The CEO Approval Index

A great CEO has the ability to engage their team, foster an unbreakable company culture, and power a business's success. 

By the same token, a poor CEO can disillusion staff, create a toxic working environment and shackle commercial performance. 

The vital role that a CEO plays in a business got us thinking about where the best leaders can be found and inspired us to create the CEO Approval Index. 

Our analysis looked at three key metrics for a successful CEO to build and retain a great team:

• The approval rating from employees.
• The proportion of staff that would recommend their company to a friend.
• The average median employee tenure. 

Using data from Glassdoor and LinkedIn, we compared 500 businesses from 25 towns and cities across the UK - incorporating multinational giants, household names, and regional heavyweights from a range of sectors.

The findings

This analysis found that London was home to the best CEOs overall - with leaders scoring an average approval rating of 80%, being recommended to friends of 74% of staff, and retaining employees for an average of 5.7 years. 

While the capital finishing on top of the rankings might not be hugely surprising - our CEO Ifty Nasir is based there after all - smaller towns and cities from across the UK dominate the top half of our league table. 

Northampton, Belfast and Hull were closely behind London - followed by Reading, Leeds and Bradford. 

When it comes to CEO approval ratings on Glassdoor, Hull and Northampton are top of the pile - with an average rating of 83%, followed closely by Belfast on 82%. 

CEOs in Brighton are most likely to be recommended to their employees’ friends - with three-quarters of staff recommending their boss to their mates, despite ranking in ninth place overall. 

The cities with the longest-serving staff are London and Reading - with workers staying with their employer for an average of 5.7 years. Luton and Birmingham are among the other cities with the strongest employee longevity. 

Explaining the findings Ifty said: 

“Although London and the south east often dominate when it comes to attracting businesses and investments, our rankings highlight the huge range of leadership skills across the UK. 

“Towns and cities like Northampton, Hull and Reading prove that, while bigger cities may take the headlines, there is an abundance of talented business leaders spread across the country.”

Which sectors have the best CEOs?

As well as comparing how CEOs compare across the UK’s towns and cities, our CEO Approval Index looked at how leaders ranked across a range of sectors. 

CEOs in the banking sector were found to be the highest performing, with an approval rating of 84%, recommend to a friend score of 75% and an average employee tenure of 6.2 years. 

The legal and education sectors closely follow with the most highest ranking CEOs. 

Logistics, travel and retail were found to be the lowest ranking sectors for CEO performance.