November 21, 2009

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Best Places To Work 2007

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.

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Photo Edward Biamonte Red Cross staff hangs out with Pluggy.

American Red Cross

Second place, 25 or fewer employees
320.5 points

Life Savers

Of all the days for the woman who runs the American Red Cross Greater Ozarks Chapter to be out of town, January 12 (when this year’s big ice storms started) was not the ideal one. The organization is used to rushing out to the aid of the community, for the seven or so house fires they are deployed to every week, for example. But for a disaster the magnitude of the ice storms, there was certainly an all-hands-on-deck atmosphere in the small Springfield office-turned-shelter. And CEO Debi Meeds was far away in Georgia as her son deployed to Iraq for the third time. She came home to 14 days of no power at her house, and a lot of work to do at the American Red Cross. “This was the largest sheltering operation for this chapter in 90 years of written history,” Meeds says. “[We] set up 28 shelters, and supported 80 more throughout the area. We sent out 4,500 cots; more than 100,000 meals ready to eat and 200,000 Gatorades and drinks.”

That superquick call to action, plus the teamwork poster that graces one wall of Meeds’ office, tell the story of what it’s like to be part of the American Red Cross. You work hard, you go where you’re needed, and you do it as a team. The group’s 17 employees and more than 500 volunteers are ready to tackle jobs like the ice storm work, the house fires, tornado relief (which they’ve gotten pretty good at over the years here), health and safety classes (sometimes featuring Pluggy, a robotic fire hydrant) and any other community needs. “We’re very, very busy,” Meeds says. “So on the one hand, it’s very high-stress. On the other hand, we make time to talk to each other. And if there’s one thing about the workplace here, it’s teamwork.”

A company that understands big disasters also understands small ones. It takes a family-first approach to how employees use their time off. “If you have sick children, you need to have time for your family, your children, your spouse,” Meeds says. “We have a really liberal leave policy, so our staff can take care of those things.” Part of the company philosophy is to celebrate each other, and often that means baking sweet treats in the on-site kitchen for birthdays and tossing around congratulations for just about any other event or accomplishment. “What we do is such serious work,” Meeds says. “When people don’t know what to do and don’t think there’s hope, we provide that hope. So it’s important for us to maintain the fun when we’re here.”

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