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Each year the Business Courier recognizes Greater Cincinnati employers with the most engaged workforces. Out of 185 local companies nominated, 65 finalists were chosen who were rated the highest and earned a minimum score in one of five size categories.
In the small category (25-49 employees) the minimum score needed to be recognized as a finalist was 91 out of 100 points. The average small finalist received a 92 rating, and the top 3 small companies received a 95. It is clear that all of these organizations know how to engage their employees. It is an honor for us to be ranked among the best of the best in our region again.
How do they do it?
How do companies that consistently make the list year after year like Callibrity keep it up? Besides having an executive team who listens to employees and who dedicates themselves to upholding our company values and mission, there are many other factors that play into it. As I was going through the comments written by the 35 people who responded to the BPTW survey in July, I was humbled by all the positive feedback and also found some common themes in their responses.
1. FUN was the #1 word employees used when describing Callibrity. Why is it so much fun here? We have fun team events every MONTH – axe throwing contests, canoeing (it’s ca-BREW-ing in Ohio), trivia competitions, and D&D nights etc. We try to appeal to all personalities when scheduling events so there’s something for everyone to enjoy. We think work should be fun too. After all, 1/3 of a person’s life is spent at work so people should love what they do. Our sales staff is specifically trained by our founders (who are developers) to identify sales opportunities that are appealing to developers like working with modern tech stacks, greenfield development, and where we can provide strategic technical direction for the client. We are not afraid to say no to a sale if it isn’t interesting, challenging, and fun work for our developers.
2. Transparency “Open Door Policy” Our founders not only invest in everyone professionally, they make it a point to get to know every employee on a personal level too. Even after the company doubled in size in April, our growth has not changed the level of personal connections made within the company. Each quarter we have an “All-Hands” company meeting where our president reports on the financial health of the company, and what is actively being done to address any areas of improvement identified in the Best Places to Work survey. In 2017, training was an area of improvement, so it was made a top initiative by executive leadership in 2018. This year many of the people surveyed brought up training specifically as a strength of Callibrity.
3. Continuing Education We’ve seen time and time again that if developers aren’t learning, they aren’t happy. Every Callibrity employee is given a $1500 budget to use throughout the year on books, online trainings, and conferences etc. In addition to the training budget, we learn from each other by hosting monthly lunch ‘n learns and meetup groups in our office. We also partner with other bright technology firms, like IoT startup Losant, to offer our employees training from outside experts.
That pretty much wraps up my findings from our survey results! I’ll leave you with this comment that I believe sums up who we are as a company and why we belong in the Best Places to Work.
“Callibrity Rocks!”
“Callibrity is more developer and employee focused than any other company I know. I can honestly say that I have never worked at a company that focuses on the developer experience as much as Callibrity. Callibrity’s developer focus influences the projects they choose to take on and also the way they manage their component teams. Callibrity produces high quality products and services precisely because they understand that good quality work comes from happy developers. Good employee morale leads to creativity and mental freedom which in turn leads to high quality work. Callibrity gets it. Most companies don’t. I love working here and wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. I would highly recommend Callibrity to any developer who actually wants to do real development. Callibrity rocks!”
Anonymous Callibrity Employee, Best Places to Work 2018
