With 20 employees, GeoEngineers Inc. pays 100 percent of health care costs for all full-time and part-time employees, a portion of dependant health care costs and offers benefits to employees caring for aging parents and domestic partners. With an average of more than $1,000 annually, bonuses are available to all employees. More than 90 percent of current company managers have been promoted from within the company. The company also provides support for professional development, including supporting costs for professional organization participation.
Editor’s Note: Answers were provided by spokeswoman Jennie Hart.What do you find makes your business a desirable place to work?“GeoEngineers’ culture makes it a desirable place to work and our culture derives from our core values, which include: Caring and respect defines our culture; Internal and external teamwork essential for the success of our clients and our company; We seek and embrace opportunity for our staff and our company; We demonstrate absolute integrity in all we do. Other GeoEngineers’ core values include providing unparalleled service to our clients; being committed to broad, internal ownership; and achieving technical excellence in our operations and work products. Our people are motivated to be innovative and collaborate without regard to geography.
What innovative ways have you developed to reward employees?“Recently, one of GeoEngineers’ leading principals took time to honor a colleague with the first Take My Wheel award - an actual bike wheel, painted gold, mounted on a trophy stand. In bike racing, a team member who has been in the lead and expending a lot of energy will temporarily drop behind a teammate and ‘take a wheel,’ giving the first rider a chance to benefit from the other rider’s slipstream and recharge for another lead run. This GeoEngineers’ principal was inspired to create the award because his colleague was there for him at a critical moment. The idea behind this spontaneous recognition is the award recipient will pass the Take My Wheel award to someone else who goes above and beyond in providing assistance to colleagues. It is a small way to underscore the important role GeoEngineers’ staff plays in picking each other up when needed.
Work vs. life – how does your company help employees strike a balance between the two?“GeoEngineers promotes balance in the lives of our employees by providing a supportive and flexible work environment that enables them to fulfill obligations on and off the job. Some of our Springfield office staff takes advantage of these benefits.
“In addition, GeoEngineers has recently revamped our wellness program for employees. GeoEngineers’ fitness subsidy now reimburses $20 per month for team sports league activities offered through established parks and recreation programs – in addition to already providing this reimbursement for gym memberships and fitness classes. GeoEngineers’ transportation subsidy now provides a $20 per month subsidy for employees who ride their bikes to work at least three days per week. This benefit is in addition to a monthly subsidy for public transportation. GeoEngineers is also internally promoting healthy eating by providing communication tools for employees to share."
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