Each class of Best Places To Work honorees displays commonalities in approach to business. They are not always the same. For instance, last year, it was passion and innovation that were the hallmark of many winners.
This year's honorees make a real effort to listen to their employees and act on their suggestions. Whether through employee activity committees, employee surveys (including the anonymous ones that the Best Companies Group employs to help identify the "Best" employers), or regular impromptu huddles among staff, the companies that are featured in this special section understand that today's workforce wants – and needs – to be heard, and have their ideas acted upon.
But making sure that employee input is valued is not just important to making them happy to work at any given company. It is the key to making them engaged in the daily operations of a business.
Today's business world demands collaboration – across departments, across disciplines, across companies – and without employees believing that their input is valued, they will not make that extra effort. And that effort oftentimes can be the difference between success and failure. Would that all the region's enterprises do a better job listening to their workers. We could use a little more success.
Now in our 11th year, the Best Places To Work program has honored four companies every time. Their employees know how special that achievement is, and we join them in saluting Edward Jones, Embrace Home Loans, Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP, and Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd.
UnitedHealthcare is once again supporting Best Places as presenting sponsor. Partner sponsors are Cox Business, JobsinRI.com, Pawtucket Credit Union and USI Insurance Services LLC. Without them, this valuable business-community resource would not exist.
