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Fourth annual survey sets participation mark

The Des Moines Business Record’s fourth annual “Best Places to Work in Central Iowa” survey marked a new high point in participation, with 65 companies taking part.

Nine of those companies were honored at a ceremony at the Hotel Fort Des Moines on May 6, and you’ll learn more in the following pages about why they came out on top. The survey divided companies into three categories based on size: 10-50 employees; 51-150 employees; and more than 150 employees. The top three companies in each group were singled out for awards.

Quantum Market Research partners with the Business Record to conduct the survey. The Wichita-based company has done Best Places to Work surveys in more than 40 American cities.

Right Management Inc. is the survey proprietor of the Central Iowa survey. The Des Moines office of Right Management is part of a nationwide company that’s a subsidiary of Manpower Inc.

Managers or human resources staff members nominated their companies to participate. The employees at each nominated workplace received a confidential e-mail inviting them to complete the survey of approximately 40 questions on a secure Web site.

Those questions asked for responses pertaining to topics such as team effectiveness, trust in co-workers, trust in senior leaders and company benefits.

After the survey period closed, Quantum tabulated the results and compared workplaces within each size category. Three companies were selected as first, second and third in each category.

Each of the nine winners receives a free copy of its own results. Other participating companies can purchase their reports from Quantum.

Right Management, founded in 1980, is a leader in providing career transition and organizational consulting services.

Its Des Moines office, opened in 1993, offers a full range of organizational consulting services in the areas of assessment, leadership development, strategic talent management and strategy executions.

Merit Resources Inc. is the presenting sponsor of the “Best Places to Work” competition. Founded in 1989, it’s based in Urbandale and has offices in Eastern Iowa, Florida and Kansas.

The Central Iowa Society for Human Resource Management is also a partner in the project. The Central Iowa chapter has approximately 500 members in Greater Des Moines.

Eight steps toward your dream of career success

If you feel you’ve fallen short of achieving your dreams, you’re not alone. Just 12 percent of 18- to 33-year-olds with higher education feel they are successful and living their dream, according to a recent study.

The YesYouCan Survey of 2,000 adults by Stowers Innovations Inc., conducted in February 2008, also found 76 percent of the parents and grandparents of that group believe their goals have not been realized.

The good news is, the majority of survey respondents did recognize goal-setting as an important step toward achieving their dreams.

In their new book “Yes, You Can . . . Reach Your Goals and Achieve Your Dreams,” authors Jim Stowers and Jack Jonathan show people of all ages who are entering the job market how to set goals and chart a path to success. The following eight tips offer a practical road map to setting and accomplishing both professional and personal goals.

1. Start with a positive attitude. Eighty-two percent of 18- to 33-year-olds and 91 percent of their parents and grandparents said a positive attitude is very important in helping a person become successful in life. Hope, optimism and enthusiasm have a magical effect on the way you think and set your goals.

2. Understand yourself. In order to set appropriate goals and take better advantage of life’s opportunities, first look within yourself and focus on qualities you want to improve.

3. Understand others. Developing the ability to understand others is important for a successful life and for achieving dreams. Gain insights by taking time to observe others with an open heart and mind.

4. Create a good first impression. Remember to pay attention to your appearance, correct any bad habits and improve your manners to get on the pathway to success. Treating others with respect is essential to achieving your dreams.

5. Reach out to others. Little things make a big difference in realizing your goals. The majority of survey respondents (82 percent of 18- to 33-year-olds and 93 percent of their parents and grandparents) said being sincere and trustworthy is very important in helping a person become successful in life. Practice conveying sincerity to others through your actions, such as radiating a sincere smile and practicing a sincere handshake.

6. Cultivate friendships. Ninety-four percent of survey respondents indicated that having a number of close friends is important in determining success in life. Get out where you can meet people and adopt the attitude that everyone you encounter is a friend. Learn how to break the ice and keep a conversation going.

7. Communicate effectively. What you say and how you say it are both important. Eighty-five percent of 18- to 33-year-olds and 92 percent of parents said communicating well is very important in helping a person become successful. Learn the art of skillfully asking questions to achieve the result you want.

8. Understand the value of time. Time is our most important asset, especially when it comes to setting goals and achieving dreams. Consider writing down your use of time for 24 hours, categorize your activities and then evaluate if you’re getting the most value for those hours.

