Frequently Asked Questions

Top Companies to Work For in Arizona is recognizing organizations that are creating quality jobs and work environments, making Arizona a better place for our workforce.

To identify the best places of employment in Arizona for the benefit of the local economy, businesses and workforce, and promote Arizona as a best place to work and live.
  • To create and publish a highly credible list of the top employers in Arizona valued by employees and management.
  • To foster a healthy competitive spirit among valley businesses for improving workplaces in Arizona.
  • To create a new benchmark for Arizona that will help to raise workplace standards throughout Arizona.
  • To help Arizona attract and retain a talented workforce.
  • To promote Arizona’s best employment opportunities to attract new workers.
  • To provide a learning environment for all Arizona employers to learn from the best.
  • Arizona Capitol Times – Publisher
  • BestCompaniesAZ * – Consulting and education partner, an Arizona based consulting firm that specializes in identifying, developing and promoting best companies. Click here to view our services.
  • Best Companies Group* – Research and survey partner, Best Companies Group is a national research firm that specializes in identifying great places to work. Using state-of-the art surveys and technology, BCG conducts programs on national, statewide, regional, and industry stages.

*NOTE: BestCompaniesAZ (BCAZ) is an Arizona consulting firm not affiliated with Best Companies Group (BCG). BCAZ’s role in the Arizona program is to provide consultation and educational support to azcentral.com and all Arizona participants to ensure Arizona achieves the maximum benefits from this program. To maximize the credibility and confidentiality of the survey process, BCAZ has selected BCG as the survey and research provider to manage the survey and benchmarking assessment process and to select the final Arizona list winners. BCAZ in no way is involved with the assessment and selection of list winners due to the nature of its role in providing consulting and education assistance to participating companies. BCAZ will have access to all the employee and employer data collected once the list is released by BCG for the purposes of assisting the participants with analyzing their results and action planning.

Arizona companies that employ at least 25 workers, full-time or part-time are eligible. These companies can be for-profit, non-profit, private, public, subsidiaries or business units, government or state agencies, or charitable organizations. Headcount should NOT include seasonal, temporary or contract workers.

95% of businesses that gain workplace recognition see measurable benefits.

The following benefits are why many organizations will participate every year.

  1. Heightened organizational pride. Employee morale receives a boost and employee retention is increased.
  2. Public relations, marketing & recruiting advantage. Organizations will use the distinction to enhance their employee recruiting efforts, increase the effectiveness of the organization’s general marketing and to improve their reputation in the state.
  3. Attract and retain top talent. Top workplaces are in demand among top talent – and award-winning companies have 50% less turnover.
  4. Enhanced reputation. Customers, prospective employees, and the community hold top workplaces in high esteem.
  5. Positive media exposure. Recognition in The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com and BestCompaniesAZ.com will keep your award alive all year long reaching over 82% of Arizona.
  6. Increased financial performance. Public companies recognized as best workplaces in Arizona have performed 2-3 times better than the market. Smaller companies perform better too; 80% of small award-winning workplaces grew in revenue share, and 88% added headcount during the recession of 2008-09.
  7. Enhanced customer satisfaction. Numerous studies demonstrate that companies who can make the cut can also measure stronger than average customer satisfaction.
  • Raise the bar in 2021 by launching a “best company” campaign using a new survey tool to benchmark your employee survey results against top workplaces.
  • Replace your in-house survey with an affordable survey tool that can bring you greater benefits.
  • Maximize the value of your HR practices by benchmarking your current HR practices, benefits and perquisites against other top companies.
  • Survey may be customized and/or expanded to business locations outside Arizona, and may be advanced for national industry list recognition.
  • The brief employee survey only takes 10-15 minutes and is a random sample of employees.
  • Develop a stronger focus on leadership, culture and engagement throughout your organization.
  • Analysis of survey data, action planning and detailed reports are available to help advance your company to next level.
  • Free pre-workshops that will provide coaching tips to on how to launch an effective program for your company.
  • Attend group training sessions and educational forums and panels hosted by BestCompaniesAZ and national award winning companies.

Registration with Best Companies Group (survey and research partner)

Registration is simple, however we encourage you to read the Assessment Process information carefully before submitting your registration form.

To participate in the survey, all companies begin by filling out and submitting a registration form online.

Once the registration information is received by Best Companies Group (BCG), companies will receive a confirmation email from BCG which will include additional instructions. Participation is free unless you need us to administer the survey via traditional paper surveys (fees are for printing, shipping and processing of the surveys) or if you are interested in purchasing your results.

NOTE: We suggest you have your IT department “white-list” email addresses with a URL from BestCompaniesAZ and Best Companies Group so you can continue to receive notifications of the survey process, upcoming workshops, informational meetings and deadlines.

