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Article Excerpt
The 10th annual Best Places to Work in San Diego awards celebration hosted by the San Diego Business Journal at the Doubletree San Diego--Mission Valley, May 20th saluted companies that have worked hard to create environments where their employees love to go to work, everyday. Each company has its own unique strengths, but some best practices frequently seen this year among the winners include:
* Offering tuition reimbursement so employees can
build confidence in the workplace by sharpening their skills.
* Conducting regular employee evaluations to stay up to date on what the company is doing well or needs to work on.
* Engaging in a recycling or waste-reduction program, uniting staff in the common goal of shrinking the company's carbon footprint.
* Rewarding hard-working employees through performance bonus or incentive programs, boosting morale and encouraging productivity.
The Business Journal partnered with Best Companies Group to identify the top 50 companies that were honored. Best Companies Group was also responsible for the survey and analysis process for the Best Places to Work in San Diego Program. The "How We Did It" section outlines Best Companies Group's analytical process.
Beginning on Page A4 of this special supplement are profiles of the top five Best Places to Work in San Diego in each category, broken down by size of company--large (250 or more employees), medium (50 to 249 employees) and small (15 to 49 employees).
The Business Journal would like to thank all the companies that participated as well as the event's co-sponsors Kaiser Permanente, ESET, Moss-Adams and Alvarado Hospital.
How We Did It
The Best Places to Work in San Diego program is open to all publicly or privately held organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit. To be eligible for consideration companies must have a facility in San Diego and have at least 15 employees in the county.
After a company enters the program, it goes through a two-part survey process designed to pinpoint areas of strength and weakness. The assessment determines the eligibility for the 50 Best Places to Work in San Diego list. Best Companies Group manages the survey process and performs the evaluation of the collected data.
Three-fourths of each company's score comes from a confidential survey of employees that evaluates their workplace experience. In companies with less than 250 employees, all employees were asked to complete the survey. A random selection of up to 400 employees was asked to complete the survey in companies with more than 250 employees. The remaining quarter of each company's score consisted of an employer survey that collected information about its benefits, polices and practices.
The two assessments allowed the experts at Best Companies Group to provide an in-depth analysis of the strengths of each company and opportunities that exist to build a better workplace.
Each company then receives an Employee Feedback Report and benchmarking data that allows it to compare itself with both list-making companies, and overall program participation.
The list of the 50 Best Places to Work in San Diego is broken down into three categories; 20 small companies with 15 to 49 employees, 20 medium companies with 50 to 249 employees and 10 large companies with 250 or more employees.
SMALL BUSINESS CATEGORY HONOREES
15-49 employees
5950 La Place Court, Suite 210
Carlsbad, CA 92008
www.integrity-apps.com
Integrity Applications Incorporated (#1) is an engineering services and software development company with a nationwide presence primarily supporting the intelligence community, and other civil, defense and intelligence customers with a focus on government space and intelligence surveillance reconnaissance systems activities. IAI's fully company-paid Employee Assistance Program provides expert support services in such areas as marital or relationship issues, family or child-related problems, depression, stress or anxiety, grief or loss of a loved one, eating disorders or substance abuse, work-related problems, elder care and child care concerns, debt problems, and legal issues to name a few. The company also provides self-funded adoption benefits to help offset adoption-related fees and/or the cost of infertility treatments not covered under IAI's health insurance plan, as well as reimbursement for job-related education costs for employees up to $7,500 per year.
Gensler
225 Broadway, Suite 1600
San Diego, CA 92101
www.gensler.com
Gensler (#2) is an architecture, design, planning and consulting firm, partnering with its clients on some 3,600 projects every year. With more than 2,500 professionals networked across 31 offices, the firm serves its clients by combining localized expertise with global perspective. Gensler's work reflects an enduring commitment to sustainability and the belief that design is one of the most powerful strategic tools for securing lasting competitive advantage. The firm provides two regularly scheduled bonuses each year for all regular employees, the December-holiday and June-performance bonuses. Though not guaranteed, Gensler has never missed paying a bonus in its 44-year history. In addition to the gym facilities, staff is invited to monthly lunch 'n learns and the firm sponsors marathon participants, bowling events...
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