How the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon Survey Works


Not sure how the survey works? We explain the process here.

 

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1. How the Survey Works

2. Benefits of Company Participation

3. Employee Survey Rules and Guidelines

4. Employee Survey Questions

5. Employer Benefits Survey Guidelines

6. Employer Benefits Survey Questions

If you have any futher questions about the surveys, please contact Craig Peebles, 100 Best project manager at [email protected] or 503.445.8824.


HOW THE SURVEY WORKS

An easy process that gives you critical insight into your company’s strengths and weaknesses along with the chance to rank among the 100 Best Companies and the 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon.

Sign up for survey:

A company representative must submit the online form in order to register for the survey. Registration begins in mid August and ends in November.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE 2024 SURVEY

Interested in customized, supplemental survey questions?

Are you interested in the opportunity to customize questions to add to the traditional 100 Best survey? Is there a new policy or procedure on which you want employee feedback? Do you want additional feedback from your employees? Customized supplemental survey questions may be right for you.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Invite employees to participate:

The survey is open from mid August to November. After signing up, 100 Best contacts will be emailed a survey access code and a link to the employee survey. Employers can use a template for inviting employees to complete the employee survey online. Employees may take the survey on any computer or mobile device with Internet access. Invite all Oregon employees to participate. Senior executives and/or owners may not participate. Employees that own 10% or more in the company are also exempt. For employees without computer access, you may request a hard-copy survey. The survey is also available in Spanish.
Complete the Employer Survey of Benefits:

A representative of management, usually an HR professional, will need to submit a separate survey, accessible with a unique survey link, detailing your benefits policies as they apply to most employees.


Meet participation requirements:

A minimum of 15 employees or 10% of your Oregon workforce, whichever is greater, must complete the survey by the November deadline. Your Employer Survey of Benefits must also be received by this deadline. 100 Best contacts receive weekly updates on employee participation.

Get survey results:

Following completion of the survey, all companies that meet participation requirements will be able to order survey reports detailing strengths and weaknesses of their workplaces based on survey results. Companies are strongly encouraged to complete the feedback loop by communicating survey results back to employees.

Celebrate:

The 100 Best Companies list will be released at an event in Portland in March and published in the March issue of Oregon Business. Companies will be informed whether or not they made the lists in advance.  100 Best Companies will be free to use our logo in marketing and job recruitment.


BENEFITS OF COMPANY PARTICIPATION

Here are some great reasons for your company to sign up for the 100 Best survey: it’s free, easy to facilitate, provides honest feedback and can boost workplace morale.

Free:

There is no charge to take part in the survey.

Easy and convenient:

Employees may take the survey online from any computer or mobile device with Internet access or on paper in English and Spanish. One management representative, often the HR director, coordinates communications with employees and Oregon Business magazine.

Dialog with employees:

Employees get a unique chance to voice their opinions confidentially about a wide variety of workplace aspects and are impressed when it’s acknowledged.

Honest feedback:

Employers gain valuable insight about the business from those on the front lines. All participants can order reports on survey results that detail workplace strengths and weaknesses, employee comments and benefits analysis.

Higher morale and efficiency:

Survey reports provide opportunities to further the dialogue with employees and set priorities for workplace improvement.

The List:

The 100 Best Companies are honored in the March issue of Oregon Business, distributed statewide to 20,000 subscribers. The list is also accessible online at oregonbusiness.com.

Event and promotion:

Listed companies are honored at a dinner event at the Oregon Convention Center. The top 10 companies receive trophies. All 100 Best Companies receive an award certificate and have access to logos and other promotional materials following the event. These can be used on company letterhead, Websites, t-shirts, etc.

Employee attraction and retention:

Highly qualified job candidates seek out openings at 100 Best Companies and it reinforces the pride and satisfaction of current employees to work for a 100 Best company.


EMPLOYEE SURVEY RULES AND GUIDELINES

The employee survey consists of 31 statements divided into six workplace categories. Answers to the first five categories count for 5/7 of the overall score used to determine the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon. The sixth category, Sustainable Practices, is used to help determine our 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon, published in June.

THE EMPLOYEE SURVEY consists of 31 statements divided into six workplace categories. Answers to the first five categories count for 5/7 of the overall score used to determine the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon. The sixth category, Sustainable Practices, is used to help determine our 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon, published in June. Employees rate the statements in terms of satisfaction and importance. The survey has six optional demographic questions, and two open-ended questions for written comments. Companies are scored based on average satisfaction ratings.

