Columbus CEO's 2020 Top Workplaces

MedVet

Scotts Miracle-Gro

Lower.com

Jewish Family Services

Resilience is Strength Employees flourish in workplaces that make good decisions fast, flex with the times and see enormous challenges—like the coronavirus crisis—as opportunities.

All about the people

®. We

Awarded Top Workplace for the 8th year in a row by ColumbusCEO magazine

­ ­

Contents 02 Methodology

About the employee survey process for identifying Top Workplaces.

04 By the Numbers Key metrics from the

employee survey.

06 Top Workplaces 2020

Some 85 companies are seen as top-notch by their employees.

Bridgeway Academy Photo courtesy Bridgeway academy

12

Building resilience A workplace culture that embraces flexing of roles and operations when the environment shifts is crucial to company survival all the time, but especially when a crisis hits.

26 Special Awards Extra recognition for companies excelling around themes of leadership, values, training, flexibility, communication, benefits and more.

Large Employer

12 MedVet At chain of pet hospitals, “everyone is a leader” approach drives success.

14 Scotts Miracle-Gro “Gro-ing” employees through connection, giving back.

Midsize Employer

18 Lower.com Fast-growing mortgage lender puts culture first.

Small Employer

22 Jewish Family Services “Agency full of helpers” abides by three simple questions.

Leading Specialty Healthcare for Pets

Teamwork. Leadership. Compassion.

Thank you to our team for providing exceptional care to our patients and an unrivaled experience for our clients and referring veterinarians. Today, and every day, we appreciate your teamwork, leadership, and compassion. Our success wouldn’t be possible without you.

MedVet is proud to be named a 2020 Top Workplace in Columbus.

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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About the Top Workplaces Survey Methodology

W

ho determines Top Workplaces? The best judges: the employees who work there.

For the eighth year, Columbus CEO has partnered with Philadelphia-based Energage to rank the Columbus region’s Top Workplaces. The process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture. It also gives company insights about what makes them unique.

“Recruitment and retention are a key

Join the Twitter conversation on Top Workplaces at #CEOWork.

2 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

focus for every organization today,” says Eric Rubino, CEO of Energage. “The employee engagement survey at the heart of the Top Workplaces program provides the foundation for unearthing unique culture differentiators to recruit and retain the right talent.”

The process began in July 2019, when Columbus CEO invited anyone to nominate companies as Top Workplaces. Energage also reached out to area companies.

Throughout the process, 1,097 employers in the region were invited to have their employees take the survey. Any organization was eligible to participate, provided it had at least 50 employees in the region.

Employers could be public, private, nonprofit, or governmental. There is no cost to enter the Top Workplaces program.

For the 2020 list, a record 131 employers agreed to take the survey. Combined, they employ 33,645 people in the region. Of those employees who received questionnaires, 21,344 responded, either on paper or online. For this year’s winners list, 85 Columbus-area employers were ranked based on their employee

survey feedback.

The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture: • Alignment: Where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings • Coaching: Managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development • Connection: Employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, clued in to each other • Engagement: Productivity, retention, recruiting • Leadership: Confidence in company leaders • Performance: Execution, openmindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership • The Basics: Pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations Want to participate in the 2021 program? Just go to columbusceo.com/ nominate to submit a nomination.

Bob Helbig, Energage

Employee assessments What matters most at Top Workplaces are factors such as values, meaningfulness and work-life balance, according to employee agreement to these survey statements.

Co n n e ct I feel genuinely appreciated at this company

Important factors

My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful.

Survey statements are grouped into six factors, ranked here by how important they are in employees’ assessments of their workplaces.

2020 Connect Align

81% 77%

Perform

74%

The Basics

72%

Leader Coach

67% 64%

Top Workplaces, by type

This company enables me to work at my full potential.

I feel well-informed about important decisions at this company.

73% 72% 72% 61%

A l i gn I believe this company is going in the right direction.

This company operates by strong values.

Meetings at this company make good use of my time.

There is good inter-departmental cooperation at this company.

75% 69% 60% 59%

PERFORM Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.

This company encourages different points of view.

At this company, we do things efficiently and well.

New ideas are encouraged at this company.

67% 67% 64% 62%

T h e B a s i cs This job has met or exceeded the expectations I had when I started.

I get the formal training I want for my career.

My pay is fair for the work I do.

I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.

My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry.

60% 58% 48% 46% 33%

Leader I have confidence in the leader of this company.

n Private n Nonprofit n Public n Co-op n Partnership n Government 4 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

60% 15.3% 9.4% 5.9% 5.9% 3.5%

67%

Co ac h My manager cares about my concerns.

My manager helps me learn and grow.

My manager makes it easier to do my job well.

63% 60% 59%

These 85 organizations are 2020 Top Workplaces. They are listed by their rankings as determined by Columbus CEO research partner Energage in each of three categories based on number of employees in the region. Data is current as of employee surveys conducted last fall.

