We are thrilled to announce that Green was recognized as a 2019 Best Firm to Work For in the AEC Industry by the Zweig Group! We were ranked #35 in Best Firms with 50-99 Employees along with ranking #44 in Civil Engineering Firms for our recent efforts in employee engagement and promoting work/life balance. The Zweig Group is a research, publishing, and advisory service for firms in the AEC industry. Each year, they anonymously survey all of the employees at firms in the AEC industry in order to get accurate information.
What makes a company the best to work for in the AEC industry? When Green applied to see where we fell on the scale, we did some research to understand what qualities had to radiate within our firm to be a 2019 Best Firm to Work For. Here’s what we found:
Create Purpose: People want to feel that they’re a part of something larger than themselves and that their work isn’t just a job, but a meaningful experience. The concept is not complicated; but it is to make sure every employee’s ideas are heard and that they know they are positively impacting the company. That’s why the decisions we make are not just decided by our corporate team, but by all the employees that want to share their voice within the firm. This includes our core values, engagement strategies, internal training, committee involvement, and much more.
Focus on Engagement: For us, employee engagement is not just about employee happiness through creating wellness challenges, celebrating employee milestones and successes, or having yoga every Friday. Employee engagement is about creating, incentivizing, and sustaining a learning culture, transparent and frequent communication, the pursuit of high performance, and the alignment with company and individual goals. It’s a lot – we know, but these are the puzzle pieces which creates Green’s culture. If one is forgotten, it disrupts the entire puzzle (or culture).
Empathy Conquers All: Empathy is the ability to sense and share the emotions of others, to “feel” what others feel. If we put our energy into helping everyone in our firm grow not just professionally, but personally as well, we will develop a community that can communicate with efficiency and effectively – not because they have to, but because they want to.
We recently put a large emphasis on improving the work life of our employees, not just to be recognized on a list, but to become a place people truly wanted to work. Becoming a Best Firm to Work For is just an added bonus of the culture that has been created by the people who work here. Having an engaged and empathetic team will also serve our clients well in the end because they are genuinely interested in seeing their projects succeed.
What’s Next?
Green is very excited to be able to connect with you through this blog! With technology changing and new advancements being made, we hope to start a conversation by talking about the latest engineering trends and best practices. We will also highlight project milestones that bring value to the industry.