It’s true: these accountants just want to have fun

Norm Hoffman doesn’t have to pinch himself to know that he has a “human resources manager’s dream job.”

Hoffman has worked at the Des Moines office of RSM McGladrey Inc. and McGladrey and Pullen LLP for 21?2 years, and over that time he has come to admire a corporate culture where the top bosses are as likely to be ridiculed as respected.

When tax season ends at the state’s largest accounting firm, McGladrey’s cadre of college interns puts on a skit where the brass get skewered. That’s OK, because in the fall, management gets to have a little fun at the interns’ expense.

“We have fun and because of that we are able to poke fun at ourselves and our industry,” said Kevin Prust, manager of the Des Moines office.

But fun and games don’t necessarily add up to Hoffman’s dream job.

Instead, it’s a culture that rewards hard work ¬- in the form of compensation and benefits – while at the same time encouraging employees to make the most of their personal lives.

“This is really one the first places that walks the talk,” Hoffman said. “We hire smart people; we treat them like smart people. It’s our whole approach to the kind of environment we want to have. We want people to be really successful here at work, to be successful in their personal lives and really balance the two.”

Recognizing that accountants and consultants can rack up plenty of 70- to 80-hour workweeks, McGladrey has a flex-time policy that basically says, “If your work is done, get out of here.”

In some cases, that can mean “get out of here” for the summer.

Hoffman said the company has a compensation package that is well above industry standards, including paid parental and adoption leave, “which most companies don’t even think about,” Hoffman said.

Because of its family-friendly benefits package, McGladrey’s was listed among Working Mother magazine’s 100 best companies.

“It’s just the whole area of flexibility – where people have control over their lives,” Hoffman said.

Prust said such flexibility was needed to attract outstanding employees.

“We adapt very quickly to changing factors,” he said.

“In today’s environment with the pending and probably current employee shortage – and particularly in the accounting and consulting world there is a shortage today – we learned probably four of five years ago we needed to adapt to change for the people who possibly wanted a different career path.”

A few years ago, McGladrey noticed that it had a problem in terms of moving women into leadership roles, Prust said.

“As part of examining the causes for that situation, we took a look at McGladrey’s overall human resources practices,” he said. “It was clear that if we didn’t do something to keep more of our people we would be facing shortages.”

Another perk is McGladrey’s spot recognition program, in which managers carry a special checkbook for writing checks to exceptional performers, along with a note describing why the bonus was given.

In 2007, the Des Moines office wrote 548 checks totaling $70,000, Hoffman said.

“It’s a great way not only to give them a financial reward but an intellectual boost, too, because you write them a note that tells them what you saw. … This kind of makes them think about it,” Prust said.

Hoffman noted that McGladrey’s clients frequently ask how and, sometimes, why the company fosters such a generous compensation package and open atmosphere.

“Our clients like to see us be recognized as a good place to work, as the best place to work,” Prust said. “They truly believe that if we have employees that enjoy working in their career at this location, they’ll perform better when doing their services for them.

“If you’re kind of best in class, that helps them because they know they are going to have safe servicing, they’re going to have retention, they’re going to have less of a learning curve when we’re doing services.”

McGladrey continues to look for creative ways to keeps its employees eager to work for a best employer.

“We kind of look at the business case,” Hoffman said. “Is this something we can make work? If we can make it work, then we’ll consider anything.”

Davis Brown “feels right’ to its long-tenured employees

When Barb Hardy had a chance to leave Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts P.C. a few years ago, a partner in the law firm asked her to “envision yourself there.”

Hardy couldn’t picture it. Maybe she was thinking “there’s no place like home.”

“It’s just very comfortable here. It’s another home,” Hardy said. “We look forward to spending time with the people who are here.”

Hardy has been feeling right at home with Davis Brown for 35 years. At present, she is an administrative staffer with its board of directors.

“A very important aspect of it is the people, and you hear that from everyone,” Hardy said on a recent Friday – blue jeans day at one of the city’s most prestigious law firms. “The attorneys I’ve always found to be very inclusive. There isn’t the hierarchy I hear about at other firms.”

