Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

Best Places To Work In CT 2014 www.HartfordBusiness.com March 24, 2014 • Hartford Business Journal BPTW-3 Introduction How the ranking process works: Now in its ninth year, the Best Places to Work in Connecticut program was created by the Hartford Business Journal and Best Companies Group to identify and recognize best places to work in the state of Connecticut. The program is managed by Best Companies Group, a third-party research firm that manages similar programs all over the United States and in Canada. The Best Places to Work in Connecticut program was open to all public or privately-held organizations, either for-profit or not-for-profit. To be eligible for consideration, companies must have had a total of 15 or more employees working in the state of Connecticut. Companies with headquarters in another state, but with 15 or more employees working in Connecticut, were also eligible. Participa- tion in this program required organizations to go through a workplace assess- ment process, which included surveying their employees, as well as taking an inventory of the company benefits, policies and offerings. The information was processed and analyzed by Best Companies Group and then used to determine the Best Places to Work in Connecticut. All participating companies went through a two-part workplace assess- ment process. Part one of the assessment (worth 25 percent of the evaluation) consisted of a employer questionnaire about benefits, policies, practices, and other general information. Part two of the assessment (75 percent of the eval- uation) consisted of a 72-question, confidential employee engagement and satisfaction survey. This comprehensive, two-part assessment allowed the workplace experts at Best Companies Group to perform an in-depth analysis of each company's strengths and weaknesses and ultimately determine which companies deserved to make the list. Susan Springer, Best Companies Group Director of Workplace Assessments, managed the overall analysis process. Companies received the in-depth employee feedback report, which showed the percent of positive responses for each of the 72 questions, along with the percent of positive responses within seven demographic categories (gender, age, ethnicity, duration of employment, full- or part-time status, job role, and depart- ment). Companies received state benchmarking reports in which they could com- pare themselves against list-making companies and all participating companies. More information about Best Companies Group is available at www. BestCompaniesGroup.com. Information on the Best Places to Work in Con- necticut program can be found at www.bestplacestoworkinct.com. This special edition produced by: C ongratulations to all our winners, and welcome to the 2014 edition of Hartford Business Journal's Best Places to Work in Connecticut. You will notice many of the companies honored on this year's list were winners last year, including both No. 1 companies: Consigli Construction and Qualdigm. That isn't surprising because once a company strikes that culture where in people want to work, they maintain that culture for years and years. This year, more than any other, the winners emphasized the importance of striking that perfect work-life balance for employees. They let their workers utilize flexible hours, remote offices, liberal time-off policies, and open-door relationships with bosses. The winners, though, made sure they made played a role in employees' down time, too. The offerings ranged from work with nonprofits, to company outings, to reward events, to annual banquets, to office Olympics. Even while helping them strike a perfect work-life balance, companies made sure workers had fun while at the office, too. The selection of these winners follows a rigorous process detailed below measuring a wide array of company-sponsored benefits and takes the pulse of employees with an in-depth and detailed survey. The following companies were the best of the best. They have the culture where employees stay and succeed. They work hard. They play hard. – Brad Kane, Managing Editor Ranked #1 Small /Medium Company Category page 5 The List: Large Company Category page 20 The List: Small / Medium Company Category page 21 Ranked #1 Large Company Category page 4 Striking the work-life balance www.copyright.com Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published weekly, 53 x per year including three special issues — one in September, one in November and one in December — by New England Business Media LLC, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hartford CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT. Tel: (860) 236-9998 • Fax (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2014. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O. Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894 State-of-the-art phone systems that Improve Productivity Leasing pLans avaiLabLe Call Us Toll Free 888-432-7285 203-234-4900 Allows for easier, more direct collaboration between co-workers, clients and suppliers. GRANITE CommuniCations, inC. www.granitecomm.com For a FREE onsite consultation >> See our newest products and services including Cloud Based Phone Systems Extended service plan for HBJ readers!* * Offer ends 4/30/14. New plans only. Ask for details.

• Cover