Rules and guidelines

• Do invite all permanent full-time and part-time employees of Oregon locations to participate. Senior executives and owners may NOT take the survey.  Employees who own 10% or more in the company are also exempt. 
• Do not invite any employees working outside the state of Oregon to complete the survey.
• Do not select a sample or subgroup of employees to take the survey.
• Do not demand that employees take the survey, or imply in any communication with employees that they should provide positive responses, nor suggest that company’s inclusion on the 100 Best list is important or necessary to an employee’s success.
• Do ensure that employees know the survey is entirely confidential and anonymous.
• No data is saved until the final page, so employees that quit the survey midway through should retake it.
• Temporary employees and contractors are not permitted to take the survey. Staffing firms should only invite internal staff to participate.
• Each employee may complete only one survey.
• Encourage employees in all departments and compensation levels (hourly, supervisory, senior management, etc.) to participate.
• A minimum of 15 employees or 10% of your Oregon workforce, whichever is greater, must complete the survey. We reward companies that achieve a high participation rate in the employee satisfaction survey. Companies that achieve a higher than average participation rate for their size group will receive more points than those employers that have a lower than average participation. Please encourage all Oregon employees to participate but do not coerce them into completing the survey if they do not wish to. This participation score will account for 1/7th of your overall score.
• We will email companies weekly updates regarding the number of employees that have completed the survey.
• We reserve the right to discard surveys that show anomalies or inconsistencies.
• Submit all online and hard-copy surveys by the November deadline.


Employee surveys via the Web:

Encourage employees to complete the survey online from any computer or mobile device with Internet access, at work or home. If they do not normally have access to the Internet, consider setting up computer kiosks and providing breaks for them to take the survey.

The steps:

1. Distribute via email, bulletin or employee-only Intranet site the survey code and link provided in your 100 Best instructions to all Oregon employees. Do not reveal your survey code outside of your company.
2. You may customize the sample e-mail/memo text (see below) to distribute to employees, informing them about the 100 Best survey.
3. After accessing the link and entering your company’s name and code, the survey will take employees about 10 minutes to complete.
4. If an employee quits the survey midway through, he/she should retake it.
5. You will weekly email updates indicating the number of employee surveys that have been successfully completed from your company.


Sample e-mail/memo to participating company employees:

TO: All Oregon employees
SUBJECT: Rate your job satisfaction in the 100 Best Companies survey.

We want to know what you think!

[COMPANY NAME] is taking part in the survey for Oregon Business magazine’s 2023 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon.

We encourage you to express your thoughtful, honest opinion on a comprehensive set of workplace qualities in the 100 Best employee survey. Your participation and the answers you provide will be strictly anonymous and confidential. We hope that all employees from every department and location in Oregon voice their candid views in this survey.

Each employee may complete just one survey. It takes about 10 minutes, and can be completed from any Internet-connected computer or mobile device — at work or home.
Go to [SURVEY LINK] and enter our survey code: [COMPANY CODE]. Please note: your responses are not saved until you reach the last page of the survey. The deadline is [DEADLINE].
After the survey is complete, in December, we can obtain survey results that may help us find ways to improve job satisfaction, productivity and performance throughout [COMPANY NAME].

Sincerely,

[Your name]


Surveys for employees without Web access:

We urge all employees with Web access to take the survey online. Both English and Spanish versions are available online. However, employees who do not have access to a computer, or cannot access the Web, may complete a hard-copy printed version of the employee survey.

The steps:

1. E-mail your request for hard-copy employee surveys to: [email protected].
2. We will e-mail you an PDF version of the survey to print, copy and distribute to any employees who do not have access to the Web.
3. Provide employees with pre-stamped envelopes or collect surveys anonymously and return them to:

Craig Peebles, 100 Best project manager
Oregon Business magazine
12570 SW 69th Avenue
Suite 102
Portland, OR 97223

Rules about hard-copy employee surveys:

• Employee surveys that you collect and return to Oregon Business are strictly confidential. Do not read them or write any identifying information (such as employee name, etc.) on surveys before distributing them or after collecting them.
• Because hard-copy surveys entail data-entry cost, organizations that submit more than 100 hard-copy surveys will be charged a handling fee of $50 for every 50 surveys processed beyond the initial 100.
• Please encourage as many employees as possible to complete their surveys online.
• All hard-copy employee surveys must be received by November deadline.


