Quantum Workplace, a leading provider of comprehensive employee engagement and performance software, as well as the leader in data collection for nearly 50 Best Places to Work Programs across North America, announced today the winners of its annual Employee Voice Award (EVA).
Each year, Quantum Workplace’s EVA honors organizations that excel in the employee engagement arena by elevating employee, team and business success. To be considered, award candidates must have demonstrated their dedication to making work better every day through collecting, analyzing and acting upon employee feedback. These organizations are ensuring their employees feel valued and heard. The companies are selected for their efforts in making a difference in workplace culture while positioning themselves as employers of choice.
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This year, Quantum Workplace honored one company each across five different categories:
- Category: Change Navigator – Recognizes entities that have successfully navigated a change management strategy and helped employees adapt through transition.
Company: Neovia Logistics, Irving, Texas
Neovia Logistics is a global leader in third-party logistics, operating more than 100 facilities in 20-plus countries across five continents. The company was awarded the Change Navigator recognition for actions taken to navigate the complexities of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Neovia implemented several initiatives to elevate employee safety, secure the company’s financial health and increase both employee engagement and confidence in the future. New initiatives, such as redesigned safety protocols, leadership programs and communication efforts, resulted in numerous benefits. The company’s facilities remained fully operational throughout the pandemic. There was favorable employee feedback on the company’s COVID-19 response, and higher-than-average favorability across other engagement items. In addition to completing a successful acquisition, the company’s top 200 leaders recorded their highest favorability rates compared with previous years.
- Category: DE&I Pioneer – Recognizes entities that have prioritized a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy and embedded their efforts throughout the entire organization and workplace culture.
Company: Brighton Jones, Seattle
Brighton Jones, LLC is a nationally-recognized wealth management firm, specializing in investment advisory, financial planning, tax and estate planning and retirement plan services. The firm’s mission is to help its clients, colleagues and the global community live richer lives. To fulfill this mission, the firm committed itself to becoming an actively anti-racist organization. To this end, Brighton Jones developed a comprehensive Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy – earning the firm recognition in this category. The firm’s strategy included defining the company’s program message, building a business case, outlining employee involvement and setting objectives and key results. The firm also launched a Racial Justice Community Impact Circle where clients provided donations to participate in a year-long forum. In this platform, they could unpack their own privileges and biases, reflect on their abilities to affect change and move beyond transactional philanthropy to transformational work. Nine months after launching the program, eight out of 10 employees indicated the firm was strongly committed to D&I.
- Category: Excellence in Engagement – Recognizes entities that have demonstrated their commitment to creating an outstanding workplace culture.
Company: Grant Thornton LLP, Chicago
Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. The firm won an EVA in the Excellence in Engagement category for maintaining and building a people-first culture during COVID-19. As the pandemic set in, Grant Thornton conducted a survey revealing that its professionals — all of whom were working remotely from home — felt isolated and disconnected. Many were finding it hard to collaborate in the ways they had before the pandemic. In response, the firm implemented several initiatives to help its professionals connect, including its first-ever “Grant Thornton Spirit Week.” The various programs helped people show up differently for each other and produced more meaningful relationships, while also building trust. And they supported one of the firm’s top strategic priorities: to care for its people. As a result, the firm saw an eight percentage point increase in team members feeling valued and appreciated. And 81% of professionals at the firm stated that their engagement stayed consistent or improved while working remotely.
- Category: Quantum Transformation – Recognizes entities that have implemented an employee engagement strategy that drove workplace transformation.
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Early Warning Services, LLC, is a fintech company owned by seven of the country’s largest banks. For 30 years, the company’s identity, risk, and payment solutions have empowered financial institutions to make confident decisions, enable payments and mitigate fraud. Today, Early Warning is best known as the owner and operator of the Zelle Network®, a financial services network focused on transforming payment experiences. The company was honored with an EVA in the Quantum Transformation category for utilizing its employee engagement strategy to uncover areas of opportunity to make meaningful change – manager effectiveness and communication. Based on survey findings, Early Warning focused on developing its people leaders through new leadership development programs, training, and a conversation series. To strengthen clear and effective communication across all levels of the organization, the company refreshed its values to align with a new strategic shift by implementing new communication formats and collaboration tools. Early Warning also created an Employee Engagement panel to support and drive engagement efforts. Initiatives resulted in an 11 percentage point increase in highly engaged employees and meaningful increases in manager effectiveness and communication.
- Category: Teamwork Triumph – Recognizes entities that shifted employee engagement efforts from solely a human resources (HR)-focused function to one championed by non-HR teams within the organization, emphasizing company-wide commitment to workplace culture.
Company: Vertex, Inc., King of Prussia, Pa.
Vertex, Inc., a leading global provider of tax technology solutions, was recognized in the Teamwork Triumph category for the efforts its Customer Support team implemented to increase its engagement, team dynamics and alignment to the organization. Customer experience is mission-critical to Vertex’s success. Understanding that customers are more likely to be well-served when employees are engaged, the company is dedicated to analyzing and driving employee engagement. When survey results unveiled that employees within the Customer Support team felt disconnected to the organization and each other, Vertex knew it needed to act fast. Empowered with tools to take action, gather inspiration and set and stick to important commitments, the Customer Support team took the reins to solve the problem. Based on survey insights, the team focused on increasing communication effectiveness, providing training to elevate employee skills, and assessing current team structure to best serve customers. Goals based on these focus areas aligned with Vertex’s Enterprise Objectives to strengthen the customer experience. Based on the team’s actions, its favorability rose by over 20 percentage points.
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“This year’s EVA winners demonstrated their commitment to their greatest lever for business success – their talent. These Quantum Workplace customers were dedicated to prioritizing employee feedback to impact workplace culture, strengthen employee engagement and drive the success of their businesses. Many exhibited extraordinary efforts and facilitated significant change while adapting to the many new challenges which arose from the pandemic throughout 2020. We believe these customers are well-deserving of their respective honors,” explained Greg Harris, Quantum Workplace co-founder and chief executive officer.
As part of the application process, all candidates provided Quantum Workplace with a narrative and supporting documentation that included a description of the challenge they faced, the strategy and solutions employed to overcome it along with metrics to demonstrate how their efforts led to employee and business success.
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