Think “great place to work,” and big companies like Google typically spring to mind. But across the country, many small businesses and nonprofits have built workplace environments and cultures that rival — or even outshine — the big names.
When it comes to benefits and office environment, NRG Systems Inc., a maker of wind-measuring equipment, blows away most of the competition.
The company offers an eclectic array of “soft” benefits, such as paid six-week sabbaticals for longtime employees; free, chef-prepared lunches for all employees four days a week; and a cash bonus for employees who make their homes more energy-efficient or buy a Toyota Prius.
NRG also takes an unconventional tack on some traditional benefits. It has a cafeteria-style health plan in which each employee receives $800 a month that can either be spent on insurance or pocketed. Individual health insurance is available through the company for $285 to $430 a month, while family coverage costs $768 to $1,168 monthly.
And the setting is unique: The company is housed in rural Vermont, in a newly built 46,000-square-foot solar-powered building, replete with skylights, a commons area reminiscent of a ski lodge, and an indoor swimming pool.
“What has been really important to us as company owners is to do the right thing and to treat people like we would want to be treated,” says Chief Executive Jan Blittersdorf, who owns the company with her husband, David. Ms. Blittersdorf says she and her husband believe good benefits also make “good business sense,” because employees feel appreciated and enjoy coming to work.
While measuring the real payoff of good benefits can be difficult, there is one thing it’s definitely helped with: lowering turnover. Only one NRG employee left the company in 2006.
Photo by NRG Systems.
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