Denise Gredler knows the ins and outs of employer branding. She’s spent the past 15 years building her own incredible brand, BestCompaniesUSA, which recognizes, highlights and helps some of the nation’s best companies showcase their employer brand.
Today, Denise has taken BestCompaniesUSA into Arizona and Texas, showcasing local employers and connecting them to incredible talent. We caught up with Denise to talk about how she got into showcasing the best companies in Texas and how employers can be intentional about creating an employer brand.
How Did You Start BestCompaniesUSA?
“This will take me back back to my corporate days when I was the VP of HR for a company that I actually helped create the path to get on Fortune 100 best list. Looking back obviously at the time, I never thought I would be an entrepreneur.
I kicked off in 2003, the very first best companies to work for, an Arizona program. At the time, I approached the business journal, the Phoenix Business Journal. They were the media partner for the very first program, and my goal in managing the best place to work program was really to help identify in Arizona, who were the companies that truly cared about culture.
From that point on, the business really took on a life of its own with the community. The program was so popular, it went from 20 winning companies the first year, up to I think 75 winning the second, up to a hundred. Now 15 years later, we have like three different award programs in town that many companies, hundreds of companies are benefiting from.”
What Are Some things Best Companies in Texas are Doing to Create a Great Workplace?
A lot of companies are focusing on wellness, creating all different types of wellness, creating a wellness environment that looks at the employee as a whole.
The second thing I would say is flexibility. Obviously flexible work arrangements have been around for years. Not back in my day. Like I said, I used to have to work face time. It was called face time. If you came in after the CEO, you came in late, if you left before the CEO, you were leaving early, and he used to work 6:00 to 6:00. Today, you see just a lot of flexibility. You see more companies and managers allowing people all different types of flextime arrangements, and they’re really accommodating people for each individual person’s needs, whether it be job sharing, coming in late, working remote.
How Can Companies Build a Strong Company Culture?
I actually have a model that we use, but I think big picture the core building block really I think is trust building. Building trust in a work environment. I think if you look at how Fortune evaluates and ranks their winners, it’s all about trust and they break that down into three areas. I’m going back to a model they used to use years ago, that trust has to do with credibility, respect, and fairness. That’s all again about how you treat your employees, how managers treat employees, how employees treat one another.
To learn more about how BestCompaniesTexas can help you advance your career with an award winning company or help you build your employer brand to attract the best possible talent, click here!
