Employee survey determines Top Workplaces

As employers take extraordinary steps to meet the needs of workers and customers during the pandemic, the Top Workplaces awards are recognizing those efforts.

Survey feedback from employees is the sole basis for determining Top Workplaces. And that feedback serves as the ultimate test of how employers are responding in the age of COVID.

“In times of great change, it is more important than ever to maintain a connection among employees,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward based on real-time insights into what works best for your organization.”

This marks the 12th year the Tampa Bay Times has partnered with Philadelphia-based Energage to rank the Top Workplaces in the Tampa Bay area. The foundation of the program is a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture. The feedback also gives companies insights about what makes them unique.

Surveying began in August, when the Times started running news articles and promotions to welcome nominations for Top Workplaces consideration. In all, 1,671 employers in the region were invited to have their employees take the survey. Any organization was eligible to participate, provided it had at least 50 employees in the region. Employers could be public, private, nonprofit, or governmental. There is no cost to enter the Top Workplaces program.

Combined, the companies surveyed for the 2021 program employed 73,359 people in the Tampa Bay metro area. Of employees who received questionnaires, 33,437 responded, either on paper or online. For 2021, 100 employers earned recognition as Top Workplaces.

The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture:

· Alignment – where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings

· Coaching – managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development

· Connection – employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, feel informed

· Engagement – productivity, retention, recruiting

· Leadership – confidence in company leaders

· Performance – execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership

· The Basics – pay, benefits, work/life flexibility, training, expectations

Employers that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Employers are ranked within size groups to accurately compare results. Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific survey topics.

Wonder why a particular company was not on the list? Perhaps it chose not to participate, or it did not score well enough in the survey. Energage sometimes disqualifies employers based on questionable results detected through statistical tests it runs to ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey.