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We tallied the scores for 55 different 417-land companies and found 12 that earned points heads and tails above the rest. They are the Best Places to Work in 417-land, and what they have to offer might surprise you.
By Katie Pollock
(page 10 of 14)
 Photo Edward Biamonte Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, Mr. Ducksworth. |
Third place, 101 to 250 employees
280 points
Quackology
The driveway of Duck Creek Technologies in Bolivar has a little “duck crossing” sign at its entrance. You know the ones, with the mommy duck leading her little kiddo ducklings. At Duck Creek Technologies, CEO and founder Doug Roller is probably the daddy duck. He is the guy who made this big family of ducks happen. (And they do call themselves ducks. Their company-wide meetings are called “flockings.” They give one another “quacks on the back” to congratulate accomplishments.) In an industry where this company’s peers and competitors have get-to-the point names such as Computer Sciences Corporation, Duck Creek Technologies was named after a creek that ran in front of Roller’s grandfather’s farm near Tulsa. “We all wanted to have a name that didn’t sound too techy,” Roller says. “We wanted something that sounded down-home.”Duck Creek Technologies develops software for insurance carriers that helps them create rating and underwriting systems. Since Roller and his co-founders started it in 2000, the company has become an ever-changing, constantly growing entity. It now includes two other locations, one in Columbia, South Carolina and another in Farmington, Connecticut. “You might wake up in a new company with new responsibilities,” Roller says of the constant change and growth. “But things start to happen to make you realize, ‘gosh, we need to change this or restructure this.’” Director of Human Resources David Hacker calls it “ducks in flux,” and he says that even after their initial training, employees are hungry to learn more and keep up with changes at Lunch and Learn food-and-training meetings. “Seldom are they required to do this, but ducks are eager learners, and they don’t like to be left lagging behind,” Hacker says. “They take advantage of those opportunities.”
As devoted to work as they might be, these employees are also encouraged to keep in mind their work-life balance. “It’s talked about on a lot of levels here,” Hacker says. “We figure if we hire ducks, then ducks know what their responsibilities are and can be trusted to achieve balance with family life, personal life and work life. We know people won’t be happy here if it creates a situation at home that is stressed.” Health factors into that balance they try to strike as well. “We have a group of guys who take off at 3 p.m. on Thursdays to play basketball, and they’ve done it since the beginning,” Hacker says. “Nobody questions those basketball games.” Rhonda Stanton, quality specialist, says that every now and then she gives the employees a reason to forget about health, stress and anything else that’s weighing on their minds. She’ll go to the store and buy 150 ice cream bars and offer the whole staff a “brain freeze break.”
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