No. 2 Midsize Company
8-TIME WINNER
Special Award: Best Managers
It took an extra measure of gumption for Benchmark Hospitality of Texas to enter our Top 100 competition. The Woodlands-based company operates a sprawling 800-room corporate hotel and training center nestled in the native Texas landscape of Westlake for Deloitte University. The campus had been idled by the pandemic when Benchmark’s 381 local workers were surveyed in April.
Yet they remained steadfast in their support of their employer.
“Benchmark is very concerned about their employees' well-being,” one D-FW worker said. “In times such as this, it is apparent what a fantastic company we work for!”
“I have been able to grow, develop and learn because they saw something in me that others did not,” another employee said.
Benchmark not only made our Top 100 list for the eighth time, it also turned in its best showing ever by winning second place among our midsize companies. It placed 10th in that category last year.
The statement that resonated the most with its workers: This company operates by strong values.
Benchmark also won our special award for Best Managers, with workers saying their managers help them learn and grow, care about their concerns and make it easier to do their jobs.
As one employee put it: “They give me the freedom to branch out, and there are millions of opportunities to share my ideas. Everyone’s voice is heard.”
In May, the Westlake facility was forced to furlough all but a skeletal staff of 39 managers, maintenance workers and housekeepers because Deloitte was no longer holding training and leadership sessions, said Mike Reisinger, director of human resources for Benchmark and Deloitte University. It tried to make the best of a horrible situation by being as transparent as possible.
And it did something unusual. It continued to pay everyone’s benefits, which several employees cited as a reason Benchmark is better than anywhere else they’d worked.
Benchmark pumped up its lines of communication, using a private Facebook page so that everyone — working and not — could stay bonded via live feeds.
For example, chefs put on a weekly “Quarantine Kitchen” in which they gave cooking instructions from their homes. The chef-crafted food was sent to colleagues and their families who needed a good meal.
“We participated in a food drive with the Hotel Association of Tarrant County, which provides food to many hospitality workers that are laid off or furloughed,” Reisinger said.
“We also just had a ‘chalk your sidewalk’ contest for our employees to come up with chalk messages of thank you for essential workers.”
Benchmark enlisted its team and their families to write cards, letters and assemble goodies for 52 residents of a local memory and assisted living facility.
Every week, Benchmark posts a different location on its Facebook page where workers — active and furloughed — can enjoy time together while social distancing.
“These are just a few of the ways we are keeping the team connected and engaged during these trying times,” Reisinger said. “I kinda know where everybody is. I’ve had only a handful of employees who’ve found another job and quit.”
This remarkable retention will pay off soon when the company ramps back up in preparation for an expected reopening in January, Reisinger said.
As one employee said early in the pandemic: “I feel that I’m surrounded by people who challenge and push me to grow professionally. Benchmark’s values align with my own, and I love working for a company that genuinely cares about the well-being and long-term success of its employees.”
