Article by Patrick Fiorenza, RMS Director of Research Analytics –

For the past 12 years, RMS has partnered with the CNY Business Journal to conduct the CNY Best Places to Work competition. This year was one of the most competitive years ever! We had a record number of submissions, which resulted in very high employee participation. The results provide a great snapshot of what it’s like to work in Central New York and current trends in the local workforce.

The data confirms what you would expect – a shift is occurring regarding workplace management and employee expectations. The data also shows the importance of supervisors and their role in employees’ day-to-day satisfaction. Throughout the survey, the winning companies had highly-rated supervisors. In addition, many winning companies scored high on having clear direction and aligning work to their mission, values, and goals.

Work/life balance was another major theme this year. Employees felt that having balance is critical to their happiness and satisfaction in the workplace. Closely related, there seems to be an interesting finding around the need for connection in the workplace. The winning companies tended to have higher scores in the connection dimension, which suggests that more engaged employees tend to rate their satisfaction higher. We know this is the case from other RMS research – and when organizations can connect purpose and passion, employee satisfaction skyrockets.

As RMS analyzed the data, five key recommendations emerged for organizations looking to make the winners’ list.

  1. Customize your training for supervisors and leadership.

Beyond the Best Places to Work Survey, RMS has designed and customized countless Employee Engagement Surveys. As I reflect on the data, across all levels of an organization, we see a common refrain of individuals wanting to be valued and heard. These findings are often found in comments such as “My supervisors didn’t listen to me when I voiced concerns about department productivity” or “My ideas are never taken seriously.” One strategy is to help supervisors identify their “blind spots” to help improve management and leadership skills. Working closely with their next-level leadership, they can find resources and training to build their supervisory skills.

  1. Champion and implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and programs.

This year, RMS added a new set of questions around DEI initiatives (we pilot tested these in 2023).  Organizations across CNY scored strong when asked questions exploring how their organization embraces, acts, and incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion. The evidence was clear that DEI policies and programs are crucial to being named a Best Place to Work. As we collect more data, we are anxious to learn more about DEI initiatives through our Best Places to Work survey. Initially, the data suggests that organizations care and recognize the importance of DEI, but implementation, strategy, and monitoring DEI activities may be an area for improvement.

  1. Be intentional about building connections among staff.

The data suggests a strong desire for increasing connections with staff. Organizations need to think critically about new ways to build connections with their team and understand the best ways to make everyone feel engaged. We often hear, “We have a rewards program, but no one participates.” Or, “We have social events, but it’s always the same ten people who go.” Organizations should spend the time to identify strategies and motivational tools that will resonate with staff. What is the best way to do this? Ask! Best Places to Work is an excellent indicator of employee satisfaction, but you can go deeper by conducting focus groups, interviews, or short-targeted surveys with staff. Using a third-party that is a credible research partner is essential to increase participation, confidentiality and honesty in the data-collection process.

  1. Provide clear direction on work-from-home policies.

Flexible work schedules continue to take shape and evolve. We are seeing a variety of Work-From-Home models. Generally, the data suggests that the flexibility many of us have been afforded over the last three years is now commonplace. Similar studies that RMS has conducted find that employees want clarity on work-from-home policies and implementation of these policies consistently and fairly. The data suggests that the model (all remote, structured in-office days, hybrid) is important to staff, and people certainly have preferences. However, consistency across any model is critical, along with fairness in implementation, so expectations are known.

  1. Analyze your pay, benefits and assess market rates, then adjust if feasible.

If you can, re-think your pay structures and benefits to remain competitive. Even better, do some research to ensure that your salaries are competitive. We know from other RMS research that people want a roadmap or a growth plan to gain clear expectations for advancing. We have also found that paying people competitively typically removes a major stressor and those who feel they are compensated fairly score other dimensions in the Best Places to Work survey higher.

These are just a few of the recommendations from the 2024 Best Places to Work survey. Many winners already incorporate these activities, so if you implement these recommendations, perhaps you’ll find your organization on the winners’ list next year!

Click here for more information on Employee Satisfaction Surveys.

About the Author – Patrick Fiorenza

Patrick brings years of market research experience to the RMS Research Analytics team. His preliminary focus encompasses designing, implementing, gathering, and analyzing results from proven research methods created to obtain credible data to help guide decision-making across a variety of industries.

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About RMS

Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) is a full-service market research firm in Central New York. Formed in 2002, RMS helps organizations that are looking to know more about their customers and/or potential customers. We conduct surveys, focus groups, mystery shopping, studies, and analyses. Each project is customized and gets personal attention so that actionable, data-driven findings are delivered. RMS has a reputation for getting results. We offer an independent, professional means to conduct telephone, on-line, and mail surveying, as well as in-depth interviews, intercept interviews, and participant recruitment. We also host discussion groups through QualiSight, our onsite call center and focus group facility. We have a proven reputation for successfully recruiting and moderating focus groups, community forums, and town meetings.