Right at Home of Greater Southwest Minneapolis ranked No. 1 in the StarTribune’s Top 100 Workplaces, among midsize employers. Last year, the office also placed first. Rankings were based solely on employee opinions given in a survey.
To find the happiest employees in Minnesota, the StarTribune enlisted the help of the Pennsylvania-based research firm WorkplaceDynamics to conduct a comprehensive survey of thousands of workers. WorkplaceDynamics started by contacting 1,898 employers in Minnesota and asked whether they would like to participate in the survey process. To qualify, companies must have at least 50 employees and agree to allow employees to take a confidential survey. In all, 300 companies participated and 64,342 employees were surveyed, completing either paper surveys or an online application.
The survey included general statements that were categorized into six factors: connection, direction, execution, my work, my manager, and my pay and benefits. Employees noted how important each of the statements was to them. The following are three examples of statements in the survey:
- I feel genuinely appreciated at this company (connection factor).
- New ideas are encouraged at this company (execution factor).
- My manager cares about my concerns (my manager factor).
Three sizes of Minnesota companies were surveyed: small (50-149 employees), midsize (150 to 499 employees) and large (500 or more employees). WorkplaceDynamics ranked the employers within their size band based completely on the employee responses. The top employers in each size band were selected as the Top 100 Workplaces in Minnesota for 2013. There was no charge to companies or employees, nor was any compensation paid to them.
How has Right at Home of Greater Southwest Minneapolis maintained its No. 1 ranking two years in a row? “We hire people as though we were hiring them to care for our own parents, and then we treat them the way we would like to be treated … that’s the key,” Blom said, who owns the office with Bob White. For example, Blom and White take their entire workforce out to a dinner theater every year to express their appreciation for their employees’ service. They also phone their employees on their birthday, even if it falls on a weekend.
In the 2011 survey, the Greater Southwest Minneapolis office placed second, and in 2010 – the first year the survey was conducted – the office placed third.