The honoured organisations have been selected from among the more than 1,000 participating organisations, including private and public companies, government agencies and NGOs. A total of approximately 210,000 employees in all 15 member states participated in the survey process. Of these, 124,196 employees completed questionnaires.

A Jury, selected by the Commission, picked the three Award winners among 11 short-listed companies. The Jury was chaired by Mr. Pehr Gyllenhammar, Chairman of Aviva, former executive chairman of Volvo and founder of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

Special Award Winners

The Jury chaired by Mr. Pehr Gyllenhammar selected the three Award winners from among the short-lists of nominees (listed alphabetically): Lifelong Learning: Botkyrkabyggen (Sweden), Hannes Snellman (Finland), Interior (UK), Volvo Cars (Belgium). Diversity: Ford-Werke (Germany), Grundfos (Denmark), Intel (Ireland). Gender Equality: Eli Lilly (Belgium), Esy (Finland), Sara Lee/DE (The Netherlands), Schering (Germany).

The winners are:

EU lifelong learning at the workplace award 2003: Hannes Snellman (Finland)
EU diversity at the workplace award 2003: Intel (Ireland)
EU gender equality at the workplace award 2003: Schering (Germany).

100 Best Workplaces in the EU 2003 List

The first-ever list of 100 Best Workplaces in the EU, announced by the European Commission on 27 March 2003 is below. All 100 workplaces are recognised for their effort to create a high-quality working environment. The organisations are listed in alphabetical order. The Top 10 highest scoring organisations are marked in bold. Awards nominees are marked in italics. Awards winners are marked in underlined italics.

Accenture, Portugal
Admiral Insurance Services, UK
American Express, Italy
Arthur D. Little, UK
Arup Consulting Engineers, Ireland
Asda, UK
Atronic International, Austria
AUBI Baubeschläge, Germany
Bacardi-Martini, UK
Bain & Company, France, Germany & UK
Bank of Ireland Retail Operations, Ireland
Banverket Telenät, Sweden
Boehringer Ingelheim Danmark, Denmark
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Portugal
BUPA, Ireland
Caixa Popular – Caixa Rural, Spain
Caja Madrid, Spain
Cisco Systems, France & Italy
Cloetta Fazer, Finland
CoreMedia, Germany
Danone, Spain
Dansk Shell, Denmark
Datacon, Austria
Deichmann, Austria
DHL, Portugal
Diageo, Italy
DLA, UK
Electric Paper, Ireland
Esy, Finland
FedEx, Italy
Ferrari Maserati Group, Italy
Filestores, Ireland
Fishburn Hedges, UK
Flight Centre, UK
Ford-Werke, Germany
Fresh, Sweden
General Electric Plastics, Spain
Getzner Werkstoffe, Austria
Goblet Lavandier & Associés, Luxembourg
Hannes Snellman, Finland
Hexal, Germany
Hilton, Ireland
IKEA, Austria
Infovention, Sweden
Intel, Ireland
Irma, Denmark
Janssen-Cilag, Greece
JCDecaux, Finland
Johnson & Johnson, Italy
Johnson Wax, Italy
Kanal 5, Sweden
Kingston Technology, UK
Kraft Foods Hellas, Greece
Leo Animal Health, Denmark
Lilly, Spain
MBNA Ireland
McDonald’s Danmark, Denmark
Merck Sharp & Dohme, Denmark
Mercuri International, Finland
Microsoft, Belgium, France, Germany & Ireland
Middelfart Sparekasse, Denmark
The Mill Gandon Logistics, Ireland
Münchener Rück, Germany
Nationwide, UK
Nice-business Solutions, Finland
Novabank, Greece
Novartis, Finland & Italy
Novo Nordisk Engineering, Denmark
Patagonia, France
Pentascope, The Netherlands
Pfizer, Denmark
Piraeus Direct Services, Greece
Procter & Gamble Market Development, Germany
SAP Hellas, Greece
SBAB, Sweden
sd&m, Germany
SICK, Germany
Skytec, Germany
3Soft, Germany
Soft Imaging System, Germany
Tapiola-ryhmä, Finland
Technia, Sweden
Tekes, Finland
Timpson, UK
Titan Cement, Greece
Trelleborg Navex, Spain
Trodat, Austria
Unilog, France
Unimerco, Denmark
Vasakronan, Sweden
Viking Direkt, Austria, Germany & The Netherlands
Vorarlberger Kinderdorf, Austria
VX Company, The Netherlands
Wallenstam, Sweden
Webasto Zentrale, Germany
?What If!, UK
Wiener Hilfswerk, Austria
Winterheller Software, Austria
Woon en Zorg Heilig Hart, Belgium
Wragge & Co, UK