Some collegial touches at the 178-employee firm include meals served to staff by Davis Brown’s 68 attorneys, “support staff week” in which the staff plans the activities for the week minus management’s watchful eye, company picnics and special holiday celebrations. Last year, the firm treated its workers to free tickets to see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines.

And here’s a touch that’s hard to quibble with: When the firm moves this year into its new digs at the 13-story Davis Brown Tower at 10th and Walnut streets, support staff will have offices that are 58 percent larger then their current work areas.

What’s the source of the we’re-all-in-this-together atmosphere?

“Even though we are a large firm, the work groups are relatively small,” said Robert Douglas, a partner in the firm and a former president of its board of directors. “So a lot of it is based on the relationships between the attorneys and their assistants.”

The firm traces its roots to 1929, when District Judge George Brammer left the bench and returned to the practice of law with his friend Joseph Brody. By the end of the 1930s, it had eight lawyers. When Brammer died in 1949, the firm became known as the Brody firm, until 1965, when it changed its name to Thoma, Schoenthal, Davis, Hockenberg & Wine.

In 1974, the firm moved into the Financial Center and in the 1980s changed its name to Davis, Hockenberg, Wine, Brown, Koehn & Shors P.C. and in the 1990s it changed to Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts P.C.

Though the firm has changed its name frequently, it has maintained a reputation for creating a culture that encourages long tenure.

Hardy started out 35 years ago as a secretary. Douglas counts 26 years, and Deborah Tharnish, the partner who asked Hardy to consider whether she could be content working for a different employer, has been with the firm for 28 years.

“We’re not real hierarchical; among my group of best friends would be administrators and administrative assistants,” Tharnish said. “It’s not just that all the attorneys hang out together. You spend too many hours to not enjoy the people you work with.”

That environment leads to low turnover and high retention. One attorney even returned twice.

“Retention, low turnover, if it was just based on top dollar and someone could get more dollars someplace else, then you would expect a lot of them would leave,” Douglas said.

Davis Brown probably doesn’t pay top dollar for the area, Douglas said, but it strives to make certain that salary, benefits and an environment that recognizes the value of each employee are part of the firm’s institutional fabric. “We try to have competitive salary and benefits for everybody,” Douglas said. “We try to have those institutionalized, along with attitudes about how you’re treating people, not just people as different parts of the machine and that kind of stuff.”

Tharnish noted that several years ago the firm asked around town for examples of maternity leave policy, but there were no models to follow. So Davis Brown broke new ground on the issue, providing leave for its attorneys and support staff.

The firm also was a leader in the state in regard to bringing more women on staff. “In the decision-making process and how things are done, it brought a different perspective and point of view,” Douglas said.

Is Davis Brown a role model for other firms?

“I don’t think we do anything that great or extraordinary because to me it just seems like the way it ought to be,” Douglas said. “It goes back to treating people the way you’d like to be treated.”

The Members Group expects its employees to lead

Imagine your boss handing you the keys to a very cool BMW Z4 automobile and telling you it’s yours to drive for one year. You would be one happy employee, right?

It’s not a bad moment for the boss, either.

“My favorite thing is giving away a car,” said Tom Kuehl, CEO of The Members Group. “Every year at our company parties, we try to do something bigger. We have given some pretty nice prizes, but I always said, “Sometime I want to give a car away.'” Now he has. Twice.

“It creates a lot of excitement in the company,” said Kuehl, who was a co-founder of The Members Group. Such excitement doesn’t just dwindle away with no effect. “Our best hires,” he noted, “come from employee referrals.”

The employees must like the way things are going, because their evaluations of their workplace put The Members Group third among the large companies in the 2008 “Best Places to Work” competition.

With headquarters at 1500 N.W. 118th St. in Clive, the 11-year-old company is owned by the Iowa Credit Union League and the Iowa Corporate Central Credit Union. The Members Group works with credit unions across the country to provide services such as card processing, item processing and printing services. It has about 200 employees here and sales offices in California, Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

“We have built our business on the ability to customize and innovate,” said Pamela Bair, vice president of human resources. “If we want to deliver on that promise, we need a work force that is high-performing, engaged in our business and has a passion for serving our customers.

“When we hire people who have worked in other types of companies, we have to intentionally acclimate them to where they have a lot of ownership in the company. Some have worked in a place where it’s “don’t ask questions, just do as I tell you,’ but here we expect them to lead. People find it very refreshing, having a say in things.”

