Tips from some of the area’s best places to work
WRITTEN BY JULIA BAYLY
There’s no reason going to work can’t be fun. Just ask the employees of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Maine. For these workers, a combination of collaborative settings, opportunities for advancement, meaningful support from management, and lighthearted office furnishings make for a positive on-the-job environment.
Currently in its 19th year, the annual Best Places to Work in Maine are selected through a competitive process by The Maine State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, in partnership with Best Companies Group and Bridgetower Media. The process surveys company employees around the state.
A few of the companies making the 2024 list in the Bangor area are the James W Sewall Company, Downeast Federal Credit Union, Eaton Peabody, Haley Ward, Katahdin Trust, and Hammond Lumber.
“When I found out we had made the list, I looked through the survey results and what really stuck out were the really high percentage of satisfaction our employees had with their relationships to their supervisors,” said Jill Walsh, director of human resources at Haley Ward. “That really bubbled up to the top of what makes people satisfied.
The engineering company is also a place where employees feel their leaders actually care about their well being, Walsh said, in addition to being well compensated for their work.
Part of that attention to wellbeing is an onsite employee gymnasium with locker rooms and showers, according to Jessie Pottle, director of marketing. There is even an office foosball table.
“There is so much engagement among employees and they really work well together,” Pottle said. “They connect in ways beyond the job like through inhouse photo contests and events around favorite sports.”
The recognition of being a best place to work in Maine is vital to a successful business, according to Joseph Moses, president and CEO of Downeast Credit Union.
“It’s important for business leaders to provide a robust working environment for their teams,” Moses said. “So employees enjoy coming to work, servicing members and customers, and achieving organizational goals.” Moses said the credit union uses a “servant leadership style” approach in which every employee up through top management serves each other.
“For example, I serve my entire team to ensure they have the support, tools, and skills to be successful,” he said. “In doing so, we provide exceptional service to our members and customers [and] we retain the best talent, where our team feels valued and they are committed to dedicating their skills and talents to Downeast Credit Union.”
Among the support offered at the credit union is a 100 percent payment of higher education tuition and books for employees working toward a degree. But it does not need to be a huge expense to make employees happy, Moses said. All an employer needs to do is truly care.
“Leaders just need to operate with integrity, fairness, honesty, listening to feedback, acting on the feedback, and continuously focusing their energy on serving their teams,” he said.
Back at Haley Ward, that caring extends to making sure employees out-of-office life is taken care of. “We see great satisfaction from employees in the flexibility they have,” Pottle said. “They are given the time to take care of family or personal obligations.”
That satisfaction produces its own feedback loop at Haley Ward with the company experiencing massive growth. Over the past decade it has grown from 65 to 300 employees in five states.
“When you are always growing, roles and opportunities evolve for employees,” Pottle said. “Everyone wants to be part of making their community better.”
It’s really quite simple to make it on the list, Moses said.
“Everyone serves each other’s best interests,” he said. “The rest naturally follows.”