Large organizations (350 or more employees) Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Company

Ownership

Sector

Headquarters

Ricart Automotive

1953

Private

Auto dealership

Groveport

Keller Williams Realty of Central Ohio

2002

Private

Real estate

Columbus

Fifth Third Bank

1858

Public

Banking

Cincinnati

Aldi

1976

Co-op/Mutual

Retail

Webberville, IL

Olentangy Local School District

1952

Government

Education

Lewis Center

Kimball Midwest

1923

Private

Wholesale distribution

Columbus

Worthington Industries

1955

Public

Metal products

Columbus

Kenneth’s Hair Salons and Day Spas

1977

Partnership

Personal care

Columbus

Discover Financial Services

1986

Public

Credit/finance

Riverwoods, IL

Scotts Miracle-Gro

1868

Public

Consumer goods

Marysville

Fairfield Medical Center

1916

Nonprofit

Health care

Lancaster

MedVet

1988

Private

Health care - veterinary

Worthington

Otterbein University

1847

Nonprofit

Education

Westerville

Founded

Employees

515 1,146 520 542 2,629 470 1,820 356 2,135 1,154 2,210 425 449

Midsize organizations (125 to 349 employees) Rank

Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Lower.com

Ownership

Sector

Headquarters

2018

Private

Mortgage lender

New Albany

Northwestern Mutual Columbus

1857

Co-op/Mutual

Financial advisors

Milwaukee, WI

Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service

1855

Private

Funerals

Columbus

SS Bendure-Hartwig

1950

Private

Life insurance

Columbus

Northwoods

1999

Private

Software

Dublin

EMH&T

1926

Private

Civil engineering

Columbus

Wellington School

1982

Nonprofit

Education

Columbus

RevLocal

2010

Private

Marketing/advertising

Granville

Lake Shore Cryotronics

1968

Private

Measurement instrumentation

Columbus

Diamond Hill Capital Management

2000

Public

Investment management

Columbus

North Community Counseling

1968

Nonprofit

Behavioral health

Columbus

Syntero

1978

Nonprofit

Behavioral health

Dublin

Summit Home Care

2006

Private

Health care

Columbus

Hamilton Local School District

1842

Government

Education

Columbus

Panda Restaurant Group

1973

Private

Restaurant

Rosemead, CA

Wireless Vision

2004

Private

Retail

Bloomfield Hills, MI

Elford

1910

Private

Construction

Columbus

America’s Floor Source

2000

Private

Flooring

Columbus

Greif

1877

Public

Industrial packaging

Delaware

BDO USA

1910

Partnership

Accounting

Chicago, IL

Romanoff Group

1981

Private

Electrical

Gahanna

OhioGuidestone

1864

Nonprofit

Human and social services

Berea

KPMG

1897

Partnership

Accounting

New York, NY

6 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Founded

Employees

200 154 153 150 126 292 143 273 151 128 140 164 303 313 133 163 298 175 263 131 278 170 243

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Total Quality Logistics

1997

Private

Third-party logistics

Cincinnati

Diley Ridge Medical Center

2010

Nonprofit

Health care-hospitals

Canal Winchester

Friendship Village Dublin

1981

Nonprofit

Health care-senior living

Dublin

Kokosing Construction

1951

Private

Construction

Westerville

Lindsay Automotive

1973

Private

Auto dealership

Columbus

Friendship Village Columbus

1978

Nonprofit

Senior living

Columbus

WOW!

2003

Private

Telecommunications/cable

Denver, CO

Avaap

2001

Private

Technology

Columbus

Roush Auto Group

1965

Co-op/Mutual

Auto dealership

Westerville

PricewaterhouseCoopers

1998

Partnership

Accounting

New York, NY

Bridgeway Academy

2005

Nonprofit

Education

Columbus

Madison Health

1962

Nonprofit

Hospitals

London

Ohio Housing Finance Agency

1983

Government

State government

Columbus

DASCO Home Medical Equipment

1987

Private

Durable medical equipment

Westerville

144 130 232 295 272 217 175 136 317 230 188 349 138 147

Small organizations (124 or fewer employees) Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Company

Ownership

Sector

Headquarters

Homewatch CareGivers

2003

Private

Health care

Columbus

Vantage Point Logistics

2011

Private

Supply chain technology

Columbus

Leading Edje

2007

Partnership

Software

Dublin

ScriptDrop

2017

Private

Health care IT

Columbus

Two Labs

2003

Private

Pharmaceutical consulting

Powell

ERPA

1999

Private

IT services

Dublin

Choice Recovery

1997

Private

Collection agency

Columbus

Manifest Solutions

1994

Private

Managed services

Upper Arlington

Revolution Group

1995

Private

Technology

Westerville

Richwood Banking

1867

Private

Banking

Richwood

Setterlin Building

1935

Private

General contractor

Columbus

Quality Supply Chain Co-op

2010

Co-op/Mutual

Restaurant supply chain

Dublin

Durable Slate

1986

Private

Roofing

Columbus

Jewish Family Services

1908

Nonprofit

Human and social services

Columbus

First Federal Savings & Loan Association

1934

Private

Mortgage lending

Newark

Loth

1891

Private

Furniture

Cincinnati

H.R. Gray

1965

Private

Project services

Jacksonville, FL

Eco Plumbers

2007

Private

Plumbing

Hilliard

Bold Penguin

2016

Private

Insurtech

Columbus

Dawson

1946

Private

Staffing

Columbus

Dynamix Engineering

1997

Private

Construction

Columbus

Dave Gill Chevrolet

1982

Private

Auto dealership

Columbus

Reminger

1958

Private

Law

Cleveland

National Auto Care

1984

Private

Insurance

Westerville

Dynamit Technologies

2004

Private

Software

Columbus

Colliers International

2007

Private

Commercial real estate

Columbus

Paul J. Ford & Co.

