Colorado Best Places to Work for 2012

As I write this I am attending the awards ceremony recognizing this year's Best Companies to Work in Colorado. All of the nominees and winners certainly make Colorado a better place to live and work so congratulations to all. You can see profiles of all the winners in the August issue of CoBiz magazine which has hosted the Best Companies awards for six years now.

I also attended the workshop this morning discussing how companies become a best place to work. All of the nominees have something in common and that is an emphasis on attracting and keeping the best employees they can find. Not surprisingly, these are people-centric organizations and Pinnacol is honored to have been recognized as a winner of this award in years past. It's nice to share the limelight with our fellow Best Place nominees and winners.

So for 2012 here are the official winners:
2012 Best Small Company to Work For: Infinity Systems Engineering
2012 Best Medium Company to Work For: ReadyTalk
2012 Best Large Company to Work For: Edward Jones

Some of these companies offer some very unique perks and benefits (such as pet sitting for example) but I was happy to see that Pinnacol offers many of these 'Best Company' benefits from strong community-focused volunteer programs, to generous paid time off with an emphasis on work-life balance and wellness programs. While we may never offer free beer to our employees (yes, there really is a company in Colorado who does this), the clear message from this year's session is that companies need to tailor a work environment, culture, and benefits package that resonates with their employees.

There is no one type of employee that would be the right fit for all of these companies, but clearly the employees at all of these organizations enjoy their work, the people they work with, and believe in and are committed to the mission and vision of their organizations. Congratulations to all of these great Colorado companies!