Culture

Best Places to Work 2023

Here's Biz 417's 2023 list of the top 20 companies to work for in Springfield, Missouri.

by Lucie Amberg

Sep 2023

Best Places to Work 2023 banner image

THE TOP 6 BEST PLACES TO WORK IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI IN 2023

TOP 3 SMALL EMPLOYERS

TOP 3 LARGE EMPLOYERS

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The Full List for 2023

The top 20 places to work in Springfield, Missouri, independently assessed by Best Companies Group and broken down by employer size.

Best Small Employers (15 to 99 employees)

1. Ollis/Akers/Arney Insurance & Business Advisors
HQ: Springfield
63 employees
Industry: Insurance
President/CEO: Richard Ollis

2. Graddy Real Estate
HQ: Springfield
21 employees
Industry: Real Estate
President/CEO: Adam Graddy

3. Rick’s Automotive
HQ: Springfield
46 employees
Industry: Auto & Transportation
Owner: Rick Hughlett

4. OMG Commerce, LLC
HQ: Springfield
51 employees
Industry: Advertising/PR/Marketing
CEO: Brett Curry

5. Sapp Design Associates Architects
HQ: Springfield
25 employees
Industry: Architecture
Partner/Director: John McNabb 

6. Investment Property Loan Exchange
HQ: Springfield
22 employees
Industry: Financial Services
CEO: Damon Riehl

7. Paragon Architecture
HQ: Springfield
24 employees
Industry: Architecture
President: Brad Erwin

8. Keep Supply
HQ: Springfield
48 employees
Industry: Industrial Equipment
CEO: Joshua Burch

9. Pearson-Kelly Technology
HQ: Springfield
34 employees
Industry: Technology
CEO: Chelsey Bode

10. Clear Creek Golf Car Utility & Vehicles
HQ: Ozark
63 employees
Industry: Auto & Transportation
CEO: Brian Cheever

Best Large Employers (100 or more employees)

1. JMARK
HQ: Springfield
120 employees
Industry: Technology
CEO: Thomas H. Douglas

2. West Plains Bank and Trust Company
HQ:
West Plains
110 employees
Industry: Banking
President/CEO: David M. Gohn

3. Paddio
HQ: Springfield
4,745 employees
Industry: Financial Services
Director of Production: Ryan Kluttz

4. FORVIS
HQ: Springfield
5,864 employees
Industry: Accounting
CEO: Tom Watson

5. Arvest Bank
HQ: Bentonville, Arkansas
6,637 employees
Industry: Banking
President/CEO: Kevin Sabin

6. Abacus CPAs
HQ: Springfield
100 employees
Industry: Accounting
Managing Partner: William A. Dunton

7. Next Level Solutions
HQ: Springfield
352 employees
Industry: Technology
CEO: Chris Sawyer

8. Duck Creek Technologies, LLC
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
900 employees
Industry: Technology
CEO: Michael Jackowski

9. Summit Natural Gas of Missouri, Inc.
HQ: Branson
1,259 employees
Industry: Energy
President/CEO: Kurt Adams

10. Titanic Museum Attraction
HQ: Branson
134 employees
Industry: Travel & Tourism
CEO: John Joslyn

Becoming a Best Place to Work

For the third year, Biz 417 is celebrating the Best Places to Work in southwest Missouri—and the winners have all undergone a rigorous evaluation process to make the list.

This year, Biz 417 had a total of 38 nominees. Only the top 10 in each size category (small employers with 15 to 99 employees, and large employers with 100 or more employees) scored highly enough to place on our list and have their names published in the magazine. Of those 20 businesses, only the very highest-ranking ones, the top three in each size category, are profiled on these pages.

How were the 20 list-makers chosen? Every company that applies is carefully evaluated by Best Companies Group using a hefty amount of data. The application process requires information provided by the company and a survey completed by its employees. Employee feedback is weighted more heavily than company-provided stats, meaning the results paint a true picture of what it’s really like to work there. If scores don’t pass a specific threshold, a company cannot be named a Best Place to Work. Companies that apply can review their data and use it to choose areas in which they want to improve.

Companies that apply for Best Places to Work are evaluated in eight categories, each with five to 17 subcategories in which employees can express how well they feel the company is doing. Later, the companies receive a scorecard showing how they performed based on employee feedback, as well as how they compare to benchmark data from other in-market businesses that also applied for Best Places to Work.—Katie Pollock Estes

Leadership
Employees are asked about topics like “I understand the long-term strategy of this organization” and “The leaders of this organization are open to input from employees.”

Corporate Culture and Communications
The largest category, this section has 17 topics covering issues such as effective communication about departmental goals and progress, staffing levels, diversity and cooperation.

Role Satisfaction
Here, employees are asked if they understand their job role and its importance, if they have a healthy work-life balance, if they are given enough authority to make decisions they need to make, and more.

Work Environment
The physical workspace is covered here, including topics like working conditions, noise control, heating and cooling, and safety.

Relationship with Supervisor
Employees are asked if their supervisor treats them fairly, handles employees’ work-related and personal issues well, acknowledges work done well and offers feedback when work needs improvement, and more.

Training, Development and Resources
Are employees provided with adequate training? Do they have the technology needed to do their jobs, and is it adequately maintained? Are employees encouraged to develop and acquire new skills?

Pay and Benefits
This section focuses on adequate pay and satisfaction with benefits packages, specifically asking about things like health care benefits, retirement plans and more.

Overall Engagement
The questions here are broader and touch on overall employee satisfaction, asking surveyed employees if they are proud to work at their company, look forward to going to work, are able to do their best work and more.

Methodology

Biz 417’s Best Places to Work is a celebration of elite employers that have proved that they know what it takes to create environments where people love to come to work. Identifying and recognizing these outstanding workplaces was a joint effort of Biz 417 and Best Companies Group.

The Best Places to Work program was open to all publicly or privately held organizations in the 417 region. To be eligible for consideration, organizations must have at least 15 employees in the region; being headquartered in the region was not a requirement.

The Best Places to Work survey process was managed by Best Companies Group (BCG). BCG, an independent workplace-excellence research firm, managed the registration process, conducted the two-part survey process, evaluated the data and ultimately chose the employers that were good enough to make the list. To go through the assessment process, employers needed to register by February 18, 2023.

Part one of the assessment (one quarter of each organization’s score) consisted of the BCG Employer Questionnaire (EQ), used to collect information about each employer’s benefits, policies and practices, as well as other general information. Part two of the assessment (three quarters of each organization’s score) involved the confidential 78-question Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Survey (EESS), which was used to evaluate the employees’ workplace experience and culture. The combined data allowed the experts at BCG to conduct an in-depth analysis of the strengths and challenges that exist in each organization. BCG’s workplace-assessment experts determined which were good enough to make this year’s list.

Participation was free, and each organization had the option to purchase access to the BCG Insights Reportal organizing the employee data collected through the employee survey process.

In addition to the employee opinion data, the Insights Reportal also included transcribed, employee-written comments, as well as benchmarking data from the winning and non-winning organizations. This data will help each company understand their workforce better and equip them with the information to make improvements.

For more information about the methodology, visit bestplacestowork417.com or email lcohen@bestcompaniesgroup.com.