In recent years, Bair said, The Members Group has focused on a process that’s designed to develop a “culture of leadership.” “We give people a lot of training on this,” she said. For one thing, “we have a communication promise; we want the employees to take responsibility for having no gossip, collusion or triangulation. We say, when you see it, call it out, because that’s not how we work with each other.”

The company also works with an Oregon company on strategic planning. A representative comes here from Portland three or four times a year to confer with senior management.

And, of course, “we have lot of things we do that make it fun to be at work,” Bair said. For example, every Friday is a “jeans day,” and it’s not too difficult to qualify for extra jeans days, too – or a shorts day in the summer.

“With our wellness program, we have a 100-day challenge,” Bair said. “If you exercise so many days a week and meet your goals, you get an extra jeans day.”

The Members Group recently began a trial run with subsidized lunches catered by Hy-Vee Inc. Employees sign for each lunch they choose, and the discounted price is taken out of their paychecks.

But what about getting to and from work? “When gas prices started going so high, we felt like people in the lower pay grades have a harder time absorbing the extra cost,” Bair said. “We subsidize gas for everybody in the level right below management on down by paying about $50 per month as a gas bonus. We’ve been doing that for almost a year, and it looks like it will go on for a while.”

The company has a number of job openings right now, largely because the staff is growing. “We moved into this building three years ago and thought we had plenty of space until 2009,” Kuehl said. But it’s starting to get crowded.

In terms of being a “Best Place to Work,” a different kind of growth takes precedence. “We have a culture that creates opportunities for growth and development,” Kuehl said. “That’s one of the biggest issues for our employees. The opportunity to do something different and grow, I think that’s important to them.

“We mostly get people who have some work experience, and we hear that all the time: “It’s so much different than where I came from.’

“New employees come here from some of the larger companies in town, and they tell us it’s a breath of fresh air.”

McGowen touts big-firm expertise, small-firm service

Involvement in the community, a commitment to its members and a well-honed set of values are qualities that set apart McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith P.C. as one of the Best Places to Work in Central Iowa.

Founded in 1946, West Des Moines-based McGowen Hurst is one of the oldest and largest independent certified public accounting practices in Central Iowa. The firm employs nearly 60 professionals between its West Des Moines and Winterset offices, and has been adding between two and four additional members each year, said Bob McGowen, a partner in the firm. McGowen Hurst also works closely with its affiliate wealth management partner, Wealth Advisors of Iowa, which is now about 8 years old.

Since 1976, McGowen Hurst has been a member of CPAmerica, one of the world’s largest networks of independent CPA firms, with 72 member firms nationwide. It’s the only Iowa firm with that affiliation.

“That is a difference between us and a lot of other local firms, because we have the availability of national firm expertise across the United States, and yet the autonomy of a local firm,” McGowen said. “That has a nice mix to it for us and our people. And a big part of the personal aspect of it is that we care, not only about our clients and how successful they are, but also about our firm members.”

McGowen Hurst’s commitment to its employees is reflected in the longevity of its partners; eight out of the 10 partners have been with the firm for better than 25 years.

“We promote that we want people to come work with us and spend their career here,” McGowen said. “That is not what the colleges or the marketplace promote, but that is how we try to work with people here. In the past 10 years, I can’t think of anyone who has gone to another firm; they’ve either started a family or gone to part-time work.”

Three years ago, McGowen Hurst hired a full-time human resources person, an unusual move for a CPA firm its size, and that has helped keep it in touch with employees’ needs, he said.

In addition to its tax preparation, business consulting, audit and accounting and estate planning services, the firm has established expertise in fraud deterrence as well as a business valuations specialty. It also has added cost segregation and research and development studies as services within the past two to three years and provides QuickBooks consulting for small businesses as one of seven certified QuickBooks advisers in the state.

Besides providing outstanding professional services for its clients, the firm’s mission statement pledges to “provide a work environment that enables our firm members to achieve their personal and professional goals.” Programs such as its “You Make a Difference Award,” which rewards employees with a chocolate star and a certificate for doing something special are “part of an overall culture of showing a caring attitude,” McGowen said. Last year, the firm launched a Lifetime Learning Program as a commitment that its members will receive the best possible continuing professional education and training.

