong performance in each of the surveyed categories: pay and benefits, training and development, corporate culture, and particularly in career development.

Equality and diversity

We are an equal opportunities employer and have extensive human resource policies in place to ensure that employees can expect to work in an environment free from discrimination and harassment.

The Group gives full consideration to applications for employment from disabled people where the candidate’s particular aptitudes and abilities adequately meet the requirements of the job.

Opportunities are available to disabled employees for training, career development and promotion. Where existing employees become disabled, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, it is the Group’s policy to provide continuing employment wherever practicable, either in the same or in an alternative position, and to provide appropriate training to achieve this aim.  

Society

We are keen to encourage employees to engage in activities that help their development and support local communities. For example, we match any funds employees have raised for sponsored events.

In this vein, a hardy team of 16 IG Group employees embraced the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK and drummed up sponsorship and support of over £8000  through a pub quiz, cake sale, raffle, and online donations (of which IG Group contributed some £2000 in sponsorship of the pub quiz and the travel and accommodation during the hike). During the year we matched funding of almost £12,000, the majority of which was around sponsored events such as marathon running. IG Group also sponsored the Stockholm Marathon in June 2009, an event which included four participating employees.

Our Absence Management Policy also offers the opportunity for employees to take up voluntary work, for which we grant additional leave on a like-for-like basis up to a maximum of five matched days per annual leave year.

Volunteer reading

The IG Group also runs a volunteering scheme with Volunteer Reading Help (VRH) where employees can volunteer as a reading helper in a local primary school. Reading Help volunteers can play a part in the transformation in a child's life by improving their literacy skills and confidence. Reading helpers volunteer once a week for an hour or so and commit for a minimum of one year to work with the same children each week.

Volunteer Reading Help is a national registered charity with 17 regional branches that gives one-to-one literacy support to children in primary schools in the most deprived areas of England. IG employees typically work in the London Borough of Islington. VRH’s vision is 'a nation of confident children, literate for life'. Their mission is to work with schools to provide the highest quality and best-value reading support. IG is proud to be part of this worthwhile cause.