Leading Thoughts: Our new Top Workplaces

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Leading Thoughts: Our new Top Workplaces

I’ll always remember 2024 as the year when The Main Line Chamber of Commerce launched its Middle Market Business Growth Initiative, a multi-part program designed to help business owners learn from each other and take action steps to help their businesses be more successful.

We had 100 business owners participate in the kickoff meeting in May. Many talked about achieving the kind of culture in which people want to work and are motivated to do their best.

As we continue to expand on the Mid-Market Initiative, I’m pleased to announce our Main Line Chamber Top Workplaces Certification in partnership with Energage, a human resources platform company whose technology provides the backbone of Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today contests.

The Chamber’s Top Workplaces will initially be less about creating a competition among companies and more about providing a learning tool and a marketable certification. It will be open to smaller companies that don’t qualify for other programs, allowing employers with at least 35 employees to participate.

The Top Workplaces process is reminiscent of workplace assessments we participated in when I worked with American City Business Journals for the decade ending when I came to the Chamber in 2010. Business Journals learned what they were doing that helped motivate employees. Once an assessment was complete, management teams at each business unit came up with action plans that would make our workplaces better.

Top Workplaces receive tangible benefits that include a 43 percent decrease in hiring costs and 34 percent reduction in new hire turnover, according to Energage.

Part of the what I like about this program is that the only cost to participate for our members is well-placed time and effort to adopt and conduct an employee survey. If a company’s results do not qualify it as a Top Workplace in year one, it will come away with everything needed to take tangible action steps that employees are bound to appreciate.

As Energage states on the Chamber’s registration page: Great workplaces listen to their employees. Top Workplaces Certification is a symbol of your organization’s commitment to employee feedback and continuous improvement. Based on survey insights, it highlights your dedication to building a workplace where people feel valued and engaged. 

The Exton-based company conducts Top Workplaces surveys nationwide and surveyed more than 2 million employees at more than 7,000 organizations in the past year.

In addition to high-level survey results that are provided to Chamber members at no cost, companies will have the option to purchase more detailed dives into the results.

Chamber members that already participate in Top Workplaces competitions will be able to enter our program with basically a click of a button. We anticipate publicly recognizing companies at our annual Celebration of Business Leadership on June 18.

It all starts with a simple registration. Any employer can register, whether it is public, private, non-profit, a school, or even a government agency. To register, just go to certify.mainlinechamber.com.

“Earning Top Workplaces certification is a distinctive mark of excellence, setting companies apart in a recognizable way,” said Energage CEO Eric Rubino. “Top Workplaces embody the highest standards, and this award, rooted in authentic employee feedback, should be a point of immense pride.”

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