What made David Weekley Homes stand out in the minds of those who select Fortune magazine’s "100 Best Companies to Work for"? Robert Levering, who ranked the 100 companies with Milton Moskowitz, gave us the inside scoop.
"David Weekley Homes made the list because they scored very high on our employee survey (the Great Place to Work Trust Index) and the company has an excellent people-oriented culture that compared very favorably with other candidates," Levering said.
"Many employees talked about the company being a fun place to work. Parties seem to be a blast, and a number mentioned their annual trip for excellent performance. Last year several hundred employees and their guests went to Maui as a reward for meeting departmental performance goals."
"Two other areas that were prominently mentioned were the training programs and working for a firm with a reputation for producing such high-quality homes. In other words, folks said the firm was a first-class act." Levering and Moskowitz surveyed a random selection of 250 employees who represented all segments of the company’s employee population. Two-thirds of their scoring system is based on employee answers to 55 questions on the Great Place to Work Trust Index. This survey focuses on the categories of "credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie." They determine the other one-third through their evaluation of the firm’s culture.
Just making the list is no small feat, Levering said. He and Moskowitz screened hundreds of companies before they selected 236 for consideration in the final round.
"The bar keeps getting raised," Levering said. "Some companies that were on the list in 1999 were replaced this year. So any company that wants to make the list must keep improving just to stay on it." If you’d like to nominate your company for next year’s list, check out details on the www.greatplacetowork.com website.
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