How the Top Workplaces were determined  

Newsday's first Top Workplaces survey relies on employees' ratings of how engaged they are with their jobs and their employer's business and mission.

Newsday partnered with Exton, Pennsylvania-based Energage, an employee research and culture technology firm, to determine Long Island’s 2018 Top Workplaces based solely on anonymous employee survey feedback. A total of 74 employers scored well enough to earn the Top Workplaces recognition. 

Starting in February, Newsday welcomed anyone to nominate companies as Top Workplaces. In all, 1,276 employers in the region were invited to take the employee survey. Any employer was eligible as long as it had at least 50 employees on Long Island. Employers could be public, private, nonprofit or governmental.

There is no cost to enter the Top Workplaces program. “Becoming a Top Workplace isn’t something organizations can buy,” said Doug Claffey, CEO of Energage. “It’s an achievement organizations have to work for.” 

In all, 116 organizations agreed to take the survey. Combined, they employ 57,222  people on Long Island. Of those employees who received questionnaires, 24,069 responded on paper or online. 

The Long Island employees' anonymous responses were compared with Energage's national database of surveys of 7,000 companies and 2.5 million employees in 50 different markets each year. 

The employee survey gathers responses on 24 factors covering seven areas, including organizational health factors that measure how well employees are working together toward a common cause: 

•Alignment — where the company is headed, its values, cooperation 

•Effectiveness — doing things well, sharing different viewpoints, encouraging new ideas 

•Connection — employees feel appreciated, their work is meaningful 

•My Manager — cares about concerns, helps employees learn and grow  

In addition, the survey asks employees about other factors: 

•Employee engagement — motivation, retention and referral 

•Leader — confidence in company leadership 

•The Basics — pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations 

Statements relating to “Connection” and “Alignment” are consistently judged most important to employees, while statements about pay and benefits rate least important for workplace satisfaction.  

Responders rank the statements on a 7-point scale ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree." Each statement has been tested to ensure it has a high correlation with how employees feel about their workplace, which is calculated by correlating the statement responses to employee engagement.

Smaller employers tend to score higher than midsize employers, and midsize employers tend to score higher than large employers. Employers are ranked among groups of similar size to most accurately compare results. Within those size groupings, companies are ranked, and those that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific areas of the survey.  

Why aren’t some companies on the list? They may have chosen not to participate or did not score high enough based on the survey results. To ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey, Energage runs statistical tests to look for questionable results. Sometimes it disqualifies employers based on those tests.  

To participate in the 2019 program go to newsday.com/nominateworkplace.  

- Bob Helbig, Energage