Apply now for Biz 417’s Best Places to Work in association with Best Places Group.
Nov 2023
Biz 417 is proud to bring you the fourth annual Best Places to Work contest, highlighting outstanding local businesses that are highly successful, offer robust employee benefits and have a motivating workplace culture. Applications for 2024 are now closed.
Check out the categories and qualification requirements below, and take a look at last year’s winners for inspiration.
1. Qualifying organizations register on BestPlacestoWork417.com. Employer Questionnaires will be sent shortly following the registration deadline.
2. Employees receive the Employer Questionnaire & Satisfaction Survey. This survey is an in-depth analysis and is broken down into eight core focus areas: leadership and planning; culture and communications; role satisfaction; working environment; relationship with supervisor; training, development and resources; pay and benefits; and overall engagement. A 40% response rate is required to be considered for the list (or 80% if the organization has fewer than 25 employees).
3. Best Companies Group completes the analysis using a weighted evaluation: 75% of the evaluation is based upon the overall scores from the Employee Engagement Surveys, and 25% is based on the scores obtained from the Employer Questionnaire. Once Best Companies Group completes their analysis, they deliver the results to Biz 417. At this time, each applicant has the option to purchase an Employee Feedback Report with the complete anonymous employee answers and results gathered during the nomination period.
4. Category qualifications: Small employers are companies with 15 to 99 employees. Large employers are companies with 100 or more employees.
• Be a publicly or privately held business
• Be a for-profit, not-for-profit business or government entity/municipality(1)
• Have a facility in the 417 Region(3)
• Have a minimum of 15 full-time or part-time employees(2) working in the southwest Missouri region(3)
• Must be in business a minimum of one year
(1) Major departments of government entities and municipalities such as Departments of Transportation, Parks & Recreation, or Police may enter separately. For additional eligibility information or clarification, please contact Best Companies Group at 717-323-5237.
(2) To ensure credibility, organizations with 15-24 employees working in the southwest Missouri region must have an 80% or better response rate on the employee survey (40% for employers with 25 or more employees). Temporary, per diem, PRN, seasonal, 1099 employees, independent contractors, non-employee real estate agents, consultants, interns and volunteers are not counted in the number of southwest Missouri region employees or included in the survey process. For staffing companies, employees that are placed with other organizations are not eligible.
(3) The southwest Missouri region includes the following counties: Vernon, Barton, Jasper, Newton, McDonald, St. Clair, Cedar, Dade, Lawrence, Barry, Hickory, Polk, Greene, Christian, Stone, Taney, Dallas, Laclede, Webster, Wright, Douglas, Ozark, Texas, Howell, Shannon and Oregon.
Best Companies Group was formed in January of 2004 with the purpose of identifying and recognizing outstanding employers. Using state-of-the art surveys and technology, BCG partners with publishing and other business or human resource organizations to create and manage “Best Places to Work” programs internationally, nationally, state-wide, regionally, and by industry. BCG is headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. BCG also works on several large independent survey and research projects around the world.
