FOR RELEASE: February 7, 2008 10:00am
CONTACT: Susan Black, susan.black@uwcf.org
863.648.1500 x 240 or cell 863.860.6206
BEST EMPLOYERS ANNOUCED AT SUCCESS RALLY
Lakeland, FL (February 7, 2008 10:00am) – The honor of being an employer recognized for their workplace practices and increasing the quality of life for their employees was limited to an elite few. The crowd of almost 400 people at the Success Rally awards breakfast held this morning at the Lakeland Center, heard United Way Success By 6 and Polk Works WorkForce 2020 announce the winners of their Spirit of the Family and Best Places to Work awards. Many of the winning businesses won both awards, demonstrating that the best workplaces must also be committed to a work/life balance with family friendly policies.
Rachel Perry, the Success By 6 Communications Director from United Way of America, discussed why America’s top economic thinkers are calling for stronger support of early learning during her comments as emcee. She stated that parents are a child’s first teacher and that responsible parents are dependable employees. Today’s children are tomorrow’s workforce and today’s top businesses recognize the value of this investment.
Three of last year’s award winners, W.S. Badcock, Lakeland Regional Medical Center and Lanier Upshaw, shared their secrets to their award winning workplaces. The Success Rally event sponsors were Bank of America, Central Florida Development Council, Mid-Florida Society for Human Resource Management and Publix Super Markets Charities.
Awards were presented by Terry Worthington, President of the United Way of Central Florida and Stacy Campbell-Domineck, President & CEO of Polk Workforce Development Board. The Spirit of the Family awards recognized a top winner in 4 size categories and several finalists who excelled in their family friendly practices. The winners were: Small Company - Lanier Upshaw, Inc.; Medium Company - Polk County Clerk of Courts; Large Company – Polk County Sheriff’s Office; Mega Company – State Farm Insurance. Finalists recognized were: Bright House Networks; Florida Engineering and Design, Inc.; Healthy Start Coalition of Hardee, Highlands, and Polk Counties, Inc.; Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center; Keith and Schnars, PA; Lakeland Regional Medical Center; Lockheed Martin Financial Services; Marriott Vacation Club International; Polk County Board of County Commissioners; Technology Research Consultants, Inc.; The NCT Group CPA’s, LLP; WS Badcock Corporation; Winter Haven Hospital.
Best Places to Work awards are fashioned after the Fortune 500 list and recognized 16 employers who have been innovative in developing quality workplaces. The Best Placed to Work were: Ascent Healthcare Solutions; Bright House Networks; Bunch & Associates, Inc.; Florida Engineering and Design, Inc.; Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center; Keith and Schnars, PA; Lakeland Regional Medical Center; Lanier Upshaw, Inc.; Marriott Vacation Club International; Polk County Board of County Commissioners; Polk County Clerk of Courts; Polk County Sheriff’s Office; State Farm Insurance; Technology Research Consultants, Inc.; WS Badcock Corporation; Winter Haven Hospital.
To qualify for the awards, each company completed an online application, participated in an employee satisfaction survey, and were reviewed by panel of 20 judges. The judges forfeited the opportunity for their companies to apply for the awards and volunteered their time and expertise to the selection process. The judges were: Linda Allen, Unlimited Staffing Solutions; Cauney Bamberg, Watson Clinic Foundation; Colleen Burton, Polk Vision; Mark Codd, Publix Super Markets; Adrianne Darby, Small Business Development Center; Chanel Dedes, Skate World; Lori De Angelis, Publix Super Markets; Irene Dobson, US Agri-Chemicals Corp.; Artis Dukes, Polk County Tax Collector’s Office, Susan Erwin, Ametek, Shannon Lanier, Lakeland Vision; Larry Miller, Spherion Staffing; Gene Parnell, retired City of Lakeland; Mark Phillips, Youth and Family Alternatives; Viesta Skipper, Life Skills Center; Laura Taylor, Lakeland Economic Development Council; Ellen Thielen, Mid-Florida Society for HR Management; Kevin Turner, Devereux; Lori Waters, Built by Waters; Marsha West, HELP of Ft. Meade.
The Spirit of the Family awards were developed in 2001 to honor businesses that provide family friendly policies and family oriented workplaces to help their employees balance work and family commitments. Success By 6, an initiative of United Way of Central Florida, sponsors the award to recognize the importance of employer involvement in maintaining strong, healthy families.
The Best Places to Work Awards were developed by Polk Works WorkForce 2020 to recognize the companies in Polk County who are taking the lead in developing quality workplaces to ensure their competitiveness for a skilled workforce. The companies honored are the most innovative in the areas of motivating and retaining employees, training and development initiatives and workplace practices which include commitment to work/life issues.
Both of these awards recognize employers’ efforts to improve the quality of life for their employees and their families. For more information on these awards, contact WorkForce 2020 at 863.534.2529 or Success By 6 at 863.648.1500 x 265.
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