Lori Melton easily recalls the reasons she wanted to work at accounting firm Davis, Lynn & Moots PC: good benefits, flexibility, fun and a willingness to try new things.
"I just know the partners here are truly interested in helping the employees and making sure they're truly happy, which, of course, spills over to your personal life," says Melton, firm administrator and 11-year employee. "They always listen. They're open to new ideas, which is why I'm still here."
Davis, Lynn & Moots specializes in government audits, Melton says.
Six partners - Anthony Lynn, Randall Moots, Larry Brown, Larry Davis, Angie Patrick and Andy Marmouget - lead the firm, and Lynn is the managing partner.
Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the firm is the way it handles staff evaluations. Rather than traditional, top-down evaluations, employees provide mandatory, anonymous feedback to managers through a computer survey.
"They're called upward evaluations. Everyone fills it out, even clerical," Melton says. Employees are eligible for the 401(k) plan after six months. The company
matches 3 percent, and associates are fully vested at five years.
Everyone is eligible for the company's profit-sharing plan, which started a year ago and hasn't paid out yet.
After six months, employees earn one week of vacation, which increases to two weeks at a year. At five years, associates have three weeks of vacation and at 10 years, they can use four weeks. Four sick days a year are paid, and while vacation cannot be carried over from year to year, up to 20 sick days can be accrued.
DLM covers employee premiums at 100 percent. "We know that health insurance is important for people to have and it's not cheap, and we decided to keep going even as it goes up," Melton says. "It's one of those things we make a priority."
All employees are eligible for year-end bonuses that average more than $1,000, and the company pays for all classes its staff needs to stay current in their field.
Employees are rewarded monetarily for referring employees and signing new clients. All of those components were attractive to Robyn Gall, who wanted to stay in Springfield after college and discovered Davis, Lynn & Moots through a job fair. She began at the firm in 2007 and now serves as a staff accountant in the tax department.
"I did really prefer ... the smaller size," she says. "I just like the idea of getting in and getting to know everybody, who my co-workers are. ... I didn't want to go someplace where people weren't approachable. I didn't want to be intimidated, and I don't feel that way."
In addition to accessible management and a friendly environment, Gall appreciates that her employer supports community involvement. A recent project involved working with Habitat for Humanity during the workday.
"It's definitely been above and beyond my expectations," Gall says of her employer. "Anybody I talk to, I say it's a great place to work."
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