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Here’s what makes this year’s Top 100 Places to Work winners stand out in D-FW

North Texas’ finest employers stay ahead of the game despite the unrelenting challenges of the past two years.

Today is the day we celebrate North Texas’ finest employers — our Top 100 Places to Work 2021.

We’ve held our competition for 13 years, but given the circumstances, this one seems special. Employees filled out their surveys from March through June during a period that seemed like a Groundhog Day extension of our 12th competition.

Things started going haywire two years ago with tornadoes that ripped through Dallas. Since then, we’ve struggled with a pandemic marathon, not to mention racial tension, political polarization and an enormous ice storm.

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Our winners rose to the never-ending challenges with an esprit de corps unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They staved off layoffs, united in common causes and often pulled proverbial financial rabbits out of their company hats.

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» Learn more about all of this year’s Top 100 Places to Work winners in this special section.

When I surveyed this year’s CEOs, they said that resilience was the word of the year — once again.

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In many ways, they told me, their companies are stronger, smarter, kinder and more flexible than they were 20 months ago.

Another word that went unmentioned but was underlying in nearly every response from our Top 100 leaders was selflessness. Time and again, CEOs spoke of how their employees went that extra mile, working long hours and giving up sleep to get the job done and help the community.

Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric partnered with Lakepointe Church in Rockwall to provide $250,000 worth of work for people in need during the February ice storm.

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“We would find a family in need and the technician would hand them a letter saying the job would be taken care of by the church and Baker Brothers,” said president Jimmie Dale. “It was very emotional every single time.”

Working during the unprecedented freeze was monumental and dangerous.

“My employees stepped up big time,” Dale said. “They drove on dangerous roads, worked twice as many jobs, innovated solutions with limited materials, and voluntarily worked 14 days straight, all to help our customers in their time of desperate need.”

James Sotero (left), general manager of the electrical department, and Jose Ramos, service...
James Sotero (left), general manager of the electrical department, and Jose Ramos, service manager of the electrical department, chat at Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric in Mesquite.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Andrew Ziskind, senior executive officer of Southwestern Health Resources, said that not even the storm could keep his troops from their appointed rounds. They connected patients with physicians and clinicians by using telehealth and in-home visits.

“At one point, the D-FW area had a 140% increase in deaths at home because people would have heart attack or stroke symptoms but were afraid to go to the hospital. Our targeted outreach efforts to at-risk patients saved dozens of lives,” Ziskind said.

“We hired new team members and continue to do so and even surpassed a major recurring revenue milestone recently,” said Dennis Mason, CEO of Kings III Emergency Communications. “In times of uncertainty, our troops remained focused on taking care of our customers, our emergency callers and each other.”

And while no one is quite ready to sound an all-clear, there is a general feeling among our winners that the worst is behind us.

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“Hopefully the worst of the pandemic is behind us and bluer skies are ahead,” said Andy Roberts, CEO of VPay Inc. “Either way though, we as a company will be just fine because our employees are dedicated to doing the right thing — and having fun!”

So this is truly a day to celebrate.

Guide to better employment

If you’re thinking about joining the Great Resignation or if you’re worried that your company needs to up its game to attract employees, then we’ve got a valuable guide for you.

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In the 70-page Top 100 Places to Work magazine included in this edition, you’ll learn more about our standout winners and top CEOs.

Taking home the top prizes this year were Lumos Marketing Group, the No. 1 company in the small category with 50 to 149 employees; Monument Realty, No. 1 in the midsize group of companies with 150 to 499 employees, and Century 21 Judge Fite Co., No. 1 among companies with 500 or more.

Operations manager Mona Harmon (center) greeted Realtor Betsy Davila (right) and her mother,...
Operations manager Mona Harmon (center) greeted Realtor Betsy Davila (right) and her mother, Elsa Casanova, during the Century 21 Judge Fite top awards dinner and social event Aug. 31 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Our best leaders are Paula Allgood, managing partner of Beaird Harris in the small category; Terry Gottberg, CEO of Merit Energy Company in the midsize group; and Steve Thompson, CEO of PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company, in the largest category.

