Columbus CEO’s Top Workplaces 2023: Four Winners Share Their Secrets to Success

Creating a supportive, family-friendly atmosphere isn’t the easiest task at a real estate company where nearly everyone is an independent contractor.

So, Dana Gentry was delighted to learn that her company, Keller Williams Consultants Realty, was named one of the Top Workplaces in Central Ohio for the first time in 2023. “We have a really good family feel that starts from the moment associates are onboarding with us,” says Gentry, operating partner for the Keller Williams franchise, one of several in the Columbus area. “I think they know that not only do we care about them but about the people around us and the community.”

Company culture can go a long way toward propelling organizations to achieve Top Workplaces status. Ninety-two winners were selected this year based on employee responses to surveys collected by research firm Energage. Employees or independent contractors of nominated companies weigh in on numerous areas, including five “positivity measures,” ranging from how they felt about their company’s values to whether they felt included, appreciated and part of something meaningful. Not surprisingly, this year’s winners score well in these areas.

At Jewish Family Services of Columbus, which was named a Top Workplace for the third time, one key to employee satisfaction is a collaborative environment, says CEO Karen Mozenter. “We work hard at having a ‘frontline-back’ culture, meaning we value the opinions of our frontline staff who are working directly with clients,” Mozenter says. “We want them to feel empowered to bring suggestions and ideas forward, to know they have an impact on the organization.”

Founded in 1908, Jewish Family Services is a nonprofit social services agency whose 60 employees help Jewish and non-Jewish individuals find jobs and overcome life hurdles. Last year, the agency helped 4,641 people, including nearly 600 who secured new jobs.

“We track our impact, and our employees know the work we do together makes a huge impact on the community,” Mozenter says. “If someone wants to do meaningful work, there is no better place to be. In a very divisive society, we are the antidote to what’s happening in the world. The work we do together fights antisemitism, xenophobia, racism and hatred.”

Mozenter knows that her staff could find other jobs that pay more, so the agency shows its appreciation in other ways: being flexible when staff face their own family challenges, celebrating birthdays and work anniversaries, having social gatherings and encouraging employees to represent the agency in the community.

“Staff appreciation is one of our board’s top priorities,” she says. Board members sometimes call employees to thank them for their work and hold office hours so workers can sit and talk. And the agency’s “we believe” statements are posted in every office: beliefs such as standing up for each other and feeling safe and connected with each other despite differences. 

“Think Like Owners”

Worthington Industries, which has been named a Top Workplace for 11 consecutive years, reflects similar values, says Andy Rose, president and CEO. “We’re a Golden Rule company,” Rose says. “We treat others the way we want to be treated.”

The public company, founded in 1955 by John H. McConnell, is a steel processor and producer of electrical steel laminations and automotive products, as well as consumer, building and sustainable energy products. Globally the company has 9,500 employees, with 5,000 in the United States and 1,800 in Central Ohio.

“You can have a great place to work, where people feel respected and appreciated, and you can do that and also make money,” Rose says. “One of our philosophies is to get employees to think like owners, and then you get the kind of behaviors that drive performance and have people who are confident and feel that they’re accomplishing goals as a team.”

To that end, Worthington Industries has profit sharing; perks such as a full-service medical center, a park and an on-site fitness center and barber shop; and employee councils that bring workers’ concerns to company leadership. “Concerns can be about anything from pay to more paper towels are needed in the bathroom,” Rose says. “We have historically empowered employees to make decisions and help us make their jobs better, and more recently we’ve also focused on being more proactive with diversity and a focus on women and minorities and how we can lift them up.”

Rose says that respecting employees is a competitive advantage, and the company does that in many ways, including development programs that allow employees to move up in the company, encouraging employees to volunteer in the community during work hours and subsidizing health care benefits at above-industry standards. “You don’t have to be the angry manager yelling at people,” he says. “It’s all about treating people respectfully.”

Mid-City Electric of Westerville won its second consecutive Top Workplaces award this year, and President Brian Dew believes the honor goes back to the company’s core values. “We have an exceptional work ethic, we always do the right thing, we’re customer-service driven, and we treat our employees like family,” Dew says.

The private company, founded in 1960, has 500 employees and does commercial and industrial electrical work as well as low-voltage teledata work.

“The main key to our success is our people, and we want everyone in our organization to be successful,” Dew says. “We want to support the whole person. Treating them like family means getting to know them on a personal level. We try to help them with their growth and career development and help them with whatever they need in their current position or whatever position they want to get to.”

Mid-City Electric also encourages employees to mentor each other and holds quarterly all-staff meetings to share updates and listen to concerns. It also sponsors social events, offers a free breakfast on National Employee Appreciation Day, has profit sharing and pays 100 percent of employee health benefits.

Dew says the company also shows its appreciation by posting work anniversaries and birthdays on social media and on a big-screen TV in the breakroom. “We’re not in this business just to get out of our employees what they can provide to the company,” he says. “We want them to know they’re valued.”

Other Engagement Tactics

Keller Williams Consultants has an employee whose job is to identify agents who exemplify its culture, values and work ethic. The company also sponsors more than 20 special-interest committees for agents, including for young professionals and LGBTQ individuals. “We want them to feel they’re part of something,” Gentry says. “We care about them, not just about how we can help them sell another house and build wealth.”

Collaboration also is a hallmark at Keller Williams, Gentry says. The franchise, founded in 2003, has four locations in the Columbus area with 360 employees and independent contractors. “We want to be open and approachable and have a lot of transparency,” she says. One vehicle for this is a council of agents who bring concerns to company leadership. Two years ago, as a result of one concern, the company capped how much it could collect from each team of agents. “We took it on the chin, but really it was a win-win,” she says, in that it benefitted agents and therefore the organization as a whole.

Nationally, Keller Williams’ values are God, family and business, Gentry says, so the company tries to incorporate associates’ families into many of its activities. Just over two years ago, Gentry’s franchise redefined its mission, which now is to be the most impactful organization in the community and for its associates to make a difference in something bigger than themselves. That translates into donations to multiple community groups, both monetarily and through fundraisers and volunteering, she says.

“Our agents know they’re a part of something bigger, part of something with forward thinking,” Gentry says. “That’s the feedback that we get, that they wouldn’t be part of this company if not.”

This story is from the Top Workplaces 2023 supplement in the Spring 2023 issue of Columbus CEO.