In this annual survey, The Boston Globe seeks to honor “…employers who care for their most valuable resource: The people who work for them.” Coming in at #24 was The Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which has been a Cooperative/Mutual Company headquartered in the birthplace of John Adams since 1851. Quincy Mutual currently employs 193 people with 300 US employees overall and a global revenue of $307 million. Agency Checklists contacted Executive Vice President of Quincy Mutual, Kevin Meskell, regarding his company’s selection.
“Quincy Mutual is very pleased and honored to be named a “Top 100 Places to Work” by the Boston Globe. The process by which the selection takes place begins and ends with our employees who complete a survey on various aspects of their work environment. Having a workplace where employees are treated with respect, enjoy excellent benefits and are valued for their contributions allows our 160 year old company to continue to prosper.”
Quincy Mutual currently has an A+ rating from A.M. Best and has held that designation for more than 50 consecutive years.
Also making this year’s list, for the third consecutive year in a row, is A.I.M. Mutual Insurance Co. which came in at #9. The company headquartered in Burlington, MA, also is a Cooperative/Mutual company founded in 1989 that focuses on workers compensation and employers liability insurance coverage. A.I.M. currently has four other locations around the state with a total of 146 employees and a global revenue of $100 million.
To determine this year’s picks, The Globe, along with its research partner WorkplaceDynamics, invited 1,076 employers to participate in this year’s Top Places to Work Survey of which 237 companies completed the entire process.
The Globe team then had to contact more than 121,000 employees at the 237 companies asking them to grade their organization’s performance “…according to 24 distinct statements ranging from ‘New ideas are encouraged at this company,’ to ‘It’s easy to tell my boss the truth.'” The Globe says in addition to this questionnaire, employers also were invited to complete a 12-question survey on workplace practices. At the end of this process, The Globe and Workplace Dynamics received some 73,813 completed responses which they then measured using the following six rating factors:
Direction: Do employees have confidence in the leader of the organization? Do they believe it operates ethically, and is moving in the right direction?
Execution: Do employees believe senior managers have a good understanding of what the company needs to do to succeed, and are they sharing information well?
Managers: Do managers listen to employees and help employees to do their job their job, to learn and to grow?
Career: Does the company offer formal training and other opportunities to learn and grow, and does it reward good performance?
Conditions: Is the work environment free from hostility, and does the company help workers to balance career and family life? Does the company show its appreciation for employees?
Pay and Benefits: Are workers fairly compensated?
The Globe says that when it comes to small companies, “employers tend to perform better in workplace surveys than midsize and large employers” because of the access employees have to the top of the corporate hierarchy. The Globe categorized a small employer as a business with between 100 to 249 employees.
View the complete list of The Boston Globe’s Top Places to Work 2011 here.
