Chronicle honors the best of the Top Workplaces winners
Insperity, Camden Property Trust and Medology top the Houston Chronicle’s eighth annual Top Workplaces rankings and celebrated the honors Wednesday night at the Royal Sonesta in the Galleria area.
They’ll also be featured in a special section that the Chronicle will publish Sunday showcasing the top 150 Houston-area workplaces.
The rankings are based on employee surveys conducted for the newspaper by Philadelphia-based Energage, formerly known as WorkplaceDynamics. More than 84,000 local employees weighed in with opinions of their employers.
Perks, like Ping-Pong tables in the break room or Starbucks coffee machines in office kitchens, weren’t a guarantee of workplace happiness. Instead, company direction, employee appreciation and career potential are the characteristics of a top workplace, according to Energage, which has surveyed more than 16 million employees around the country.
Insperity topped the large company category for companies with 500 or more employees. The Kingwood-based human resources company allows
employees to bank 19 days of paid time off for vacations, illness or other personal needs.
Camden Property Trust won in the midsize category, for companies with 150 to 499 employees. After Hurricane Harvey, the Houston-based multifamily housing company put up displaced workers in apartments for free.
Medology landed atop the small companies’ list for firms with between 50 and 149 employees. The online heath care service company gives 8 percent bonuses to passionate employees who voluntarily get tattoos of their company’s logo. One in four employees have gotten tattoos bearing the logo.
The companies that score high in the rankings care deeply for their employees and understand how to leverage the talents of people from all backgrounds, Energage said.
“Think about growing your culture, imagination and expertise by bringing people into your world who are different than you,” said Karen McCullough, a Houston-based branding expert, who gave the keynote address at the event.
The former retail fashion executive worked for two decades at Ralph Lauren and as a social media expert with companies such as Oracle, General Electric and Exxon Mobil.
The Chronicle also awarded executives and companies for their performance in special categories such as leadership, ethics and communication.
Marc Laird, CEO of Cornerstone Home Lending, was honored for his leadership of a large company; Jose Rodriguez, the president and CEO at Shell Federal Credit Union, for his leadership of a midsize company; and Fiyyaz Pirani, founder of Medology, for his leadership of a small company.
Rankings and stories about the winners can be found at chron.com/topworkplaces. paul.takahashi@chron.com twitter.com/paultakahashi