The Norwalk Hour

Enter Hearst Top Workplaces contest; deadline extended

- By Dan Haar

It’s a busy time of year at a hectic time of recovery, and if you’ve been thinking about nominating your company for a Hearst Connecticu­t Media Top Workplaces award, we’ve extended the deadline.

The contest is now open until April 16, giving employers in Fairfield, New Haven and Lichfield counties time to seek recognitio­n for great work at a time of change.

Twelve months ago, as we launched the 10th year of the Top Workplaces contest, the biggest worry for most people managing companies was finding good workers. Unemployme­nt hovered well under 4 percent, the range where employers struggle on the market for talent.

Now, of course, your biggest headache is about coping with the pandemic and your colleagues’ safety — and returning to a

“normal” work life that won’t look like what came before.

One constant: People matter the most in any organizati­on. And one of the most effective claims you can make is that you’re a Top Workplace.

That means the Hearst Connecticu­t Media Top Workplaces awards for 2021. It’s a great way for all businesses and nonprofits to showcase all the ways they’ve valued employees throughout the coronaviru­s crisis.

We’re looking to honor the best places to work — whether they’re privately owned companies, publicly traded corporatio­ns, subsidiari­es, partnershi­ps, nonprofits or government agencies. A company need not have its headquarte­rs here to compete.

The contest is open to any employer with 35 or more people in the three counties. Recognitio­n is given for small, midsize and large organizati­ons, and the contest also rewards the best executives.

The cost to compete — and win — is zero.

Last year, Hearst Connecticu­t Media honored 49 employers from across the region. Awards are based on short, 24-question employee surveys by our partner, Energage, about how well employers value their ideas, communicat­e, puts their strategies to work, operate ethically and create a culture of teamwork and competence.

The currently reigning top winners from 2020 include Berkshire Hathaway HomeServic­es New England Properties (1st place among large employers for the third consecutiv­e year), and Indeed at No. 2 for the large size category. Wheeler Clinic Inc. was No. 3 among large employers.

For midsize employers, Sheltonbas­ed Barnum Financial Group finished at No. 1. No. 2 was HAI Group, a specialty insurer to housing authoritie­s, based in Cheshire, which anticipate­d the COVID-19 crisis ahead of most of us. And third was Splash Carwash, based in Milford with 14 locations in the region.

Criterion, a small but global software developer in Norwalk, won 1st place among small employers in its first year on the list and its CEO, Sunil Reddy, won the top leadership award in that category.

Autism Behavioral Health,a Danbury company, was No. 2 among small employers. And

Greenwich Emergency Medical Service was No. 3.

Only one company, ICON Internatio­nal Inc., the corporate barter firm, has made the winners list all ten years. All of these winners, and all 49 from the 2020 list, have amazing stories to tell about working through coronaviru­s. And they can tell you why their Top Workplaces designatio­n matters.

Hearst Connecticu­t Media Top Workplaces winners will be featured in the Connecticu­t Post, The News-Times of Danbury, Greenwich Time, The Stamford Advocate, The Norwalk Hour, New Haven Register and The Register Citizen of Torrington in September — and will be highlighte­d on all of the associated websites.

For complete coverage of last year’s winners, go to any of those media outlets’ websites and type /topworkpla­ces — such as www.ctpost.com/topworkpla­ces.

Energage, formerly known as WorkplaceD­ynamics, carries out the Top Workplaces surveys for more than 40 metro newspapers including some of the biggest. The company has surveed more than 20 million employees at tens of thousands of organizati­ons.

Employers can be nominated online at topworkpla­ces. com/hearstct or by calling 203-6170727.

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