Everyone wants to work for a company who values them, offers opportunities for advancement, creates an engaging culture and gives back to their communities. So how can you identify a destination employer, or turn your company into a talent magnet? Charles Schwab was just named one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies for the 5th consecutive year. And this year they were honored with the Spotlight Award for Workplace Culture. We found several great qualities that make Charles Schwab a destination workplace and worthy of their many awards!
5 Foundations of a Destination Workplace
Employee Engagement
Schwab fosters employee engagement through a strengths-based approach. All employees complete a Gallup assessment to identify their top strengths. Focusing on strengths creates a positive, empowering work environment. As the second-largest Charles Schwab location, Arizona is home to 21% of its employees. Schwab is proud of the fact that the Arizona workforce experiences a very low single digit voluntary turnover rate that outperforms the industry average of 14.4% and regional average of 25.8%.
What influences this low turnover rate here in Arizona is Schwab’s attractive workplace culture. As a five-time winner of the azcentral Top Companies to Work for in Arizona program (2013-17), Schwab is most proud of the strong employee engagement score, which is multiples higher than the national average as reported by Gallup.
Work-Life Balance
Schwab encourages employees to improve their physical health and well-being, offering financial rewards for completing healthy actions, like a fitness class or undergoing a physical. Schwab also offers Lifestyle and Health rewards for all employees across the country reimbursing them up to $300 for individuals who are in good health or for making health improvements. Employees are eligible for an additional $250 for participating in Weight Watchers or nutritional classes, 5k-type running events, gym memberships, etc.
And perhaps the most unique and coveted employee benefit, eligible employees have the ability to take paid sabbaticals (28 calendar days) after every five years of service. This important time off promotes personal and professional development, community service, and higher levels of future performance and engagement.
Diversity & Inclusion
Schwab has created an inclusive work environment, encouraging employees to celebrate their diversity through a network of Employee Resource Groups. ERGs foster employee growth and development, offering opportunities to network internally, participate in community events, volunteer with nonprofit organizations, build business knowledge, and connect with clients and consumers from diverse communities at investor education events.
Employee Resource Groups are formed by employees who share characteristics or life experiences and are committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion at Schwab. More than 25% of Schwab employees belong to at least one ERG. More than 60 ERG chapters have been created to date. Schwab ERGs include groups for Women, Veterans, Latinos, Blacks, Asian Pacific Islanders, LGBT and more!
Leadership Development
Employees benefit from the same visionary leadership that Schwab clients and shareholders have come to expect and value from Schwab. Leadership qualities include trustworthiness, transparency, integrity, innovation and a willingness to question convention.
Leadership initiatives are plentiful at Schwab. One example is the Aspiring Leader Program for individual contributors who demonstrate high potential and a strong desire to grow their leadership skills. The purpose is to build a talent pipeline of equipped candidates for future leadership positions. This increases the breadth of leadership who champion our clients’ goals with passion and integrity.
Community Service
As a past recipient of the Arizona Most Admired Companies Spotlight Award for Corporate and Social Responsibility, community service is more than just an idea at Schwab. It’s an ingrained part of their culture. “Schwab Volunteer Week” is a long-standing tradition celebrating Schwab’s culture of service, when thousands of Schwab employees and executives (“Schwabbies”) across 170 cities participate in their annual week-long volunteer event held every May for the past 14 years. During Schwab Volunteer Week, thousands of employees coast to coast donate their intellectual capital as well as sweat equity for the benefit of local nonprofits. In May 2017, nearly 1,000 AZ employees contributed 4,000 volunteer hours to 51 projects for 20 nonprofits.
For the fifth consecutive year, 
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Now a five-time winner of a Most Admired Companies in Arizona award, 
A second-time Most Admired Companies winner, 
The 2017 winners were recognized at an awards reception in Scottsdale and are featured in the September/October issue of Az Business Magazine.
Arizona’s Most Admired Companies are selected based on how a company has performed in the following areas: Workplace Culture, Leadership Excellence, Corporate and Social Responsibility, Customer Opinion and Innovation. This year we included a special spotlight award for Healthy Workplace.
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For more than 60 years, Henry+Horne has provided exemplary tax, audit and accounting tax planning, tax consulting and tax preparation services. The firm places their people first — and it’s evident in their fun-loving, ever-accommodating culture. As a Henry+Horne employee, you’re not there just to churn out tax returns or audit reports as quickly as possible. Success is pinnacle when you’re a team member — and that requires fostering an enjoyable, flexible environment and incredible perks. That leads to exceptional service, satisfied clients and happy employees.
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