Monday morning blues..? Not if you work for this lot, apparently...

Hearty congratulations to those PR companies that made it into yesterday’s Sunday Times “Top 100 Small Companies To Work For” League Table. Not that the agency webmasters dragged out of bed yesterday morning to update websites were very impressed, but hey ho…good news is good news.

PR companies in the table included Trimedia, Lexis, Bite, Lansons and Consolidated. However, holding the torch for tech PR – and with the honour of the highest position for any of the PR companies – was Firefly, sitting proudly at number 3. Well done you lot, particularly Claire Walker, mentioned as someone who “overwhelmingly inspired” Firefly’s employees (and, we presume, continues to do so). Speaking of which, watch this page for an honest and insightful Q&A with Claire and Mark Mellor of Firefly - tech PR's premier husband and wife team - being published very soon.

Surely, as gongs go, this one has to be more useful to agencies than any number of PRWeak or CIPR prizes? We all know what a nightmare it currently is finding and keeping talent, so a national paper telling the world you’re a decent place to work is worth much, much more than an industry rag or association saying you’ve done some nice PR.

It’s a bid odd, therefore, that there aren’t more PR companies in the list. The Sunday Times defines small company as having fewer than 250 employees – so 99% of all PR companies would qualify – and as “people” businesses with an eye for an award, you’d imagine that entrants would be able to drum up a decent amount of votes. Which can only lead us to conclude that most PR companies aren’t regarded by their staff as great places to work. And as one in the eye for Stuart Bruce and all his "life in the regions is so much better" cronies, every one of the PR companies in the table was cited as having its HQ in London.

Of course, as with all leagues tables, once you’re in, the real battle is to stay in, and retain or improve your position. Firefly did so – rising to third place from ninth last year – and Bite is a new entry, but Trimedia, Lexis, Lansons and Consolidated all slipped down the table from their relative positions last year. Though this probably reflects a greater number of entrants in the table this year over last, it’s a bit difficult to crow quite as much about it, isn’t it? Have a lie-in, webmaster...