Ryan Anderson’s goal as one of the bosses at Fluid Advertising in West Bountiful has been to “create a work culture that gets people engaged in their jobs, gets people moving forward in their careers.”
His efforts were rewarded last year, when the three dozen employees of his full-service advertising agency described their office aura in such glowing terms that Fluid was selected as one of “Utah’s Top Workplaces” by The Salt Lake Tribune and its partner, Energage, an employee research and consulting firm.
Fluid — www.getfluid.com — was the smallest of 70 Utah companies that earned Top Workplace accolades in 2017, including 14 that have achieved that status in each of the four years the evaluation has been conducted.
Year five is now at hand, and nominations are being sought from workers who believe their companies — whether small, medium or large — look out for their employees, show them that they are valued and give them the resources to do their jobs in an efficient and satisfying manner.
Nomination forms are available at http://www.sltrib.com/nominate. They must be submitted by April 13.
Once a private business, a publicly held company, a government agency or a nonprofit is nominated, its employees will be sent a 24-question survey seeking information about aspects of workplace operations that can separate the good from the mediocre.
| Courtesy Doug Claffey, CEO of Energage
In past years, said Energage CEO Doug Claffey, employees have been eager to respond to these questionnaires. His organization, formerly called WorkplaceDynamics, sent surveys last year to 31,582 Utah employees of 102 nominated companies and agencies (nearly 800 organizations were invited to participate). It got 20,177 back, a response rate of nearly 64 percent.
Across the nation, where Energage does similar analyses for more than 45 major metropolitan newspapers, Helbig said 2.5 million employees from 6,000 nominees were surveyed about what makes their workplaces special.
“It’s not just having a pingpong table or a foosball table — although we have both — it’s part of the culture,” said Fluid Advertising’s Anderson. “It’s more a matter of providing learning and training so people are being pushed every day. People get excited about their jobs when they feel they’re learning something new, increasing their skill set and bettering the company.”
Hiring the right people is essential, he said, and having a Top Workplace designation is helpful in attracting the kind if person an owner or manager would want to put on the payroll.
“We want to make sure they have the right skill set and that they’ll fit into the culture that’s been created,” said Anderson, creative director at the ad agency, whose clients include University Federal Credit Union, Creamies and Henry Walker Homes. ”Our employees are passionate about what they do, and, because of that, they like coming to work. They like the people they’re working with. If you hire the right people — like-minded people — they will enjoy working together.”
No doubt, a similar perspective is shared at all of the companies — big, little and midsize — that have been singled out as previous Top Workplaces.
While Fluid Advertising made the ranks last year for the first time (along with 15 other Utah businesses), five small companies with 124 or fewer employees were honored inn 2017 for the fourth consecutive year. They were:
• Diversified Insurance Group, Salt Lake City.
• Pinnacle Quality Insight, Salt Lake City.
• Get Away Today Vacations, Ogden.
• ZYTO, Lindon.
• HealthInsight Utah, Murray.
Four medium-size companies (125 to 399 employees) also have gone four-for-four in collecting Top Workplace acclaim. They are:
• Bamboo HR, Lindon (it started out as a small company).
• Encompass Home Health & Hospice, Murray, Ogden and St. George.
• Health Catalyst, Salt Lake City.
• Sirsi Corp., Lehi.
Among Utah’s largest employers, five have made the Top Workplace list all four times. The largest of those is West Valley City-based Discover Financial Services, with nearly 3,900 employees. Other four-time winners in this category are:
• Salt Lake County Library Services.
• Prestige Financial, Salt Lake City.
• O.C. Tanner, Salt Lake City.
• InterContinental Hotels Group, Salt Lake City.
“Top Workplaces is more than just recognition,” Energage’s Claffey said. “Organizations that earn the award attract better talent, experience lower turnover and are better equipped to deliver bottom-line results.”
2018 Top Workplaces
