Survey highlights Wasatch Front’s top workplaces

CHG Healthcare Services was one of three top-ranked places to work along the Wasatch Front, according to a survey released Friday.

The Cottonwood Heights medical-staffing company was one of 60 large, midsize and small employers honored at a Friday gathering hosted by The Salt Lake Tribune, which sponsored the WorkplaceDynamics poll along with the newspaper's advertising and promotions partner, Utah Media Group.

CHG topped a list of 15 large employers rated by their workers as happy, meaningful and fulfilling places to earn a living, based on polling and interviews conducted by the Pennsylvania-based survey company.

Thumbtack, an online professional-directory-listing company headquartered in San Francisco, emerged as the best of 20 leading midsize workplaces, while Diversified Insurance Group, a Salt Lake City-based insurance consultancy and brokerage, finished first among 25 small employers.

"We are doing good work and getting paid well to perform a vital service in our country," one of CHG's more than 900 employees told WorkplaceDynamics pollsters.

"I believe in the company and that they truly care about their employees and clients," another employee said. "I am so proud to have a job here."

Founded in 2011, Thumbtack employs more than 200 Utahns.

"I am empowered to make decisions and own my role," a Thumbtack worker said.

"I do something meaningful every day," remarked another. "Whether it's helping a customer find the right professional to help accomplish projects near to their heart or helping my colleagues through challenging life events."

Diversified Insurance Group, established in 2001, has 40-plus employees.

"I appreciate that I am able to work independently," an employee told pollsters, "and that I am trusted to do my job."

WorkplaceDynamics invited 664 Wasatch Front companies to participate and surveyed 88 of them. More than 18,500 employees responded to questionnaires that gauged their sentiments on 19 measures of workplace satisfaction and happiness.

Of 60 companies that made the poll's 2015 top rankings, 28 were also highly ranked last year.

And while more than a quarter of this year's top companies had a health-care tie, the firms overall hail from a range of industries — from retail, software, hotels, finance, oil extraction, marketing and accounting to Disney vacation planning and a public library system.

For the second year running, poll findings revealed that worker satisfaction had more to do with appreciation from supervisors, work-life balance and community involvement than paychecks and benefits.

Rankings, stories and photos about the Wasatch Front's top workplaces will appear in a Tribune special section Sunday and can be found online at topworkplaces.sltrib.com.

tsemerad@sltrib.com

Twitter: @TonySemerad