The more they change, the more they stay the same

The 100 Best Companies get more creative with perks and more generous with benefits; employees seek empowering relations with management and coworkers.

Share this article!

BY BRANDON SAWYER

The 100 Best Companies get more creative with perks and more generous with benefits; employees seek empowering relations with management and coworkers.

Our 100 Best Companies project turned 21 this year, so pop open the Champagne. Our latest survey gives us plenty to cheer.

Statewide, unemployment has been in steady decline as the job market finally heated up, and top employers once again strained to outdo one another with enticing benefits, outrageous perks and workplaces, sweet workplaces. Puppies, Ping-Pong, standing desks, massages, tuition reimbursement, free lunch, video arcades, biking bonuses, unlimited vacation, lactation lounges, sabbaticals, kegs with local brews, Zumba classes, Hawaiian getaways, volleyball and free eggs. Who would ever want to leave?

Health care and wellness options all increased among the 100 Best, as did elder- and child-care subsidies, telecommuting, maternity and paternity leave, retirement plan contributions, ESOP plans and volunteer community service.

Boly:Welch, No. 7 Small

Marmoset, No. 25 Small

Independent Dispatch, No. 5 Medium

How are the Best Companies judged?

We measure employee opinion on 25 workplace/job statements as well as an employer questionnaire on benefits. Employees rate their satisfaction — 83% of companies’ 100 Best scores — as well as the importance they attach to work environment, management and communications, decision making and trust, career development and learning, and benefits and compensation.

What do employees really care about?

Perks and benefits aside, the top priorities for Oregon employees are the same set of intangibles as last year. Workers demand a considerate boss they can trust, a job that accommodates their life outside work, pride in the company and fun, collaborative coworkers.

Five Survey Statements Most Important to Employees:

1    Treatment by supervisors and management
2    Flexibility to balance family, community and job obligations
3    Pride and belief in the company
4    Teamwork, cooperation and fun at work
5    Trust in management decisions

Convergece Networks, No. 6 Medium

LifeSource Natural Foods, No. 23 Medium

Carr Auto Group, No. 6 Large

How could most workplaces do better?

Besides the obvious answer of paying more and enriching benefits, the biggest gaps between employee satisfaction and importance loomed between fairness of compensation, open and clear communications, promotion opportunities and discipline for poor performers.

Who are the 100 Best Companies?

The list recognizes many employers with best-practices staying power as well as innovative upstarts. This year, we celebrate 20 companies never listed before, and 45 that have appeared 5 years or more.

As usual, the broad sector with the biggest showing was professional services, encompassing a third of the list with 7 law firms, 6 management consultancies and 5 firms each in accounting, advertising/marketing/PR, architecture/engineering/design and staffing. Construction increased its contingent from 10 last year to 12 companies, while finance scaled back from 14 to just 10 banks, investment firms and mortgage lenders, and health care declined from 8 to 5 companies. Software and IT expanded to 10, telecom/Internet providers grew to 6 and manufacturing ramped up to 7 companies.

We salute these inspiring workplaces that help raise the ‘dream job’ bar for the entire state:

• THE TOP 33 SMALL COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN OREGON
• THE TOP 34 MEDIUM COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN OREGON
• THE TOP 33 LARGE COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN OREGON

Ruby Receptionists, No. 8 Large

Levi Strauss & Co., No. 17 Large

Smarsh, No. 27 Large

Research Methodology

The Employee Survey rated worker satisfaction and importance of 35 workplace qualities — 5 in each of the first five categories below, and 10 in Sustainable Practices:

1. Work Environment: flexibility and work/life balance, diversity, teamwork and fun, workspace technology and efficiency, policies and procedures.
2. Management & Communications: employee treatment, performance feedback, communications, discipline, rewards and acknowledgement.
3. Decision-Making & Trust: shared accountability, trust in management, collaboration and involvement, community and charity, workplace pride.
4. Career Development & Learning: on-the-job training, educational support, growth opportunities and promotions, job goals and expectations.
5. Benefits & Compensation: compensation fairness and adequacy, health wellness plan, retirement plan, paid time off, raises and bonuses.
6. Sustainable Practices: Used for 100 Best Green Cos. List

Company representatives answered more than 50 questions for the Employer Benefits Survey concerning health and wellness plans, time off, family-friendly policies, work scheduling, incentives, retirement plans, corporate culture and sustainable practices (used for 100 Best Green Cos. List)
Employee Survey satisfaction ratings from the first five categories count for 5/6 of the 100 Best Companies Score. The Employer Benefits Survey accounts for the remaining 1/6, resulting in a total possible score of 600.

How to Enter

The 100 Best Companies survey is voluntary and free of charge. Eligible public or private companies or divisions must be for-profit and have at least 15 full- or part-time employees in Oregon, but may be headquartered anywhere.

The survey period for the 2015 list commences in late August and ends in November 2014. Companies that do not make the list remain entirely anonymous and all companies that complete the process may obtain a fee or premium report of their individual survey results, highlighting workplace strengths and weaknesses.

To submit a company, send an email to [email protected] with the name, title, phone number, email address and company name of the person(s) who will coordinate the survey.

Find out more and look for the sign-up link in late August at oregonbusiness.com/100bestcompanies.