We already are inundated with surveys on best doctors, best lawyers, best places to eat, best places to live and even best hamburgers. What we”™re looking for are the best workplaces in Fairfield County.
Maybe it”™s the perks or bonuses or employee discounts. Or maybe it”™s a great view of the Long Island Sound.
What are the qualities of a good company?
As they say over at Stew Leonard”™s, “You can”™t have a great place to shop without first making it a great place to work.”
The successful family centric grocer should know; it”™s been a repeat winner on Fortune magazine”™s 100 best companies to work for.
The grocer posts this on its website:
“Working at Stew Leonard”™s is never about being a face in the crowd;
it”™s about joining a growing team and becoming yourself at your very best!
Stew Leonard”™s is a company that thrives on the experience, talent, and individuality of our team members. We firmly believe that it is everyone”™s job to create happy customers! We simply could not do it without the hard work and dedication of our team members.”
Stew Leonard”™s boasts “One of the best benefit packages in the country, including 401(k), profit sharing, and medical benefits for both full-time and part-time team members.”
The grocer also offers holiday parties and “beach extravaganzas,” as well as a stocked refrigerator in the company cafeteria.
A far cry from the grocer in size and mission, Google offers its workers massages and has added three wellness centers and a sports complex at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
OK, so we all can”™t be like Google. Whether if you”™re big or small, tell us what distinguishes your office, manufacturing company, health organization, nonprofit and so forth, from others.
Please send your replies to Bill Fallon at bfallon@westfairinc.com or Bob Rozycki at bobr@westfairinc.com.
For me, a key requirement that makes any company a great place to work–large or small–is respect for the employee. It matters little how great the benefits may be if an employee is verbally abused within earshot of colleagues on an ongoing basis by his or her boss. The deliberate toxic environment cancels any happiness for the employee who is forced to look for other employment. In this market, quitting without a new job lined up and, therefore not being qualified for unemployment benefits, is often not an option for the beleagured employee. But sometimes when the pain and stress are unendurable, getting fired is actually the best of all possible worlds. It can open up the way to a much better and more fulfilling opportunity where one’s self-respect is restored. And when that happens, one thrillingly connects with the powerful emotions that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed 50 years ago: “Free at last, Free at last, thank God I am Free at last!”