Employment 101: Being A Top Employer

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By Koleen Singerline

Whether you made Fortune Magazine's Top 100 Employers list or not, chances are you would like to have a company that is considered a great place to work. The biggest factor impacting the success of your hiring strategy, will most likely be the public's perception of your company and if it is viewed as a good place to work. If you position your company as the employer of choice for job seekers, chances are the candidates will be coming to you. 

If you are a company owner or manager, you can take some steps now to make your company a  “top” employers.

Start With Yourself 

• Do you like working for your company?

• Have you helped to create an environment of trust and support?

• Are you constantly looking for training and coaching for yourself and your employees that will support achievement and growth?

Fortune bases two-thirds of a company's Top Employer score on the results of the institute's Trust Index survey, which is sent to a random sample of employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their opinions about management's credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. Feedback from employees is the core of Fortune's Best Companies to Work For rankings. You can see some of the employee responses here.

If your employees are talking about “good vibrations”, stop now and make a list of things you can change about yourself that will make a difference for the people who work with you.  The changes you make based on this “trust audit” will cost very little, but can have a huge impact.

Next, Look at What Your Company Has to Offer

• Does your company pay at market value?

• Do you offer medical and dental coverage?

• Have you created a flexible work schedule or other perks?

The other third of the Top Employer score “is based on responses to the institute's Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communication, training, recognition programs, and diversity efforts.”  Improvement in these areas could cost you up front, but help you in areas such as lower turnover or higher productivity.