Who has a Top Workplace? The deadline to find out has been extended

For the 14th straight year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Top Workplaces program is honoring the region’s businesses and leaders who set the industry standard, based on the feedback of their own employees.

Last year, 149 organizations were surveyed. So far this year, 135 companies have signed up to participate. And the deadline to nominate your business has been extended — to March 22.

For the companies honored last year, leaders who put their employees first even as the world shifted back to a new normal following the pandemic were celebrated. Companies like Houston Harbaugh, a law firm headquartered Downtown.

“We really have taken a hard look at what we are doing whether or not it’s going to make our employees successful,” said Houston Harbaugh president Alex Thomson in an interview with the PG last year. “We let them talk to us about what they think is important for them as opposed to sort of a topdown approach.”

Workers at nominated companies are surveyed anonymously on everything from benefits, to how meaningful their jobs are, to what they think of the direction their organization is going. Last year, 19,260 employees in the Pittsburgh region responded to surveys, and 100 businesses, schools and nonprofits scored high enough to be and ranked as Top Workplaces.

Not every company nominated makes the list, but every company that agrees to go through the free survey process receives its results.

The Top Workplaces program organizes participants by three categories based on regional workforce size. Last year, EQT was the top large organization participant based on its scores; Cranberrybased Annexus Health led the midsize category; and Bridges Hospice in Monroeville repeated as the top small organization. There are also special awards for categories including leadership, direction, new ideas and meaningfulness.

The Post-Gazette’s 2024 Top Workplaces program is open to any organization with 50 or more employees in the region. That includes nonprofits and government entities as well as public and private companies.

Energage, the Post-Gazette’s research partner on the Top Workplaces program, handles the polling. Here is how the process works:

• Anyone can nominate an organization, either by calling 412-4288020 or going to www.postgazette.com/nominate.

• If management approves participation, employees are given a 24question survey asking about things such as leadership and benefits.

• Polling will take place between January and April.

• Not all organizations will be named a Top Workplace but all that participate will receive results from the surveys.

• Those named a Post-Gazette 2024 Top Workplace will be featured in a special editorial section and honored at an event later in the year. You’ll also often see organizations mark the honor on their websites and in company-recruiting materials.

• The nomination deadline is March 22.