Being a member of CPAmerica has provided McGowen Hurst with an edge not only in sharing expertise with other CPA firms in the network, but also in sending its employees to national training opportunities. The network has given the firm access to best practices in member benefits and recognition as well, McGowen said.

Having fun is an important element of McGowen Hurst’s corporate culture. During each high-pressure tax season, for instance, the firm hosts a mid-season catered breakfast and offers chair massages.

“The other thing we work hard at is being involved in the community, and for every firm member to have a marketing program,” McGowen said. “To be successful in today’s marketplace, you need to be out there, you need to be giving back to the community.” In recognition of members’ diverse interests, the firm last year started a Volunteer Time Off Program, allowing each employee to take one paid day off annually to donate service to a charity of his or her choice.

McGowen Hurst was recently named the 2007 West Des Moines Business of the Year by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, based on its corporate citizenship.

“I think it’s just the culture instilled here at the firm, to have our employees get out and make a difference in the community in which we live,” said Rose Breuss, director of marketing.

Brokers International competes with metro on perks

While many people in Guthrie County commute to Des Moines to work, one-third of Brokers International Ltd.’s staff drives to Panora from Greater Des Moines, a sign that the company’s benefits are attracting and retaining employees even with competition from the big city. “We really have little to no turnover,” said Stephanie Pearl, director of human resources.

Pearl believes the biggest reason for this is the “accessibility of senior management and the ability to make an impact on the overall organization. Associates really see what their efforts can accomplish,” she said. (In fact, employees are referred to as associates because the company’s senior management believes it’s more personal.)

Every other month, company President Bill McCarty goes out to lunch with employees whose birthdays are within the two-month period. The lunches are a chance for employees to ask questions and offer suggestions. “At this particular point, he’s answered every question,” Pearl said.

These meetings led to the idea of putting a gazebo in the center of the company’s campus to give workers a place to eat outside, which it is considering this year. Brokers International also connected the four buildings with sidewalks based on employee feedback.

“It’s really a conscious effort from the top down,” Pearl said. “The president, owner and CEO think it’s imperative to keep that constant contact with the associates.”

CEO Roger McCarty founded Brokers International in 1955 and it has since grown from a two-story house to a 10-acre campus with 19,000 square feet of office space. It has a little less than 100 employees now who work with more than 40,000 licensed insurance professionals nationwide.

Brokers International is one of the industry leaders in educating and training financial professionals on new products and offers programs to help professionals expand their businesses. It has helped train more than 2,000 insurance professionals for fixed annuity and life products and others through online workshops.

When most companies are looking to decrease employee benefits, Pearl said, Brokers International has increased its level of benefits this year.

It added group life insurance and increased the company’s 401(k) plan contribution by one percentage point. This is in addition to a bonus employees receive each year the company makes a profit, which has been growing since its inception.

Brokers International also is focusing strongly on wellness. It added new machines to its fitness facility and hired a personal trainer, who comes in twice a week to teach workout classes. The company also subsidizes half the cost of participating in Weight Watchers. This program has had strong interest from employees, especially after seeing the successes of some of their co-workers, Pearl said. She believes about half the staff is involved.

“In a small town, quite honestly, there’s not a lot of options for people and we really have a nice facility to be able to assist our associates,” Pearl said. “We’ve really spent considerable amounts of money to make that a good place for everyone.” Even senior management works out in the company’s fitness facility with the trainer.

Employees also take on their own initiatives, Pearl said, such as a current effort to raise money for Relay for Life. Associates have been organizing casual dress days, breakfasts and other fund-raisers to support that cause.

The focus on employee benefits really came about in the past few years, after the organization went through a period of rapid growth. “Sometimes it take a while to take a breath and look back and say, “Where are we today and what have we overlooked?'” Pearl said. “So the opportunity has been here in recent years to take some time and say, “Oh my gosh, look at these great things we can do.'”

A lot of these changes also are driven by competition from Greater Des Moines companies. “You have to be able to compete because a lot of (our associates) carry benefits because they have farmers for husbands or stay-at-home spouses and they are going to Des Moines and working.

“Our associates are what makes the company as profitable and successful as it is today.”

