At this moment I am sitting at a back table at the Durham Convention Center in the Durham Marriott finding out about some of the best companies in North Carolina and the Triangle. Wherever you are geographically find out what about companies are doing to attract, retain and keep talent.
According to some of the local North Carolina Triangle Business Journal award winners of the Best Places to Work, here are characteristics of the best companies. What’s the bottom line? Culture is the basis of success according to the “Giant Company” Biogen Idec and engaged involvement with employees throughout their career journey according to Caterpillar Inc.
This year’s Giant Company overall winner Red Hat doesn’t just have snacking, free bagels, an it’s okay all the time jeans policy and an onsite gym it’s also about having fun delivering Linux solutions.
Those themes were echoed at every level. That approximately sums it up but here are several more features of the best:
– Management is hands-on and empowering people to help them not “manage them”
– Colleagues don’t compete but team, working together to help others solve problems
– Relaxed, inclusive and engaging work environments where anyone can provide insight
– Enthusiasm, energy and teamwork prevail at every level, Jason DeBruyn, the staff writer who worked on putting together the story said this: When the market crashed and unemployment soared, many workers considered themselves lucky to simply have a job. As the the economy, and especially a booming one like in the Triangle, enters 2015, employees can again begin to consider workplace quality of life and demand more perks from their employers.
In the past week we’ve heard directly from Dr. Mike Walden, at Triangle Executive Careers Group. He’s North Carolina’s top economist and he talked about the end of the recession and a growing job market here in North Carolina. We can argue if the economy as a whole is “recession prone” but he clearly stated last week that the job outlook is one of growth and optimism at this point in time. His latest projection? Growth of 90,000 new jobs in North Carolina by December 2014.
The good news keeps coming in from the Triangle and around the state from one our state’s prolific business writers, Lauren K. Ohnesorge, on growth companies like HCL Technologies who will add 1237 jobs, yes, 1237, in the Triangle soon. Where’s the growth companies where you are? Are you following them online and in the news? Are you connecting with them? Do you have a plan to connect? Are you there already?
So wherever you are it’s high time to push for your workplace quality of life. It’s time to demand more perks from your employer and find a great place to stake out your next work life mission. Now it’s back to Raleigh for me and back to work! Congrats all winners at #BPTW!