Spanish employee survey:

The survey is available in Spanish in hard-copy form. Spanish-speaking employees should not refer to it as they complete the survey online because the online survey is randomized. Instead, have them fill it out it according to the rules listed above for the English hard-copy survey. The survey is not currently available in any other languages but feel free to suggest other languages that would accommodate a large number of your employees.

The steps:

1. E-mail your request for Spanish employee surveys to: [email protected].
2. We will e-mail you an PDF version of the survey to print, copy and distribute to Spanish-speaking employees.
3. Provide employees with pre-stamped envelopes or collect surveys anonymously and (by November deadline) return them to:

Craig Peebles, 100 Best project manager
Oregon Business magazine
12570 SW 69th Avenue
Suite 102
Portland, OR 97223

EMPLOYEE SURVEY QUESTIONS

The survey is divided into six sections: Work Environment; Management & Communications; Decision-making & Trust; Career Development and Learning; Benefits & Compensation; and Sustainable Practices (used to determine the 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon list). Within each section are 4 workplace qualities (11 in Sustainable Practices) on which employees rate satisfaction and importance. There is also an optional demographic section and two open-ended questions asking what employees like about their workplace and what they would like improved.

For each statement below, employees rate:
• Satisfaction with the performance of their company in that area.
• How important that particular item is to their overall satisfaction.

I. Work Environment

1. Flexibility to balance family, community and job obligations
2. Fairness for differing racial, gender, sexual-orientation, disability, age and economic groups
3. Teamwork, cooperation and fun at work
4. Quality and efficiency of physical workspace, tools and equipment

II. Management & Communications

5. Treatment by supervisors and management
6. Open and clear communications throughout company
7. Timely discipline and termination of poor performers
8. Rewards and acknowledgement for top performers

III. Decision-making & Trust

9. Sense of shared accountability for company performance
10. Trust in management decisions
11. Employee involvement in decision-making and encouragement of solutions
12. Pride and belief in the company

IV. Career Development & Learning

13. On-the-job training
14. Support for off-site education and training
15. Opportunities to grow and stay challenged
16. Opportunities for promotion and advancement

V. Benefits & Compensation

17. Health and wellness plan quality, options and cost
18. Retirement plan options and employer contribution
19. Paid time off and leave benefits
20. Opportunities for increases in pay and benefits

VI. Sustainable Practices (Used for 100 Best Green Workplaces List)

21. Sustainability as part of the company’s mission
22. Rewards and recognition of employee efforts toward sustainability goals
23. Measurement of progress toward sustainability and sharing of results
24. Workplace recycling of paper, glass, metals, packaging and other materials
25. Conservation of water, such as low-flow plumbing fixtures and native-plant landscaping
26. Waste reduction, such as composting, reuse of materials, and minimal packaging
27. Efforts to reduce use of toxic materials and chemicals
28. Support for travel alternatives such as public transit, carpools, telecommuting, walking and bicycling
29. Workplace practice of energy conservation, such as turning off unused equipment and use of compact- fluorescent/LED bulbs and high efficiency appliances
30. Company’s practice of buying local for materials, food, etc.
31. Efforts to incorporate sustainability ethics into the company’s services and products

Optional demographic information

What is your job level?

• Non-supervisory
• Team / project leader
• Supervisory
• Professional / technical
• Middle management

How many years have you worked for your company?

• Less than 2 years
• 2 to 5 years
• 6 to 10 years
• More than 10 years

What is your age group?

• Younger than 25
• 25 to 34
• 35 to 44
• 45 to 54
• 55 to 64
• 65 and older

What is your gender?

• Male
• Female
• Transgender / Intersex
• Other

What is the highest education degree you have earned?

• High school diploma
• Two-year associate’s/technical
• Bachelor’s degree
• Master’s degree
• Ph.D./M.D.
• Other

Which of the following best describes your racial or ethnic group?

• Asian/Pacific Islander
• Black/African American
• Hispanic/Latino
• White/Caucasian
• Native American/Eskimo/Aleut
• Multi-racial
• Other

Additional comments

• What about your company makes it great?
• What about your company would you like to improve?


