The Advertising Specialty Institute®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, announced today that results of Counselor magazine’s second annual Best Places to Work survey indicated higher morale at industry firms.
In fact, employees at industry firms gave such high marks to their companies this year, that Counselor expanded its Best Places to Work list from 50 top companies to 60.
“We were initially surprised to find that employee morale in the industry is so high in these more challenging economic times,” said Melinda Ligos, editor-in-chief for ASI. “While many firms have had to undergo staff reductions, it’s obvious that the employees who have remained feel valued and are confident in their company’s leadership.”
The companies highlighted are coming up with innovative strategies for motivating their employees and keeping morale high during a difficult economy. Some are offering more generous 401(k) packages and benefit plans, and others are providing creative and engaging programs. One company, for instance, has a “Fun Time Committee” that regularly plans unique corporate outings, including golf contests, themed luncheons, local concerts and picnics. Another company has a big Halloween party, where every employee gets dressed up in costumes for a memorable event that is talked about year-round.
“It’s impressive that these companies are taking the time to think about motivation and ways they can keep employee morale up,” Ligos says. “Also, this is a group of companies that’s coming up with creative ways to consistently communicate with their employees – that’s something that’s vital to ensuring staffers are satisfied with their place of work.”
The top 60 companies include:
* 14 West LLC,
* Absorbent, Ink.,
* Albrecht & Co.,
* Bag Makers,
* BamBams LLC,
* Bluegrass Promotional Marketing,
* Bob Lilly Professional Promotions,
* Boundless Network,
* BrandVia Alliance, Inc.,
* Bullpen Marketing,
* Cavanaugh Marketing Network,
* Chamberlain Marketing Group,
* Creative Concepts,
* Crystal D,
* CSE (Caliendo-Savio Enterprises, Inc.),
* CustomInk, LLC,
* Dacasso,
* Devara,
* eCompanyStore,
* Gemline,
* Genumark Promotional Merchandise Inc.,
* GO USA, Inc.,
* HALO/Lee Wayne,
* HDS Marketing, Inc.,
* iClick,
* Identification Services/Halls and Company,
* Identity Marketing,
* Image Source,
* Immediate Sales Agency,
* Indoff,
* iPROMOTEu,
* JH Specialty, Inc.,
* Kaeser & Blair, Inc.,
* LW Barrett Co., Inc.,
* Leashables by Oralabs,
* LogoVision, LLC,
* MadeToOrder, Inc.,
* Magna-Tel Inc.,
* MediaTree,
* Metromedia Marketing Ltd.,
* Mid-Nite Snax,
* Motivators, Inc.,
* NewClients, Inc.,
* Overture Premiums & Promotions,
* Pingline,
* Pinnacle Designs,
* Proforma,
* PromoShop, Inc.,
* SanMar Corporation,
* SnugZ USA,
* Sonoma Promotional Solutions,
* Sunrise Identity, LLC,
* The Book Company,
* The Icebox,
* The Vernon Company,
* Tic Toc,
* Touchstone Merchandise Group,
* Tri-Mountain/Mountain Gear Corp.,
* Walker-Clay, Inc.,
The survey is conducted by an independent firm, Quantum Market Research, Inc., which manages a comprehensive qualification program for industry companies nominated for the contest. Quantum surveyed staffers at each participating company to determine how employees rated their employer in 10 different areas, including “team effectiveness” and “trust in senior leaders.”
Final rankings among the top companies, including the number-one firm, will be announced in the September issue of Counselor, where ASI members can learn what ideas leading industry employers are putting into motion to increase staff retention, satisfaction, productivity, creativity and sales performance.
About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties. Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms. Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers. ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools. Visit asicentral.com.
Source: Company release, Trevose, PA, July 14, 2009
