Seattle, WA. May 23, 2013. According to a new study by AON, the economy in North America is improving while employee engagement levels in North America have declined to the lowest levels since 2008. Some companies are bucking this trend by empowering their employees with peer recognition – a service that allows anyone at a company to recognize and thank co-workers with kudos, achievement and awards.
MeritShare today celebrates the first round of winners of the “Best People To Work With” award. The awards are given to companies who demonstrate high levels of employee participation in peer-to-peer recognition. The companies were selected from over 400 different companies, organizations, and teams who enrolled in MeritShare’s peer-to-peer recognition program.
“With the competition fierce for great talent, the timing and receipt of this award is very important for us to retain and recruit the best people”, said Marla Schimke, VP of Marketing for Zumobi. “Providing all of our employees with the ability to give thanks and share appreciation on MeritShare makes everyone a part of building a great work culture”.
MeritShare announced the following 6 award winners: Beachmint, First Rehab Life, Green Hasson Janks, SchoolSpring, Trophies2go, and Zumobi.
“We are thrilled to have received this award”, says Jeff Anderson CEO of Trophies2Go and board director for the Awards and Recognition Association. Anderson adds, “Happy employees mean great customer service and that’s great for business, we are putting the award on our website and in our own showroom”.
The type of recognition can vary by company, and the defining characteristic of peer recognition is that the award nomination is made by co-workers and peers as opposed to supervisors and managers. In Seattle, the “Best Company To Work For” winner Zumobi offers a “Thanks with a Z” award and in Los Angeles, “Best Places To Work” Green Hasson Janks’s employees give a “Encourage New Ideas” award to foster creative thinking.
“Top talent attracts top talent — and the best candidates are drawn to companies with people who work well together”, said Travis Pearl, co-founder of MeritShare, “We established this award to honor companies that demonstrate a high degree of team cooperation and positive communication expressed through a peer-based recognition program.”
MeritShare is now opening it up for any employee to use peer-based recognition free of charge. “You don’t have to wait for your company to set-up MeritShare, anyone with a company email address can give thanks on MeritShare’s network”, says MeritShare co-founder Travis Pearl. Any company or individual of an employee can apply for the award at no charge by using MeritShare’s peer-to-peer recognition program for 30 days to measure their team engagement. Companies can sign up at Meritshare, individuals can get started at https://www.meritshare.com/pages/the-new-way-to-say-thanks-at-work
MeritShare will announce the next set of winners in July 2013 based on all companies who have deployed a peer-to-peer recognition program by June 2013.
About “The Best People To Work With” winners:
BeachMint:
Santa Monica, CA. BeachMint is a venture backed social commerce company founded by serial tech entrepreneurs, Josh Berman (Co-Founder MySpace) and Diego Berdakin. BeachMint partners with celebrities, experts and designers to create and curate direct to consumer online brands. BeachMint launched their first brand, JewelMint, with Kate Bosworth and celebrity stylist, Cher Coulter, in October, 2010; StyleMint with Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen in July, 2011; BeautyMint with Jessica Simpson and celebrity skincare expert, Nerida Joy, in October, 2011; ShoeMint with Rachel Bilson and Nicole Chavez in collaboration with America’s iconic shoemaker Steve Madden in November 2011; HomeMint with Justin Timberlake and celebrity stylist and interior designer, Estee Stanley, launched May 2012; and intiMINT with creative director Brooke Burke-Charvet, launched June 2012.
First Rehab Life:
Great Neck, NY. A leader in the NY statutory disability insurance market, First Rehab Life writes ancillary employee benefits exclusively through a network of more than 5,000 independent insurance brokers and agents. The company insures more than 120,000 employers.
Green Hasson Janks:
Los Angeles, CA. Founded in 1953, Green Hasson Janks is one of the oldest independent accounting firms on the west side of Los Angeles. Ranked as a top 20 largest firm on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Book of Lists, Green Hasson Janks has 12 partners and approximately 100 staff members that serve over 3,000 clients.
SchoolSpring:
Burlington, VT. Since 2001, SchoolSpring has offered efficient and innovative solutions for connecting education organizations and institutions with an online community of applicants, allowing employers to recruit, hire and retain the most qualified educators, support staff and employees. SchoolSpring enables job seekers to find their dream job while staffing our nation’s classrooms and schools, preparing our children for a bright future.
Trophies2Go:
Issaquah, WA. Trophies2go was named by the Awards and Recognition Association as large retailer of the year in 2012. The company offers recognition products for a wide variety of business, sports, and activities nationwide.
Zumobi:
Seattle, WA. Zumobi is a leading mobile media company that partners with top media brands to publish applications and provide native advertising experiences on next-generation smartphones and connected devices through their Zumobi Brand Integration (ZBi) platform. Zumobi was named a “Best Company To Work For” by Seattle Business Magazine.
About MeritShare
MeritShare’s mission is to help companies work better by making it fun and easy for all employees to give and share recognition. Some of the fastest growing and best companies to work for are using MeritShare’s employee recognition software. Earlier this year MeritShare launched the first national index for companies to benchmark their recognition activity and a US recognition heat map. The company was founded in 2012 by former WhitePage executives Kevin Nakao and Travis Pearl. MeritShare is funded and advised by 9Mile Labs a high-tech accelerator focused on business to business software and cloud technologies.