Big-company benefits with small-office camaraderie

Not only were KPMG LLP employees surprised with an extra two days off around the Fourth of July last year; they were sent on vacation with a meat package that included New York strip steak, chicken breasts and hot dogs.

“Things like that aren’t really expected or built in as something of an entitlement,” said Tom Garton, managing partner of the Des Moines office, “but it’s something people think is neat.”

With only about 85 people in the Des Moines office, but a parent company with more than 123,000 professionals working in member firms in 145 countries around the world, KPMG has the advantage of feeling like a small company while having access to big-company benefits. The company provides audit, tax and advisory services through its global network of professional firms.

Company-wide, management has placed an emphasis on being the “employer of choice,” Garton said, with perks that strive to attract and retain the best talent.

“Like law firms and other professional services, we train people, and if turnover is high, we’re really wasting a real asset,” he said. “So we’ve started to think about what we could do and started to focus on the employer-of-choice initiatives, and nationally it has made a big difference.”

KPMG was named one of the 100 best companies by Working Mother magazine in 2007 for benefits such as flexible work schedules, company-negotiated discounts at several national child-care centers and eight weeks of full paid time off for new mothers and two weeks for new fathers.

It ranked 71 (up 26 spots from the previous year) on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2008 for its generous time off and flexibility, with 75 percent of employees saying that they are encouraged to balance work and family life.

Locally, KPMG has maintained that small-office feel with a mentoring program, where co-workers can be paired together and meet periodically to discuss personal or professional issues and aspirations. The partners also encourage employees to meet with them. “I will absolutely make time for everybody and schedule periodic luncheons with the staff,” Garton said.

Management also hosts town hall meetings, usually twice a year, where the entire office meets to discuss any questions employees might have. Last year, the company went a step further and connected all of its U.S. operations by satellite, so that employees could ask top company leaders questions.

“A lot of people nationally had a lot of questions,” Garton said. “I think it went over well, but it was quite a production.”

These efforts have become even more important as the Des Moines office staff has grown.

It recently added an internal audit practice in addition to its external auditing services, which increased the staff by 10. It also is expanding its information technology advisory department.

Above all, the company values open and honest communication, mutual respect, integrity and having fun, Garton said.

On the fun side, KPMG will occasionally get the staff together, such as for a spring fling a couple of weeks ago to celebrate the end of a stressful tax season. Employees and their significant others were invited to a dinner and casino night at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. Sometimes it has more casual gatherings, such as going to Legends American Grill to watch the NCAA basketball tournament in March.

Another benefit is its shared-leave program, where if someone has a situation come up that requires more time off from work, people can donate their vacation time. “You won’t believe how quickly people step up if a colleague has an issue,” Garton said. “It’s the little things like that that add up.

“While our national office provides us great support with their depth and resources to be a big firm and focus on employer-of-choice initiatives, it’s all about being local. The clients that work with us see local and the people who work here have to act and think locally, so it’s very much a Des Moines-based office.”

IHCA/ICAL employees respect their different expertise

Iowa Health Care Association (IHCA) and Iowa Center for Assisted Living’s (ICAL) 10 employees know one another’s roles. They recognize their colleagues’ strengths and weaknesses, and appreciate each individual for both.

“We respect each other’s expertise,” said Claire Seely, director of communications at IHCA and ICAL. “This is a place where we can admit our weaknesses and that is not a problem.”

Respect from co-workers and being comfortable on the job are just two reasons employees like IHCA/ICAL and why it was voted No. 1 for Best Places to Work in the small company category. Last year, it placed third.

In a close work environment, where the associations’ employees see one another “more often than family members,” it is important to know co-workers’ strengths.

“It’s like a tag team,” Seely said. “Everybody is important.”

If there are questions with regulation issues, IHCA/ICAL employees ask Kelly Verwers Meyers, a former prosecutor and the associations’ director of regulatory affairs. And print material will not leave the organizations’ West Des Moines building without Seely seeing it first.

IHCA and ICAL are nonprofit trade organizations that serve 550 members of the long-term-care profession across Iowa, such as assisted living programs, nursing homes, residential care facilities, retirement and independent senior living communities, and elder group homes.

“We work in a caring type of profession,” said Steve Ackerson, executive director of IHCA and ICAL. “We help give people the tools for one-on-one care. It is a profession that is driven to serve – we work with caregivers. And that mission resonates well with us.”

