They’re the kinds of places at which we all want to work. Where talent and teamwork are highly esteemed; where everyone is encouraged to reach their potential and given opportunities for advancement; where employers respect and care about their workers, and workers, in turn, care about the company and its customers.
This is HR Magazine’s sixth year of publishing the 50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America, and despite the economic turmoil shaking many businesses, these companies are still finding ways to help their employees succeed. Their leaders have figured out that when employees succeed, so does the business. Whether it’s training or benefits, leadership development, or a culture imbued with the notion that work should be fun, these 50 companies have a lot to share in their approach to human resources.
To learn more, take a look at the articles that follow and read about how these companies’ HR practices and strategies serve them in good times and bad. There are valuable lessons to learn from all of them.
The 50 companies were selected and ranked by the Great Place to Work® Institute Inc., a global workplace research and consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco. The winners fall into two categories: small companies with 50 to 250 U.S.-based full- and part-time employees, and medium companies with 251 to 999 employees. The institute also selects Fortune magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For®” with more than 1,000 employees, as well as 34 similar lists recognizing companies in 40 countries.
To learn how your organization can apply for the 2010 list, go to www.greatplacetowork.com. The deadline for 2010 applications is Friday, Aug. 14. Click here to get nomination forms.
How the Best Are Selected
For this year’s competition, 268 companies participated in the entire selection process, including distributing a 57-question survey to their workforces, completing a management questionnaire, and submitting annual reports, employee handbooks and other materials for review. Employees’ survey responses, 53,000 this year, count for two-thirds of each company’s total score. The remaining third of the score comes from the Great Place to Work® Institute’s evaluation of companies in five areas: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie.
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