Great Place to Work-Certified™ Two Years in a Row
We are proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work® for the 2nd year in a row. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at Smooth Fusion. This year, 100% of employees said it’s a great place To Work – 43 points higher than the average U.S. company.
Great Place To Work® is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention and increased innovation.
"Great Place To Work Certification is a highly coveted achievement that requires consistent and intentional dedication to the overall employee experience," says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place To Work. She emphasizes that Certification is the sole official recognition earned by the real-time feedback of employees regarding their company culture. “By successfully earning this recognition, it is evident that Smooth Fusion stands out as one of the top companies to work for, providing a great workplace environment for its employees."
”It's exciting to be named a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company for the second year in a row as we continue to make culture a top priority year after year,” said CEO Todd Knowlton. "We had a very successful 2023, and although there are many reasons for that,one contributing factor is our talented team and the culture at Smooth Fusion. Ultimately, hiring the right people and caring for them well has resulted in a dedicated team who serves our customers well."
"When employees are treated well and enjoy the people that they work with, they are more likely to stay and are more dedicated to our vision and mission. Ultimately, we want our employees to be proud to work at Smooth Fusion and stay here for a long time. One big reason we've been able to maintain long-term relationships with our clients over the years is our low turnover and tenure of employees. Clients don't have to deal with an entirely new development team every other year—they know they always have someone on our team who understands their project and their company's goals and initiatives." said Dylan Echols, VP of Customer Success. '
Companies that make workplace culture a priority have higher retention rates, lower levels of burnout, faster revenue growth, and better stock performance. To learn more, read this article on 5 Ways Workplace Culture Drives Business Profitability.
Employee Ownership and Impact on Culture
In 2022, we established an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and since being employee-owned can have many positive impacts on company culture, it's worth covering this as it relates to being a great place to work. '
Being employee-owned helps us attract and retain the best team and enables us to provide the best possible service to our customers. It also changes the mindset of our team from just being an employee to owners. Encouraging employees to think and act like owners creates a team that is highly involved and an environment in which ideas are shared openly.. The high-engagement culture that our ESOP creates is another reason for the level of team satisfaction and why 100% of our employees agreed with the statement on the 2023 Great Place to Work® Trust Index© Survey that "taking everything into account, Smooth Fusion is a great place to work."
Our Big Culture Initiative in 2023: Our First Annual Smooth Fusion Summit
The Culture Team at Smooth Fusion is a group of volunteers whose mission is to improve workplace culture. At the beginning of the year, this team saw the opportunity for an event to get everyone together in person to share ideas and discuss goals while also having fun and building relationships with each other.
The result was our first Annual Smooth Fusion Summit. We closed our office for a few days and spent that time discussing important topics around our business like our processes and ways we can serve our clients better.
We also scheduled fun events like trivia, group dinners, bowling, and a college football game. Annual events that get employees together in person have a big impact on company culture and it's something we plan on doing every year.
Continuing to Improve Our Company Culture
Just because we had 100% of our employees say that we are a great place to work and we received a 97% average score from all aspects of the 2023 Great Place to Work® Trust Index© Survey doesn't mean we don't have room for improvement. Creating a great company culture is hard work that needs constant attention. Awards like these are good reminders to companies that caring for your team always needs to be a part of your culture and that great people are behind every successful company.