The mission for IHCA and ICAL’s includes:

¥ empowering caregivers to better serve those in need;

¥ protecting and developing the ability of long-term-care providers to deliver responsive health care and others services to residents in a safe environment;

¬• ensuring long-term-care standards and legislation positively supporting their members’ efforts to provide quality care;

¥ educating consumers to make informed decisions on care options.

“There is a goal-setting team spirit from the board of directors through the staff,” Ackerson said. But the employees put the pressure on themselves to get it done; there is independence and “no daily looking over your shoulder,” he said.

Members of IHCA represent about 92 percent of Iowa’s proprietary nursing facility proprietary providers and 75 percent of the nonprofit providers. Sixty-seven percent of Iowa’s certified assisted living programs are members of ICAL. Members of IHCA/ICAL provide more than 45,000 Iowa residents with long-term care.

Verwers Meyers, who is the newest employee at IHCA/ICAL, said that there is always positive feedback and that it feels like a family “from the nine of us to the extended membership.”

Along with the salary and benefits (health, dental, life, disability and long-term-care benefits that are fully paid), there are also little perks like free food and drinks.

She also appreciates that the leadership tells the associations’ employees what’s expected of them. “You don’t have to guess,” Verwers Meyers said. “You know your role and we work well together.”

Marcia Hewitt, director of membership at IHCA/ICAL who has been with the associations for around 31 years, said that over the years the groups have changed, grown and had different names.

But, there have only been three executive directors, including Ackerson, during her time at IHCA/ICAL. The ultimate boss is still the members of the associations and they have the same purpose.

“We are a voluntary trade association,” Hewitt said. “It gives us all a good feeling that the industry we are working for – long-term care – has a goal to make life better for elders and loved ones.”

IHCA/ICAL have always considered employees first; no one is looking over their co-workers’ shoulder, they have been focused on a team approach and they care about one another.

“We will all drop whatever we are doing,” Hewitt said, “and pitch in.”

“X-factor’ keeps Palmer Group employees as a team

More than one-third of the 29 current employees at Palmer Group have been with the company for five or more years.

“The foundation of all of this, I believe, is that the most important asset to our company is its people,” said Austin Palmer, president of Palmer Group. “And when we have added people to our company, we have conveyed that.”

Palmer Group, located in West Des Moines and started in 1998 by Palmer, is an employment firm that works with more than 300 companies in Greater Des Moines. It provides clients with employment services that include recruiting, professional temporary staffing, high-level contracting and outplacement services.

Areas that Palmer Group focuses on include insurance, accounting, information technology, sales, engineering, human resources and office administration.

Though Palmer Group and its employees work to fill positions for other companies in the area, the process of finding employees for itself is elaborate and a group effort.

“We have worked hard to find people that we thought could be long-term fits for our company,” Palmer said. “We feel like it is the extent to which we can attract and retain people for the long term that puts us in a better position to provide better service. (The recognition) is rooted in that – not trying to be a fun place to work – that it is good business. It works hand in hand.”

The employment firm tries to make sure that its employees do not just have the skill set and ability to do the job, but also that they also believe in the mission, said Brian Berry, senior staffing consultant for accounting and finance at the Palmer Group.

“They have the vision and the commitment; they buy into the mission and stay true to it,” he said, which is to be the premier search firm in Greater Des Moines.

Multiple factors contribute to why employees consider Palmer Group one of the best places to work, Berry said, one of the main reasons being that the company is a place where employees feel comfortable.

“Austin Palmer created a very accepting and inclusive environment,” Berry said. “(Co-workers) focus on your strengths, not the negative and your weaknesses.”

Palmer said, “I think that having an open, trusting environment is something that we started with and it is now part of the fabric of our culture.”

The company is a place where creativity is encouraged, and that in term increases productivity.

Teamwork, Berry said, is what sets Palmer Group apart from its competition. Though Palmer and the directors of the company might have different ways of doing things, they are still a cohesive group.

Berry, who had been with the company for more than six years, said that a low turnover rate helps Palmer Group employees to be successful and build relationships.

Having a president who is a good communicator helps the employment firm’s employees to keep their goals and visions “clear at all times.”

