If you’re going to work for a company that is considered to be among the Best Places to Work in all of Michigan’s Great Southwest the most consistent attribute to look for is a true family feel. That was the overwhelming sentiment shared by the several dozen nominators hoping to see their company become a part of the inaugural Moody on the Market Best Places to Work for 2019.
Clearly, there are many companies in our midst who put family first, earning the love and respect of hundreds of employees working to create the best life/work balance that they can without disrupting their individual family units along the way. Family like atmosphere was recited time after time among the entries and especially among the winning entries that will be revealed live on News Talk 94.9 WSJM-FM tomorrow morning, Tuesday, March 12th, 2019 on Ray Gustafson’s Taking the Lead broadcast with special guest Pat Moody.
The selection committee chaired by Kaylee Ganus of Honor Credit Union also included Charlotte Becker from United Way of Southwest Michigan, Tiffany Griffin of The Avenue Family Network, Amanda VanLente of King Media in St. Joseph, and they allowed me, Pat Moody, to have a single vote in the process as well. The committed sorted through dozens of pages from more 32 entries to arrive at the final 20 Best, and they will be showcased tomorrow on the air first, followed by their published stories on Moody on the Market under the tab at the top of the page when those stories “go live” around 7:30am tomorrow morning.
So, who made the cut? The names will be rolled out tomorrow, but we can tell you that they come from a broad array of communities in the region including winners from St. Joseph, Benton Harbor, Stevensville, Niles, Riverside, Bridgman and Watervliet.
The average employee count at the winning companies checks in around 122, but they range in size from a handful of employees all the way to nearly 650 on staff.
There are professional organizations in the ranks of the winners, there are retailers, sports and education-based, financial services, non-profit organizations, manufacturers, service industries and beyond.
When you read their stories tomorrow, you’ll find a bit of history behind each winning company or organization, the size of their workforce, what they do at their place of work, why the nominator felt each company deserved to be declared among the best, what makes workers there proud to be a part of the team, the 3 best words to describe each company in the ranks of the winners, what “Super Hero”-like “Super Powers” make them top notch, a bit about the leadership of the team in each case and what they do to make it a first class place to work, Hall of Fame-style “wow” moments that set them apart from other companies in the region, how they reward and honor employees on a regular basis, perks and benefits considered to be the top draws for each company, a Yelp! or Trip Advisor type of recommendation for each company, and even a brief, but compelling, recruitment statement encouraging others to join the winning teams.
Our thanks to the Selection Committee for reading through the details of each entry, to our amazing sponsors who made it all happen including major underwriters Honor Credit Union, Kinexus and Wightman, with supporting sponsorships from United Way of Southwest Michigan and the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services without whom this would not have been possible.
Tune in Tuesday morning for the reveal, and then follow the rest of each story under the Best Places to Work tab at the top of the page.
Each winning company is being invited to a private reception in their honor later this month where a formal presentation will take place and their trophies will be delivered for placement in each business to show the rest of the world that they are among the elite in all the region because of what they do with and for their dynamic workforce.