EMPLOYER BENEFITS SURVEY GUIDELINES

A company representative familiar with your organization’s employment and benefits policies should complete the benefits (or employer) survey. It takes about 30 minutes. To access the Employer Survey, the representative will need the unique survey link sent to your company’s 100 Best contact in the survey instructions.

A company representative familiar with your organization’s employment and benefits policies should complete the benefits (or employer) survey. It takes about 30 minutes. To access the Employer Survey, the representative will need the unique survey link sent to your company’s 100 Best contact in the survey instructions.

Below is a checklist of topics covered in case your representative needs to gather information prior to taking the survey.

Facts to be ready with before you take the survey online:

• Health, dental, disability and life insurance coverage and whether employer or employee covers most of the cost
• Percentage of health plan premiums or health savings account dollars paid for employees and their family members.(If your company pays a dollar amount or different percentages for various plans, estimate the average percentage for the typical employee.) 
• Number of holidays, vacation and sick leave or days paid-time-off (PTO) days after one year’s service and maxium
• Flex-time and community service policies
• Benefits for maternity/paternity leave, adoption, child and elder care
• Section 125 flexible-spending plan policies for dependent care and medical expenses
• Transportation benefits
• Incentive plan details
• Percentage of employees eligible for profit-sharing and stock option/purchase programs
• Retirement plan details, including employer contributions to 401k, 403b or pension plans
 • Tuition reimbursement and sabbatical policies
• Percentages of senior managers worldwide who are women and ethnic minorities
• Non-discrimination policy
 • Organization’s charitable and community service  practices
• Organization’s sustainable and environmental business practices (Used for 100 Best Green Cos. List)

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL EMPLOYER SURVEY QUESTIONS 

Rules and guidelines:

• Answer each question as it applies to the greatest percentage of full-time equivalent employees in Oregon.
• The employer survey counts for 1/7 of a company’s total 100 Best score. The Sustainable practices section counts for 1/3 of the 100 Best Green Workplaces score.

The steps:

1. Review the benefits survey checklist above and gather necessary information.
2. Access the survey online with the unique link provided in the survey instructions email. This may be done from any computer or a mobile device with Internet access.
3. Answer all applicable questions until you reach the final page thanking you for taking the survey.
4. Within a week after submission, you will receive an e-mail confirming receipt of your completed survey.
5. The benefits survey is due by the November deadline.


EMPLOYER SURVEY BENEFITS QUESTIONS

The confidential employer survey consists of 57 questions, providing a comprehensive analysis of company benefits policies. Answers from the first 41 questions count for 1/7 of a participating company’s overall 100 Best Companies score. The 15 Sustainable Practices questions count for 1/3 of a company’s 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon score. There is one open-ended question for additional comments.

Health & Wellness:

1. Does the employer offer a health insurance plan to employees?

2. If yes, what percentage of the employee’s premium does the employer pay? (If employer does not pay a  specific percentage, calculate average percentage paid for the typical employee)

3. Can employees cover their spouse and children?

4. If employees can cover a spouse and children, what percentage of the premium for these family members does the employer pay? (If employer does not pay a specific percentage, calculate average percentage paid for the typical employee’s family

5. Does the employer offer dental insurance?

6. Coverage for vision?

7. Coverage for mental health care?

8. Coverage for alternative care (chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, etc.)?

9. Does the employer offer fitness and/or wellness programs?

10. Does the employer offer life insurance?

11. Does the employer offer short-term disability insurance?

12. Long-term disability insurance?

13. Long-term care insurance?  

Time Off:

14. How does your company handle vacation and sick leave?

a. Vacation and sick leave are combined in a Paid Time Off (PTO) plan

• How many total paid days off do most employees receive after 1 year of service? (INCLUDE paid holidays in the total PTO days, whether holidays are fixed or floating in your plan.)

• What is the maximum number of PTO days employees receive per year? (INCLUDE paid holidays whether fixed or floating; DO NOT INCLUDE days accrued or rolled over from prior years).

b. Vacation and sick leave are offered separately

• How many paid holidays do employees receive per year?

• How many paid vacation days do employees receive after 1 year of service?