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We had a record number of companies, school systems and nonprofits enter this year’s competition — 337 of them with nearly 150,000 workers.

That was 30% more entries than we had in 2020 as the pandemic set in. More impressively, it was up a tad from the previous record year in 2019, when most area companies didn’t seem to have an economic worry in the world.

To enter, a company must have at least 50 employees and an office in one of its organizations represented in 10 North Texas counties — Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Wise. They have to agree to give our research partner, Energage Inc. of Exton, Pa., access to survey their workers.

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Energage surveys the North Texas market for us from early March to early June. The 2020 competition began as the pandemic took its ugly hold.

In the past year, Energage has conducted surveys for 58 other media partners, including The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe. And Dallas continues to lead the national average in just about every category.

Pandemic rollercoaster

This year, D-FW employees were less enthusiastic in each of the 24 categories than they were in 2020. But their answers were on par with their responses in 2019.

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Doug Claffey, founder of Energage, says employees are coming down from COVID-19′s adrenalin rush.

“The 2020 data captured the peak of employee engagement as the COVID crisis broke, when everyone really dug in to do everything possible to keep businesses running: better notably communication, cooperation, engaged leadership,” Claffey said. “Fast-forward a year later, and we are certainly seeing everyone come down to earth, but there are some positive trends when you look at 2021 vs. 2019.”

Employees feel that they’re clued in and that they’re getting things done, he said. “One thing that particularly stands out to me is that interdepartmental cooperation and collaboration is higher than three years ago despite working in a remote environment.”

Jon Kessler, CEO of HealthEquity Inc., learned that he and his executive team didn’t have to have all the answers and that listening to his troops was essential.

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“We learned that candor and vulnerability, not perfection, was the best approach for everyone,” he said.

One niggling indicator: D-FW workers’ perception of their work/life flexibility slid slightly from 2019.

Our survey was taken before the recent resignation onslaught, which should have even the best-of-the-best companies looking over their shoulders.

And that’s something to look out for in the coming year.

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From left: Superintendent Coty Jackson, general manager Brett Bird and senior project...
From left: Superintendent Coty Jackson, general manager Brett Bird and senior project manager Rick Jardine kid around at Nova Landscape Group in Lavon.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Remote works

Chris Wood, chief operating officer and president of Allsynx, has gotten the message: Remote works.

“We all see now how crazy this past year was,” Wood said. “What wasn’t expected was that it would also end up bringing our staff closer together despite us transitioning into fully remote work. As a virtual-first company, I think our staff has been especially excited about the flexibility surrounding not having to fight traffic to get to the office each day.”

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Publishing Concepts decided to go all virtual and is subleasing its three office spaces, said Drew Clancy, president and CEO.

“We learned during the pandemic that our teams worked together virtually at a high level,” he said. “We’ve experienced tremendous innovation in our selection, on-boarding, training and performance management and are excited about our new path forward.”

Drinking from a firehose

Not surprisingly, companies in residential real estate, financial services and the medical field dominated our Top 100 winners.

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But even they needed to innovate quickly to keep their heads above water during a deluge of historically high business.

Texas Security Bank funded 950 PPP Loan Forgiveness loans, turning most applications around in 48 hours with almost everyone working remotely for the first time, CEO Craig Scheef said. Nearly half of the loans were to people who weren’t customers of the bank.

“Our team worked 16-hour days and weekends for several weeks,” he said. “They were fueled by the desire to help brave business owners during a time of great uncertainty.”

That was echoed by Ken Hickman, CEO of Highlands Residential Mortgage, who said his firm set a company volume record, closing 152% more loans than the previous year while having to adapt quickly to a complete work-from-home environment. “We were able to maintain our corporate culture and set company records by using Microsoft Teams for meetings, holiday contests and recognition programs.”

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Steve Belcher, president of Advantis Medical, said his team placed more than 600 clinicians during the pandemic to fight the battle of COVID-19.

“Many of us got into health care staffing because of the purpose that the work provides, and that purpose was only heightened during a pandemic,” he said. “Our team worked tirelessly to deploy clinicians day in and day out. We learned to cultivate a culture where we celebrate each other’s wins.”

