PPB June 2018

Greatest Companies To Work For | FEATURE When workers are happy with their employers, everything else seems to fall into place. Here’s a look at the best workplaces in the promotional products industry in 2018. by Tina Berres Filipski THE GREATEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR (in alphabetical order) Top Micro Companies (Five to nine employees) Ad Bands Plus Ads On Magnets, LLC Elite Fulfillment Solutions Ideas Unlimited, Inc. Identify Yourself Monarch & Company Red Hills Group Sock101 The Sourcing Solution Top Small Companies (10-25 employees) A+ Wine Designs Ad-A-Day Co., Inc. Aprons, Etc. Artina Promotional Products Blink Marketing, Inc. Brandinc US, Inc. Brandito BrightStores, Inc. CE Competitive Edge, LLC City Apparel DistributorCentral E Group, Inc. Fully Promoted/ Mandeville Gator Garb Apparel & Specialty KG Specialties, LLC Logowear House Maple Ridge Farms, Inc. PromoSpark Show Your Logo, Inc. Specialty Incentives, Inc. Stowebridge Promotion Group, Inc. The Book Company The T Shirt Guys US Flash & Technologies Wall Street Greetings, LLC Ward Promotional Marketing Solutions, Inc. Wizard Creations, Inc. Top Midsize Companies (26-75 employees) City Paper Company Club Colors Buyer, LLC Goldstar HandStands IDProductsource Image Source, Inc. Pacesetter Awards Pop! Promos Powerstick.com Signet, Inc. Simba Spectrum Designs Foundation Strideline, LLC The Logo Shop, Inc. Top Large Companies (More than 75 employees) AIA Corporation American Solutions For Business Ariel Premium Supply, Inc. BAMKO, LLC BrandVia Alliance, Inc. Edwards Garment Company Gemline OrderMyGear Pro Towels The Magnet Group W ith the U.S. unemployment rate at its lowest rate in 18 years and 2.11 million new jobs added in 2017, the job market is more robust than it’s been in decades. For workers who want to change jobs, it’s a golden opportunity. But as upbeat as these numbers look from a jobs and employee perspective, it can be a tough climate for companies who want to keep their employees. Those companies that hang on to their top performers year after year make retention a priority. In PPB ’s search for this year’s top industry workplaces, 10 key words surfaced again and again as employees of this year’s 60 selected companies told us how they would describe their workplace to a friend. They were culture, family, appreciation, opportunity, fun, freedom, friendly, flexibility, growth and caring. Employee benefits were mentioned only occasionally, and reference to compensation was almost nonexistent among the answers. While a paycheck is important, the key for industry companies to retaining employees appears to have a lot more to do with happy workers who find joy, satisfaction and camaraderie at work. And it’s not just employees who benefit from this happiness factor. Research shows that when employees enjoy their work and workplace, they are more productive, more positive, more creative, treat customers better, inspire greater performance among peers and are more likely to take calculated risks leading to innovation. Since 2011, PPB has been sponsoring the competition to identify the industry’s top workplaces. In 2017, we turned the structure of the program on its head by using employee survey scores instead of an in-house panel to determine the top companies. The competition now also allows companies to be nominated and selected year after year. A total of 127 companies were nominated by their employees this year, and 94 companies participated in the employee survey portion of the competition. The top 60, based on employee ratings, earned the right to be listed among the 2018 PPB Greatest Companies To Work For. Online Exclusive Click on this story at pubs.ppai.org to read what company leaders say about their workplace strategy. | JUNE 2018 | 25