Hearst CT Top Workplaces deadline extended into April

More than 120 employers have signed up to participate in the Hearst Connecticut Media Top Workplaces awards for 2023. But just to be sure we hear from all the best organizations, we have extended the deadline from mid-March to April 21.

Enter now — it won't be extended beyond that date.

Why do it? If you're an owner, manager or employee at just about any kind of business in 2023, chances are you're worried about two concerns that don't usually go together: An economic downturn on the one hand, and a shortage of workers on the other.

It's a tough balancing act that feels like a knife-edge, with the best people scarcer than ever. How can a business gain an advantage?

One of the most effective claims you can make is that you're a Top Workplace.

Hearst CT Top Workplaces is open to employers in Fairfield, New Haven and

Litchfield counties. It's the 13th year of the contest, which lets any employer — privately owned businesses, nonprofits, publicly traded corporations, subsidiaries, branch offices, even government agencies — to showcase all the ways they value employees in the post-coronavirus-crisis era.

Nominations are open for the 2023 competition.

Ask Mark Curtis, founder and CEO of the Splash Car Wash chain, what winning has meant for his company and his employees. He'll talk about teamwork and morale on the line and in the office. Top Workplaces celebrates that spirit.

Here's how it works: 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.

A couple of things you should know about Top Workplaces. It's overseen by our news department based on scientific surveys; it's not a popularity contest. In the fall, we produce a special news section in print with extensive coverage online about the winners.

Our advertising and marketing folks sell ads for our special section coverage on

the winners — after the list is prepared. Those ads have nothing to do with picking the winners and in fact, advertising doesn’t see the winners list in order of how they finish until the news is public; they only see a list in alphabetical order.

Awards are based on short, 24-question employee surveys by our partner, Energage, about how well employers value their ideas, communicate, put their strategies to work, operate ethically and create a culture of teamwork and competence.

We make sure employees taking the surveys aren’t coerced to give the “right” answers, so these winners are the real deal, with responses required from at least half of their local workforce to participate. Energage doesn’t pay Hearst and Hearst doesn’t pay Energage for preparing the winners list; Energage makes money by delivering consulting services to companies.

Last year, Hearst Connecticut Media honored 59 employers from across the region as Energage surveyed 11,664 people who worked at the organizations that entered.

The top winners from 2022 include Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties

(first place among large employers for the fifth consecutive year), and Bridgewater Associates at No. 2 for the large size category. Gaylord Specialty Healthcare was No. 3 among large employers.

For midsize employers, Splash Car Wash won the top spot for the second straight year. No. 2 was Connecticut In Home Assistance and No. 3 was Barnum Financial Group.

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. took the top spot among small employers, followed by Masters in Home Care and Criterion, a software developer in Norwalk that previously won for two straight years.

All of these winners have

amazing stories to tell about working through coronavirus and into an economy that remains hard to predict. 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 and New Haven Register 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 carries out the Top Workplaces surveys in more than 60 metro markets including some of the biggest. The company has surveyed more than 20 million employees at tens of thousands of organizations — including 2 million surveys at 8,000 workplaces last year alone.

Energage launched its Top Workplaces USA designation in 2022, with the best of the best winners that have at least 150 employees. If you make that list, you’ll see national recognition.

Employers can be nominated online at https://topworkplaces.com/nominate/hearstct or by calling 203-617-0727.