Palmer Group employees have goals for each quarter during the year. When they are met for the first quarter, the employees are treated to dinner out. The incentive for meeting second-quarter goals is a golf outing.

And when goals for the last two quarters are met, Palmer pays the employees’ expenses for a trip – where business is left behind and relationships are strengthened. They have gone to Las Vegas the last two years.

Sometimes the events are simpler, such as a barbecue on a sunny Friday, a potluck lunch or a social event with co-workers and their families.

Employees at Palmer Group also work as a team to give back. Each person can submit a charity that the employees will nominate to support as a group for a designated amount of time.

Berry said there is an “x-factor” that keeps the employees at Palmer Group, that keeps them together and that helps them support and understand one another.

“It is certainly nice to have the recognition, to have a company that the employees enjoy working at,” Palmer said, “and at the end of the day it is good business, too.”

Vermillion Group’s recruiters are happy headhunters

Mike Vermillion “made a lot of headhunters rich” before deciding to open his own executive recruiting firm 16 years ago.

Having worked for three Fortune 500 companies in his career, he has used headhunters to start up new corporate divisions, and was himself recruited to one of his positions by a headhunter.

“I had friends who left the corporate world and went into recruiting and told me to check it out, and it was something I was familiar with,” said Vermillion, whose past job titles include regional manager for Maytag Corp., national sales manager for GTE and vice president for MCI Inc. In 1992 he launched Vermillion Group by purchasing a franchise in Management Recruiters International Inc. (MRI), which operates more than 1,200 offices worldwide.

Vermillion Group now employs about 40 people, primarily recruiters who specialize in placing executives in the insurance, medical software, health-care and related fields, as well as a contract staffing division for temporary placements. As part of one of the world’s largest executive search organizations, his office finds top talent for large corporate clients across the country as well as internationally. Based on a survey of its employees, it has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Central Iowa.

“We hire extroverts, people who like to interact with people, people who are intelligent because they’re dealing with the upper echelon of the business world, people who are witty and have a great sense of humor,” Vermillion said. “So for me, this is a vacation because I get to spend time with people I respect and admire and have a lot of laughs with. The fact that they indicate they feel the same way is very reassuring.”

To an outsider, matching up a company with an executive might appear to be a simple process.

“But it’s much more complicated than that, because you’re trying to match up the candidate’s family and the company and its culture,” he said. “Will the family really want to move to Bangor, Maine, if Dad gets transferred? So at any given time we’re playing career counselor, tax adviser, father-priest, psychiatrist, checking into special-needs school for kids, you name it. We’re trying to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”

The company’s philosophy is to “make money and have fun,” Vermillion said, and it’s a career that pays very well. More than half of the firm’s associates make six-figure incomes, he said, with the remainder, mostly newer associates, making between $50,000 and $100,000.

“We allow people to run their own business; they can negotiate their own deals,” Vermillion said. “We encourage them to take initiative, so in essence they have a great deal of freedom here to do what they want.”

Because it may take a month or more to close a deal, the company constantly sponsors contests and lunches to keep the motivation level high. It also spends a lot of time and money to provide training on virtually a daily basis.

Vermillion Group became one of MRI’s fastest-growing franchises early on, hitting $1 million in revenue in just its second year of operations. “Over the past 10 years, we’ve always been in the top 10 MRI offices in revenue,” he said. “Despite all the ups and downs and twists and turns in the economy, we’ve always managed so far to land on our feet.”

Integrity is one of the firm’s guiding principles, Vermillion said.

“When you do what we do, which is deal in confidential areas both on the company side and the candidate side, integrity is paramount,” he said. “BS blows up on you; you’re always candid, forthright, honest. If you’re not that way and someone catches you in an untruth, that business is over.”

It wasn’t until the company entered the contract staffing business a few years ago that it began seeing much work in Iowa. It makes temporary, high-level placements for some of Des Moines’ largest companies for needs such as short-term projects.

One of 14 MRI franchise offices in the state, Vermillion Group is the only one in Iowa that primarily handles service industries; the others focus on manufacturing.

“Our biggest competition tends to be other MRI offices, but they’re also our biggest customers as well,” he said. “If we have a sister office working in the same niche, it’s a lot easier to combine forces. That happens quite a bit.”