|
May 9, 2012
By Budd McLaughlin, The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A three-time "Most Valuable Employee" led the way as the city's top employees and "Best Places to Work" were honored at the fifth annual Best Places to Work awards luncheon.
The program, held Tuesday at the Von Braun Center North Hall, was co-hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County and the North Alabama Society for Human Resource Management. First Commercial Bank was the presenting sponsor.
More than 200 companies were nominated, and 20 were named as the "Best Places to Work."
And they are a reflection of the Huntsville business climate - 17 of the "best places" are high-tech, government-related contractors.
"These companies have a good reason to be proud," said Chamber Board Chair Jim Bolte, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama.
This year marked the debut of a "micro" category to join the small, medium and large businesses because of the increasing number of small companies in Huntsville compared to the other sizes, said Danny Windham, the Chamber's vice chair for work force. The micro category has 25-35 employees; small, 36-70; medium, 71-200; and large, 200 and more. The winners were based solely on a survey completed by employees.
"It may be a bit cliche," said NASHRM President Angela Dunaway of i3. "You truly are winners."
Also, a dozen workers out of 4,000 nominees received accolades as "Most Valuable." Three-time winner Susie Vaughn of PeopleTec was among those honored in the medium category for Most Valuable Employee, joining co-worker Chris Hemphill as well as Jennifer Franklin of Tec-Masters.
Other top employees were Micro - Kelly Foster of QTEC, Tara Williams of QuantiTech and Mark Pepper of Canvas; Small - Kim Leach of Willbrook Solutions, Wendy Graves of Brockwell Technologies and Pam Cooper of Venturi; Large - Billy Cannon of URS, Jill Curtis of URS and Sonya Tollliver of Intuitive Research and Technology.
The Best Places to Work award winners were Micro - QuantiTech, QTEC, Edward Jones, Nesin Therapy Services and Pinnacle Solutions; Small - Willbrook Solutions, Brockwell Technologies, Venturi, Manufacturing Technical Solutions and Maynard Cooper & Gale; Medium - PeopleTec, Modern Technology Solutions (MTSI), Integration Innovation Incorporated (i3), Avion Solutions and AEgis Technologies; Large - Intuitive Research and Technology, URS, Torch Technologies, Camber and Dynetics.
Quantum Workplace, a national company that specializes in measuring workplace satisfaction, measured and selected companies based on the following criteria: team effectiveness, retention probability, alignment with goals, trust with co-workers, individual contribution, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, feeling valued, work engagement and people practices. Then Quantum surveyed employees.
"Despite facing numerous challenges locally while dealing with a still-recovering economy," Windham said, "our business community still continued to be recognized as one of the nation's leading places to launch, sustain and grow a business."
For more information, visit http://commerce.alabama.gov
For more state-wide press releases, click here
|