Opinion: Best Places to Work puts focus on employers

The deadline for Best Places to Work, which will recognize area employers for the incentives, corporate culture, family-friendly policies and professional development opportunities, is Oct. 6.

SBJ distributed surveys – complete with return envelopes addressed to accounting firm Whitlock, Selim & Keehn LLP, which is compiling the results – in the Sept. 25 issue of the weekly print publication. Surveys also are available at sbj.net. SBJ’s role in Best Places to Work is completely hands-off; all completed forms should be mailed to Whitlock, Selim & Keehn LLP at 3271 E. Battlefield, Ste. 300, Springfield, MO 65804, or faxed to (417) 881-1016.

“We just thought it would be a great thing to have our name attached to,” said Jennifer Silliman, chief operating officer with Whitlock, Selim & Keehn, of the firm’s sponsorship and tabulation of Best Places to Work.

The firm’s involvement prohibits it from entering the contest.

At first, she said, company officials were concerned because they thought “if we tabulate it, we can’t win it,” she said. “But then we thought ... well, if we tabulate it, we’re still getting our name attached to it. ... Everyone wants to work for a Best Places to Work.”

Participating companies will be divided into four categories: five to 24 employees; 25 to 100 employees, 101 to 300 employees and 301 or more employees. These divisions will ensure apples-to-apples comparisons of firms based on size.

There are 49 questions on the multiple-choice survey. Each possible answer will have a number value assigned to it. Whitlock, Selim & Keehn will use those values to tabulate each company’s score, and the top firms will be recognized in the Best Places to Work special publication in December.

Silliman said her company’s role is to strictly crunch the numbers. Firms should answer each question; those left blank will count as a zero. She noted that for most questions, there’s an answer option that counts as zero, usually because it means that the question does not pertain to the company.

Scores will be derived completely from the surveys, and only one survey from each company will be considered. A corporate officer must sign off on the information supplied, and the survey may be audited for verification.

In the incentives category, topics include 401(k) availability, company contributions to such plans, access to pension plans, profit-sharing, stock options, vacation days, sick leave and insurance benefits, as well as average annual salary increases and bonuses.

In the family-friendly category, companies are asked about topics such as child-care assistance, scholarships and tuition assistance for employees’ children, maternity leave and elder-care coverage.

In the people-development category, we want to know about tuition reimbursement for continuing education, rates of use for such programs, annual training expenses for staff, employee mentoring programs, availability of paid sabbaticals, internal promotion opportunities and performance reviews and feedback.

For corporate culture, questions include such benefits as flex-time, job sharing, management training on the use of flex-time and job sharing, turnover rates, telecommuting, the use of employee satisfaction surveys, manager-employee communication and sharing of financial data with employees.

There are companies of all sizes in the Ozarks, and it’s a fair bet that many are considered by their employees to be among the Best Places to Work. It will be interesting to see the final mix of companies selected for recognition in the special publication inserted into the Dec. 4 issue of SBJ and our sister publication, Joplin Tri-State Business.

The bottom line, though, is only companies that take time to fill out the survey and send it in will be considered. Silliman said that as of Sept. 27, about 30 surveys had been returned to her office. She noted that number coming in each day is increasing as the Oct. 6 deadline approaches.

To see how your company stacks up against other employers in the area, download a survey from sbj.net, fill it out and send it in – today!

Maria Hoover is Springfield Business Journal features editor.