The “Top Companies to work For in Arizona” process will include a two-part process designed to gather detailed data about your company. This information is gathered by Best Companies Group (BCG). For complete survey details and survey FAQ’s, click here to the visit Best Companies Group website FAQ’s.

 

Part I – BCG Employer Questionnaire (EQ)
The employer (main company contact) will complete the employer survey, detailing company policies, practices, benefits and demographics. The employer will be asked to complete the user-friendly survey online. We suggest that you print out a copy of the sample questionnaire and begin gathering the data early. You will have a 2 week window in January to submit the information online.

Part II – BCG Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Survey (EESS)

The Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Survey is an in-depth set of 76 statements that employees will be asked to respond to on a 1-5 Likert scale of “Disagree Strongly” to “Agree Strongly”. The survey will also include two (2) open-ended questions, and seven (7) demographic questions. If e-mail and internet technology is not available for use by company employees, BCG also has a paper survey option available at a small charge. See fees below. (Click here for sample)

The Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Survey is broken down into 8 Core Focus Areas:

  1. Leadership and Planning
  2. Culture and Communications
  3. Role Satisfaction
  4. Work Environment
  5. Relationship with Supervisor
  6. Training & Development
  7. Pay and Benefits
  8. Overall Engagement

Companies will not be required to pay a participation fee to go through the assessment process unless they need to use paper surveys (instead of online) or require additional languages and customization. Click here for more details.

Our research partner, Best Companies Group, has developed a proprietary scoring and ranking system. Click here for details.

The Arizona Capitol Times will produce a special supplement at the end of August 2021 which will feature the “Top Companies to Work For in Arizona” in several different categories. Our goal is to showcase companies by a variety of categories versus a numerical ranking. We will also select one company per category to receive a spotlight award and additional recognition.

Top Companies By Employee Size

  • Small (25-99)
  • Medium (100-999)
  • Large (1000+)
  • Registration Deadline: February 26, 2021
  • Additional Services Deadline: March 5, 2021
  • Employee Survey sent (Paper): March 12, 2021
  • Employee Survey sent (Online): March 26, 2021
  • Deadline for Paper Surveys: March 31, 2021
  • Deadline for Online Surveys: April 9, 2021

Click here for a detailed timeline.

If your company does not appear on the list, you will still experience advantages from participating. Your company may purchase employee survey feedback reports, and since the reports will help you gauge your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll gain a better understanding of how to create a strategy to improve your company’s practices and culture. By participating, you will also gain access to training, consultation, workshops, and other resources created by BestCompaniesAZ to assist organizations improve their workplace cultures.

Companies that participate but do not make the list will not be disclosed. We do not reveal whether or not a company has participated for selection on the list.

We can help. As Arizona’s experts in building award-winning workplaces, BestCompaniesAZ can provide individualized services to help you at every step of the process, including;

  • Preparing for the survey
  • Completing the employer questionnaire
  • Detailed analysis of the survey findings
  • Recommendations to build on your strengths and address areas to develop
  • Building action plans and communication strategies

Contact us today for more information.

 

If you need help developing an HR and PR strategic plan for 2021 that includes gaining recognition as a top company, attend one of the workshops. We will provide tips and ROI measures to help sell the value of this program to your leadership team.

Participating in a new state-wide survey is the first step. As long as you have CEO buy-in, we can walk you through the process to deploy the survey with the goal of improving your company culture – not so much focused on the win. If you need help getting CEO and leadership buy-in, attend a workshop and we will coach you through that process. Award-winning companies have to start someplace, and many of them submit multiple nominations before being chosen.

BestCompaniesAZ specializes in helping companies build a “great place to work” culture at both local and national levels. As seasoned HR Consultants and corporate culture experts, we can help your company with the following:

  1. Analyze your survey results and provide an objective third-party summary of the findings as compared with national award-winning organizations. Our expert consultants can assist you in developing action plans to build on your strengths and address your areas to develop.
  2. Benchmark your company’s programs and benefits against local and national “best companies” benchmark data.
  3. Conduct an audit of your HR programs, policies, procedures and perks and provide expertise in best practices to improve these areas.
  4. Present to CEO and senior leadership an HR strategy and action plan for improvement.
  5. Facilitate focus groups with employees to gather more in-depth information on areas that need
    improvement.
  6. Re-survey your employees each year with our BCAZ Plus Delta Survey to get a pulse check and measure your progress or decline in specific areas.

If you are interested in sponsoring or getting involved with the azcentral.com Top Companies to Work For in Arizona program contact Denise Gredler at 480-545-5151 or attend one of our informational meetings.

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