• What is the maximum number of vacation days employees can receive per year? (Do not include days accrued and rolled over from prior years)

• How many days of sick leave do employees receive per year?

c. Does not offer paid vacation

Work/Life Balance:

5. Are most employees permitted to work flexible or compressed schedules? 

16. Are most employees occasionally permitted to telecommute or work from home?

17. Are employees allowed to do volunteer community service on company time?

18. Can employees donate paid time off to other employees in need?

Family-Friendly Policies:

19. Does the employer offer paid maternity leave to employees? (Disability, vacation and sick leave do not qualify)

20. Does the employer offer paid paternity leave to employees? (Disability, vacation and sick leave do not qualify)

21. Does the employer provide financial assistance for the adoption of a child? 

22. Does the organization subsidize employees’ childcare expenses or provide free/discounted childcare on-site? 

23. Does the employer subsidize elder care expenses for employees?

24. Does the employer offer employees the opportunity to set aside pre-tax income in a cafeteria-style Section 125 flexible spending plan for qualified child care or dependent care expenses?

25. If yes, does the employer contribute to the plan? 

26. Does the employer offer a cafeteria-style Section 125 plan for unreimbursed medical, dental, or other qualified health-related expenses?

27. If yes, does the employer contribute to the plan? 

28. Does the organization subsidize employees’ transportation expenses?

Retirement Plan:

29. Does the employer make or match contributions to the employee’s tax-qualified retirement plan?

30. If the employer automatically contributes regardless of employee contributions, such as with a pension plan, what percentage of employees’ annual salary does the employer contribute to retirement plans? (for example, 5%)

31. If the employer matches employee deferrals to retirement plans, such as with 401Ks:

a.Up to what percentage of salary will the employer match employee contributions? (for example, 3%)

b.What is the rate of match on those contributions? (If 50 cents on the dollar, answer 50%; if rate is tiered or variable answer assuming that employee defers maximum)

Career Development & Diversity:

32. Does the employer offer college tuition reimbursement to employees?

Does the employer offer paid or unpaid sabbaticals to employees? 

33. What percentage of the whole company’s senior executives (VP or above) are women? 

34. What percentage of the whole company’s senior executives (VP or above) are racial/ethnic minorities? 

35. Does the employer have a written non-discrimination policy?

Community Service & Incentives:

36. Does the employer donate money, goods or in-kind services to community or charitable organizations?

37.Does the employer sponsor any volunteer community service activities?

38. What percentage of employees is eligible to participate in an incentive plan, profit-sharing plan or gain-sharing plan, other than as part of a pension plan? 

39. What percentage of employees is eligible to participate in a stock option or stock purchase program? 

40. Does the employer subsidize or discount employees’ purchase of stock?

41. Does the employer have an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)?

Sustainable Practices:

(This portion of the survey will be used to create the rankings for the 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon, published in June 2020)

Please indicate to what degree your company’s Oregon sites support and promote the following sustainable practices (No, not at this time/Under consideration/In process or partially done/Yes, fully implemented):

42. Comprehensive sustainability policy with statement of clear goals

43. Measurement of sustainability progress and sharing results internally and externally

44. Employee rewards and recognition for efforts toward sustainability goals

45. Recycling of paper, glass, metals, packaging and other materials

46. Water conservation, such as low-flow plumbing and native-plant landscaping

47. Waste reduction, such as composting, reuse of materials, and minimal packaging

48. Use of non-toxic and natural materials in products, services and in the workplace

49. Sustainable purchasing, such as renting/borrowing instead of owning and selecting products with less environmental impact

50. Alternatives to single-occupancy-vehicle commuting, such as public transit passes, carpools, telecommuting, walking and/or bicycling

51. Purchases or directly utilizes renewable power and/or carbon offsets

52. Energy efficiency and conservation, such as turning off unused equipment and using compact- fluorescent/LED bulbs and high efficiency appliances

53. Sustainable facilities, such as LEED-certified buildings, weatherizing, remodeling with recycled/green materials, installation of solar panels, use of eco-roofs, etc.

54. Environmental stewardship, such as re-planting trees, restoring natural habitat, cleaning up pollution or supporting environmental organizations

55. Buying local materials, supplies, services, etc.

56. Use of supply chain vendors and service providers who practice sustainability

57. If there is anything about your organization’s sustainability policies, not covered above, that you would like to add? (optional)

Additional comments:

58. What unique or special benefits do you offer employees that make your organization a great place to work? (optional)