SHARE:
What Makes a Company a Florida Trend Best Company to Work For?
They don’t necessarily pamper their employees, but they all value them highly -- and find ways to show it.
Signs of caring
Some 68% of our Best Companies offer something free in the break room, but there's no need to match Bacardi's free lunch. At many, it's just filtered water, though many have free coffee and soda.
Best Companies have myriad tactics to recognize employees — celebrating hiring anniversaries, birthdays, goals met and extraordinary efforts with pizza parties, spirit days and the like. Other common practices that the large majority of our companies offer include regular employee evaluations (Bacardi and Third Federal employees get two a year),
401(k)s with a company match, flex spending accounts and employee assistance programs. Telecommuting is a popular offering — 72% of our Best Companies allow it — but at many of them, it's more ad hoc than pervasive. The takeaway: At the least, be flexible when someone occasionally needs to work from home.
All such programs are "symbolic, telling employees you do care," Anthony says. Employers "have to be consistent and they can't be hypocritical. Their culture has to be consistent with the symbols they're sending out."
What Makes the Difference
Best Companies participants are self-selecting. Even the companies that didn't make our list still scored an average of nine out of 10 in overall employee engagement. That said, here, by company size, are programs and policies where there was a major difference — 10 percentage points or more — between companies that made our list and the ones that didn't.
 [Photo: Gaylord Palms] |
Large Companies
ESOPs
360-degree evaluations
Telecommuting options
Onsite facilities that encourage fitness
Midsized Companies
Onsite fitness/wellness programs
Free daily snacks, beverages, cafeteria or meal subsidies
 [Photo: iStock] |
Existence of diversity practices
Succession planning
Use of recycled materials in products
Small Companies
Onsite facilities that encourage fitness
Succession planning
Use of recycled materials in products
Florida's Best Companies to Work For 2010 Section Lists and Features - Quick Navigation |
 « Return to main page |
|
| Best Large Companies (250 or more employees) |
Best Midsized Companies (50 to 249 employees) |
|
| Best Small Companies (15 to 49 employees) |
Download expanded lists here. | |
FEATURES: |
||
| • What makes a Best Company? | ||
| • Home Sweet Work | ||
| • Culture of Flexibility | ||
| • Why I Work Here | • Unusual Benefits | |
| ? | ? | |
