From the Editor: Best Places to Work competition continues evolution

SBJ Publishing is the parent company of both Springfield Business Journal and Joplin Tri-State Business, and the Best Places to Work competition is open to companies in the readership areas of both publications.

These 20 companies were selected from among a pool of 91 applicants, based on their answers to a questionnaire that delved into available perks and benefits as they pertain to incentives, family friendly environment, people development and corporate culture. For apples-to-apples comparisons, companies were divided by size as determined by their numbers of local employees. We used total local employee figures, even though many companies reported some part-time workers, and benefits largely were available only to the full-time staff.

With a maximum score of 205 – up to five points for each of the 41 questions – total scores were tallied for each group, with the Top 5 scores resulting in those companies being selected for Best Places honors.

Just for fun, we also submitted an application for SBJ Publishing, which has 30 employees – 25 in Springfield and five in Joplin. Our total score was 112, which doesn’t put us among the Top 5 in the category, but ties us with another Best Places applicant, architecture firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc.

Interestingly, it was BRP’s application that brought about a change to SBJ’s benefits package. After calling to clarify some of BRP’s answers, we discovered that the company doesn’t differentiate between vacation, sick time and personal leave – but classifies it all as paid time off. For employees who are rarely ill, “sick time” may go unused, but under the paid-time-off banner, it can be used for other purposes. SBJ management decided that this method has merit, and the company now has a paid-time-off system for employees.

That’s not the only change brought about by the 2007 Best Places to Work. This is the second year that SBJ has presented Best Places to Work, meaning it is constantly evolving and each competition offers new tips. For instance, a company’s flextime benefit is scored under the corporate culture category. But what we discovered while reporting the results is that most companies – and their employees – talk about flexible scheduling as it pertains to balancing family responsibilities.

We’ll also likely revamp our nomination and application process to make sure that questionnaires are filled out by, or at least signed off by, human resources directors, thereby ensuring that answers about benefits are accurate. Thus far, we’ve solicited nominations from individuals in the business community, not taking into account their positions. This strategy has proven troublesome.

In one case, we learned during our reporter’s interview with University of Phoenix officials that information submitted on the application about benefits wasn’t entirely accurate. The updated, accurate results dropped the school out of the Top 5 in that category. In another realization that a tweaking of the process was necessary, we discovered that a local company with a national presence, Olsson Associates, was categorized based on firmwide – and not local – employees. After moving the engineering firm into the appropriate employment category, Olsson Associates, too, slipped just beyond No. 5. This example helped us to identify an area where our application is too ambiguous.

These realizations came after the Top 20 honorees were announced, causing us to correct and change the Best Places to Work lineup. As difficult as it can be to admit errors, we know that making those changes was the right thing to do for the competition. We take comfort in that.

Both of these areas have been addressed and will be improved to make Best Places as accurate – and as fair – as possible.

After checking, checking and rechecking, we are pleased to present the Top 20 Best Places to Work. These companies, it seems, go above and beyond the expected to satisfy their employees, whom they largely credit with their companies’ successes. Congratulations to all the companies featured here – and for those who weren’t, take heart that a new and improved Best Places will debut in 2008.

Springfield Business Journal Features Editor Maria Hoover may be reached at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]