DALLAS' TOP 100 TO WORK 4

The Dallas Morning News published a great insert in the Sunday Section...

DALLAS' TOP 100 EMPLOYERS to work for...and many categories of interest.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR LIST

Getting the scoop on the Top 100 Places to Work

08:21 AM CST on Monday, November 9, 2009

By CHERYL HALL / The Dallas Morning News
cherylhall@dallasnews.com

When I see a "best of" list, I always wonder, "Says who?"

In the case of our Top 100 Places to Work 2009, it's more than 33,300 employees of participating companies. They gave their opinions on leadership, ethics, career opportunities, company direction, work-life flexibility and whether their bosses have a clue or give a darn.

Our research partner was Workplace Dynamics LLC in Exton, Pa., which crafts best-places-to-work lists for U.S. newspaper clients, including The Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Orange County Register and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

By highlighting companies with kinder, gentler work environments, we're encouraging a kinder, gentler work world.

"We help companies create places where people want to work as opposed to have to work," says Workplace Dynamics co-founder Doug Claffey, a human resources consultant for more than a decade. "It seems a waste of a life to drag your butt to work every day not wanting to be there."

This human side inspires Claffey. But he promotes the business side. "If you create an environment where people want to work, you get better profits, better customer satisfaction and better financial results.

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"Exactly how you make a better workplace isn't so easy. It's about communications, leadership, values and getting things done well."

We're offering some of that insight in our Top 100 Places to Work 2009 magazine.

Top of the list

Some on our list are well-known. The Richards Group, a legend in the advertising and marketing arena that created the famous cows of Chick-fil-A, beat all comers in all three size brackets.

Southwest Airlines Co., Atmos Energy Corp. and Turner Construction Co. are among the leaders in the big-guy category (500-plus local employees).

Small and midsize companies tend to be employers you've never heard of.

Car dealerships probably don't pop to mind as fun places to work. Yet Toyota of Rockwall and David McDavid Acura of Plano made the top 20 because their employees are clearly proud to work there.

Admittedly, the list is not all-inclusive. You had to enter to win.

There's a likelihood some worthy employers sat this competition out. It wasn't for the faint of heart. Grappling with recession, layoffs and salary cuts aren't often conducive to cheery workplaces.

Some thought we were nuts to inaugurate our list in the midst of an economic downturn. Yet leadership and motivating people has never been more crucial.

"We had plenty of companies that said, 'We're working through this and want to hear what employees have to say,' " says Claffey.

One of my favorite responses about coping with the downturn came from Integrity Integration Resources, a Plano engineering company with 52 employees that's No. 79 on our list: "We choose to operate on faith, not fear."

The News and Workplace Dynamics did their best to recruit participants through print, Web site invitations and direct contact with 1,139 companies. It cost nothing to give it a shot.

We at the newspaper don't know all the companies that entered. Workplace Dynamics promised participants not to reveal that so companies wouldn't feel foolish if they didn't make the grade.

So how were the selections made?

The process was scientific and extensive.

How the survey worked

Companies had to provide access to employees – and not just to a selected few. Those with 400 or fewer area employees had to give e-mail addresses or distribute paper surveys to everyone. At least 30 percent had to respond.

Larger companies had to extend the same entree to at least 400 employees representing all levels. A minimum of 120 had to respond.

All told, our response rate was 60 percent.

We assured employees that they wouldn't get busted if they busted the company with less-than-positive comments.

It's in the mail

Employees were e-mailed directly and invited to use a one-time link to make certain we didn't get box-stuffers or boss-selected respondents. The Web link was secure and encrypted. Employees with paper surveys were given addressed envelopes to seal and mail.

Workplace Dynamics cautioned employees that comments would be shared with the company, so they needed to be careful not to out themselves by giving too much personal information.

Given some of the harsh comments, employees didn't pull punches.

"If someone were very masochistic and wanted to hate their career/job for the rest of their life, I would recommend my company as a place to work," one unhappy camper wrote.

This was also intended as a moneymaking proposition. The News sold advertising in the magazine. Workplace Dynamics gives each of the winning companies a free 10-page report but also sells a more detailed analysis.

So there you have the nuts and bolts of how this worked.

Congratulations and thanks to the Top 100. You are making Dallas-Fort Worth a better to place to work, and that makes this a better place to live.

Monday, November 09, 2009

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall/stories/DN-Hall_08bus.State.Edition1.c8a769.html