Nominations open for region’s best firm

2013 winner says reputation boosted

Owners Robert, left, and Charles Boos, center, stand with several of their employees at the headquarters of their business, AA Boos & Sons Construction in Oregon. As of January, the contracting firm employs 160 people full-time, year-round.

It’s time again to find the Top Workplaces in the Toledo area.

The Blade, which is working with Workplace Dynamics on the project, invites readers to nominate local businesses or organizations they feel are among the best places to work in northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan.

Scott Hayes says winning top honors in last year’s contest helped A.A. Boos & Sons, the Oregon building contractor where he is vice president of business development.

“It adds a level of credibility to the business. People like to do business with enterprises they respect. I think it has made it a lot easier to get on bid lists, to be invited to bid on jobs. It reinforced relationships we already had, and it brought us to the attention of people who for some reason maybe hadn’t heard of A.A. Boos.”

Anybody can nominate an organization. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the Toledo area is eligible.

The nomination form, available at www.toledoblade.com/​nominate asks for only the most basic information about the company. Nominations can also be made by calling 419-617-0606.

The nomination deadline is Aug. 22.

If an organization chooses to participate, its employees will be asked to complete a 22-question survey from Workplace Dynamics. That will take place from now through October.

Employees’ survey answers are anonymous. An organization’s leaders receive only a summary of the results.

Last year, Workplace Dynamics sent surveys to 10,549 Toledo-area employees at 58 workplaces, and 6,915 responded.

When the results were compiled, five large, 15 midsize, and 15 small organizations were chosen to be honored.

The top honors among large organizations went to the Washington Local School District in Toledo.

The Perrysburg office of MRops finished atop the small-organization category. MRops is a market research company based in Philadelphia.

A.A. Boos & Sons was the midsize winner.

“There was definitely a palpable sense of pride when we won,” Mr. Hayes said.

“All of our employees were excited, maybe even more so than our management team. I think that’s because it's a reflection of their contributions to our efforts here.”

He said the victory keeps on giving. “We’ve used it in pretty much all our marketing. We’ve won a few awards that we’re proud of, but this one was special because it reflects what our employees think of us.”

Workplace Dynamics worked with 42 major metro newspapers last year and surveyed more than 1.5 million employees.

What the company found was that the best workplaces had workers who were engaged. They feel their work is meaningful, they are excited about where the company is going, and they think the company is well on its way to getting there.

Pay and benefits matter, but they rank behind other factors.

This year’s winners will be featured in a Blade publication in early 2015.

In addition to overall awards, Workplace Dynamics also comes up with a list of special awards based on standout scores on specific survey statements.

Contact Chip Towns at: ctowns@theblade.com or 419-724-6194.