Utah workplaces have changed a lot since early 2020 one way or another, along with the rest of the world.
As the Beehive State marks two years since the U.S. onset of the coronavirus pandemic, just shy of two-thirds of adults say they live in a household where someone reported to an actual work site during the prior week, according to census surveys.
Thousands are still telecommuting to work from a desk in the bedroom or a laptop at the kitchen table, even as Utah’s jobless rate fell to 2.2% in January, its lowest rate ever. COVID-19 transformed how businesses interact with customers. Most people now know the personal effects of supply disruptions, and inflation is a thing again.
Utah employers have learned to navigate these challenges with an extra daily dose of uncertainty to stay afloat. Some have risen above the rest, notable for how they’ve adapted to keep their workers feeling connected, heard and valued.
For a ninth year, The Salt Lake Tribune is seeking nominations for its annual Top Workplaces awards.
How is your employer doing? If you feel good about it, nominate it at http://www.sltrib.com/nominate or by phone at 801-803-6841.
Any Utah workplace with 35 employees or more can participate, whether private, public, a nonprofit or a government agency.
The nomination deadline is April 15. There’s no fee for participating.
Nominees will be evaluated by their workers from March through June with a short 24-question survey, conducted by Philadelphia-based Energage, a culture technology firm that specializes in employee engagement and workplace improvement research.
Employees peruse statements like “My job makes me feel like I am part of something special” or “This company operates by strong values” — and then rank them from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Participants can also highlight various attributes of their employers for special awards categories. The 2021 awards also included top bosses for small, medium and large companies in Utah.
Employers, employees and even those outside the company or organization can make nominations.
The Tribune will announce winners in the fall in dedicated online and print publications.
Last year’s awards — a full year into the pandemic — involved surveys of 179 employers and recognized 147 workplaces. (Some 1,600 organizations were invited to participate.) More than 33,500 employees responded.
BambooHR, a Lindon-based human-resources software firm, led the 2021 winners among large businesses. As the company has grown since its 2008 founding, it has now won Top Workplaces awards in each of the survey’s small, medium and large categories.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Before the pandemic, BambooHR employees work in the main office building in Lindon in 2019.
“From its very first days, BambooHR has been a place where people love what they do and enjoy coming to work,” the firm’s head of human resources, Cassie Whitlock, wrote in 2021 as part of the awards. “The difference is that BambooHR has succeeded while acknowledging that their success is more than making money for the company.”
Chatbook, a photo-handling software firm in Lehi, topped the list of best midsize companies, while nonprofit Ronald McDonald House Charities headed the 2021 small-business winners.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gary Zielinski, left, and his wife, Jenney, not pictured, are helped in 2021 by Jason Luu after donating over 300 puzzles to Ronald McDonald House.
Angela Moon, the Ronald McDonald House’s chief people and culture officer for the Intermountain West, said at the time that the operation’s culture “is about supporting and strengthening each member of the team.”
Energage surveys Top Workplaces for media outlets in 61 markets — including The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the Tampa Bay Times — and reached more than 2 million workers in about 8,000 companies and organizations last year.
