Who determines Top Workplaces? The best judges: the employees who work there.

For the seventh year, The Salt Lake Tribune has partnered with Philadelphia-based Energage to rank the Top Workplaces in Utah. The process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture. It also gives company insights about what makes them unique.

“In times of great change, it is more important than ever to maintain a connection among employees,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward based on real-time insights into what works best for your organization.”

Combined, the companies surveyed in 2020 employed 36,079 people in Utah. Of those employees who received questionnaires, 23,615 responded, either on paper or online. For this year’s winners list, 100 employers earned recognition as Top Workplaces and were ranked based on their employee survey feedback.

• Alignment — where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings.
• Coaching — managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development.
• Connection — employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, clued in to one another.
• Engagement — productivity, retention, recruiting.
• Leadership — confidence in company leaders.
• Performance — execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership.
• The Basics — pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations.

Employers that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Businesses are categorized by size, and they are ranked within those size groups, to accurately compare results. Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific survey topics.

Did you look over the list and wonder why a particular company was not on it? It might be because it chose not to participate, or because it did not score well enough in the survey process. Energage occasionally disqualifies employers based on questionable results detected through statistical tests it runs to ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey.