With near-record low unemployment rates, San Diego County employers have to work extra hard to recruit and retain employees.
Whether it’s weekly catered lunches, end-of-year bonuses or training and promotions, the staff in big and little companies, nonprofits and public and private institutions are looking for that extra bit of love.
For the sixth straight year, The San Diego Union-Tribune is hosting nominations for top workplaces in the county.
The survey is conducted by Energage, based in suburban Philadelphia, and is open to companies with 50 or more employees in the county.
Starting today, you have until July 13 to nominate online at sandiegouniontribune.com/nominate or by phone, (619) 780-3999.
The general public may nominate even if they do not work at the company, institution or agency.
Last year 914 organizations were nominated, 77 agreed to participate and 51 were recognized. Of the 12,090 employees surveyed, 7,782 returned questionnaires.
Sequoia Consulting Group, a biotech firm with nearly 100 employees in Solana Beach, was recognized last year as one of the top small-business workplaces. Its engineers are outplaced at life-science companies in San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area to augment clients’ permanent workforces.
“Everybody was very happy and excited that we did get selected,” said spokesman CJ Hinshaw.
Unlike other outplacement companies, Sequoia hires the staff on a full-time basis and only about five work at the main office.
“Our office is located about two blocks from the beach in a nice location,” Hinshaw. “It’s very relaxing.”
RELATED: LAST YEAR’S TOP WORKPLACE WINNERS
To keep the outplaced staff connected, the company hosts holiday and summer social events and regularly organizes lunches at client sites to maintain communication.
“We try to keep in touch,” he said. “We want everybody to feel part of the team and not feel like they’re on their own.”
What’s one piece of advice for making a workplace tops?
“I think it’s how you treat your employees and making them the most important aspect of your company,” Hinshaw said. “If employees are happy, they’ll do a good job for you.”
This year Energage expects to conduct about 50 workplace surveys in cooperation with media companies from coast to coast, from the publishers as large as the Washington Post to small regional papers like the Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee. Magazine and radio and television stations also participate.
CEO Doug Claffey, previously a leader of Best Companies in Britain, General Electric and McKinsey & Co., founded Energage in 2006 to help companies get the full potential out of the employees.
Spokesman Bob Helbig said clients are encouraged to replace traditional performance surveys with “catalytic consulting” techniques that depend on year-round communication between managers and their staffs to set goals and help overcome hiccups along the way.
“We feel strongly that for organizations to achieve the best, there needs to be open and clear communication, from the leadership to the masses,” he said. “It’s got to be both ways and having an anonymous form of communication gives people some comfort that they can speak openly.”
At the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which ranked among the top big workplaces last year, the hotel’s personnel chief (officially called the “colleague experience director”), Jeff Berger, said one way to show managers care is to encourage staffers eager for advancement to get training and apply to other positions at other Hyatt properties.
“It makes us quite proud of the job we’re doing in setting them up for success and getting ready for the next opportunity,” Berger said.
This past year, many companies have taken steps to guard against sexual harassment in light of the many reports of issues in public and private companies and institutions.
“Everybody’s so aware of it,” Berger said, “and if somebody brings something to our attention, it’s investigated immediately and we put a stop to it and do what we feel we need to do.”
To empower employees, Berger said, the company has dispensed with name tags and trained the staff to be able to answer guests’ questions regardless of their official position. Uniforms have also been largely dispensed with, not only to make the staff feel comfortable in their own clothes but also to make visitors feel more welcomed and at ease.
“We want our colleagues to engage on a personal level with customers,” he said. “The first thing they do is put their hand out, tell them their name and get to them know a little better.The result of these and other steps has been a rise in staff morale and success in recruitment. The top workplace recognition helps during the pitch.
“We think it has brought us a much higher caliber of candidate,” he said.
Energage’s survey does not spotlight bad workplaces, partly because employers who think they might be criticized by their workers choose not to participate.
But even if a company doesn’t get recognized because their scores are low, Energage offers and sells consulting services on how they can improve.
“Our goal is to make the world a better place to work together,” Helbig said. “That’s our focus. The companies that don’t perform well could use the more than anyone.”
Julie Riddle, marketing director at the Bill Howe Family of Companies, a top-ranked midsized firm in the plumbing, heating and air conditioning business, said when last year’s results were announced at a monthly breakfast, the plumbers broke into a rendition of the company jingle, “Bill Howe Knows How.”
“From field technicians to office employees, you need something and ask for it, you get it,” she said.
Crews get monthly tool allowances and office staff can ask for standing desks and other ergonomically appropriate aids.
Successful workplaces tend to retain employees longer – and Bill Howe employees receive $5,000 bonuses for referring new employees who receive the same amount after a year on the job. It’s not uncommon to have workers remain for more than 15 or 20 years.
“A couple have gone off and come back,” Riddle said.
To nominate
Online: sandiegouniontribune.com/nominate
Phone: (619) 780-3999
Deadline: July 13
How does the survey work?
• Energage s the nominated companies, firms and institutions. Those that that agree to participate provide email lists to Energage of their employees.
•Energage sends confidential, three-page surveys that employees have until July 13 to return.
• Participants rate their company from “strongly disagree to strongly agree” on 25 statements and can add optional comments in three areas.
• For those without emails, paper surveys are distributed at a nominal cost to the company and are returned in postage-paid envelopes. There is no other cost for participation.
• Once 35 percent of employees respond, Energage compiles the findings for each nominated company and the results are published in a special section of the Union-Tribune.
For more information: sandiegouniontribune.com/nominate
Roger Showley is a freelance writer in San Diego. (619) 787-5714, [email protected].