CEO Brian McKinney said Benchmark Mortgage spent the past decade developing a leadership team that has expanded the company from 200 to 1,000 employees and increased revenue by 800%. “While the financial results have been amazing, the ability to maintain a persistent family culture is absolutely mind-blowing.”

Zooming in

Jill Louis, Dallas office managing partner of Perkins Coie, says Zoom meetings provided a slice of life.

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“We saw kids, cats, dogs, living rooms, guest rooms, partners and we realized that professionals are multi-dimensioned,” she said. “We can be professional, excellent and human at the same time.”

Tech analyst Jason Oliver checks the server room at the Perkins Coie office in Dallas.
Tech analyst Jason Oliver checks the server room at the Perkins Coie office in Dallas.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)

Amen, said Mariana Garavaglia, chief people and business operations officer at Peloton Interactive.

“We are all juggling multiple responsibilities, and we shouldn’t apologize for life happening. We can all manage the best we can and hope we’re lucky enough to work somewhere that embraces our full, authentic selves.”

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Mike Sullivan, president and CEO of The Loomis Agency, has always loved the agency’s weekly all-hands “Around the Rail” meetings and quarterly Blueprint meetings where everyone came together to review work, talk about business and schmooze with one another.

“They’re a big part of our culture, and we had to do them on Zoom last year,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier to leave Zoom out of the equation as we return to these in-person gatherings.”

“Zoom meetings were tough on us,” said Melanie Lane, human resources vice president at Merit Energy. “Remote work doesn’t give you the ability to hug a co-worker’s neck when you know they’ve had a tough day. Even if you need to hug them quickly with a mask on, it’s still so much better than a Zoom call.”

Mark Hood, CEO of Spine Team Texas, said virtual meetings save time and money but can’t replace in-person interaction. “Zoom will never be in our rearview mirror, but off to the side, ready to support, as a best friend should be.”

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Making dark days brighter

Planet Home Lending trained laid-off workers from hospitality and other service industries for careers in mortgage banking, where competition for talent is fierce.

“We were fortunate to have an on-the-job training program in place, so we were ready to help when the crisis struck,” said Samantha Manfer, Planet Home’s chief business development and brand officer. “We benefited from their awesome customer service skills, which are crucial to delivering a good experience to our customers.”

The company also offered a $5,000 signing bonus for bringing in customer service representatives. “We learned that happy employees can be your best recruiters,” she said. “When you’re happy in your job, you’ll evangelize to others.”

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Kathleen Patterson, chief human resources officer at Ally Financial, said her company wanted to instill an owner’s mindset by giving employees 100 shares of its common stock in both 2019 and 2020.

“It was a big step but an important one that underscores our focus on creating an inclusive culture where all active, regular employees have a vested interest in our success,” she said. “For many employees, this may have been their first opportunity to participate in the stock market.”

Worn out but proud

Brian Erickson, Dallas managing vice president of Pariveda Solutions, said the management, technology and consulting services company has faced an onslaught of challenges.

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“In several situations, it would have been much easier to call a ‘time out’ and implement solutions that would solve the problem quickly but compromise our mission,” he said.

But they didn’t.

“We maintained the mission even if it required more time and higher short-term risk. It is wonderful that we continue to walk the talk even in some of the darkest days,” Erickson said.

As Paul Wittorf, executive managing partner and North Texas market leader of Transwestern, put it: “Each challenge presents an opportunity. The obstacles will keep coming, and I hope that we can continue to build our culture and team to embrace adversity when it comes our way.”

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The top winners

Large company top 3

1. Century 21 Judge Fite Co.

2. Fannie Mae

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3. Fathom Realty

Midsize company top 3

1. Monument Realty

2. Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate

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3. Ursuline Academy of Dallas

Small company top 3

1. Lumos Marketing Group

2. Nova Landscape Group Inc.

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3. Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media

Belinda Holder, human resources manager, and Sarah Bradbury, vice president and general...
Belinda Holder, human resources manager, and Sarah Bradbury, vice president and general counsel, are shown with a toy Premier trailer at Premier Trailer Leasing's corporate office in Plano. The company was a first-time winner and this year's No. 36 small company.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)