1965

Private

Engineering

Columbus

Columbus Marriott Northwest

1999

Private

Hotel

Dublin

United Schools Network

2007

Nonprofit

Education

Columbus

Kokosing Industrial

1951

Private

Construction

Westerville

Drury Hotels

1973

Private

Hospitality

St. Louis, MO

CME Federal Credit Union

1935

Co-op/Mutual

Credit union

Columbus

Kubota Tractor

1972

Public

Distribution

Grapevine, TX

Welch Packaging

1985

Private

Packaging

Elkhart, IN

WesBanco Bank

1870

Public

Banking

Wheeling, WV

Founded

Employees

55 51 65 65 52 55 75 78 52 122 79 77 70 52 59 56 51 63 112 100 71 74 56 62 99 122 81 108 96 100 107 76 57 80 98

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Building resilience A workplace culture that embraces flexing of roles and operations when the environment shifts is crucial to company survival all the time, but especially in times of crisis.

By Kathy Lynn Gray

+ Photo by Tim Johnson Maureen Metcalf

I

f there’s ever been a time when the resilience of each and every business is being tested, it is now.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, some are surviving. Some are teetering. And some are thriving. While the circumstances for each company vary, having a resilient staff from the top down is a common denominator.

That means, explains leadership expert Maureen Metcalf, having a staff that stays flexible and focused in times of uncertainty, doesn’t give in to panic, has a collaborative mindset and finds something positive in challenging situations. “It’s more important now because the rate of change is accelerating,” says Life at Bridgeway Academy

Bridgeway co-founder Abigail David

“Our brains are wired to keep us safe and for many people, safety means following a routine that’s proven and trusted.”

Maureen Metcalf, leadership expert 8 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Metcalf, founder and CEO of the Innovative Leadership Institute in Columbus.

“Our brains are wired to keep us safe and for many people, safety means following a routine that’s proven and trusted. But we’re in an environment where sticking to those routines creates a disadvantage for our companies.”

That probably isn’t new information for leaders of Columbus CEO’s Top Workplaces for 2020. One is Bridgeway Academy, a private school for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. “The only constant at Bridgeway Academy is change,” says Erin Nealy, co-executive director of the Columbus school. “It’s part of our culture.”

Nealy, a music therapist, and co-executive director Abigail David, a speech therapist, started the private school in 2005 after recognizing that services for children with developmental disabilities were scattered across the city. They decided to consolidate the services in one school. Since then, an initial enrollment of 12 has ballooned to 202 students, from preschoolers through 12th graders, housed in two buildings in the University District and northeast Columbus.

Bridgeway co-founder Erin Nealy

“I found Renier Construction while looking for a good construction company in the medical space. Renier was on point from the beginning. My practice is exactly what we expected.

It’s beautiful. If anyone asks what I think about Renier, I say, “Absolutely!! Use them!”

Doctor Adetoro, MD,

Founder & Lead Physician, IntervalMed General Contractors

Columbus, Ohio

www.renier.com

614-866-4580

Photos courtesy Bridgeway academy

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Funding and best teaching practices are always subject to change, so the cofounders need to be nimble.

“We need to be moving as quickly as the landscape around us, and we cannot become complacent,” Nealy says. With a challenging student body to teach, resilience is key for every employee, she says.

To nourish that resilience, Nealy and David give their staff a voice and include them when developing new programs and making decisions about the longterm growth of the school. “We’ve given them the ability to become leaders themselves and have a sense of ownership of the programs they’re helping develop,” Nealy says.

Nealy and David also stay mindful

of what teachers are experiencing in the classroom and support their staff with needed resources as well as counseling for those with particularly demanding students and situations. That kind of support helps build employee resilience, says Greg Moran, a Columbus businessman who teaches leadership classes at Ohio University.

“When people are operating from a place of fear, they have access to much less of their capacity as a person and worker,” Moran says. “If you as a leader operate from a context of optimism, hope and gratitude, employees have access to a much higher degree of their faculties.” Moran has put his advice into practice during a career that’s included

The ScriptDrop team having fun together pre-social distancing.

Photos courtesy scriptdrop

10 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

time working on corporate innovation at Ford and Nationwide and more recently as chief operating officer of Aware. The Columbus startup helps companies securely deploy collaboration tools such as Slack and Facebook at Work. While many companies have shrunk during the COVID-19 crisis, Aware’s business has soared because it can be used when employees are working remotely.

“When we think about resilience, so much of it comes down to giving people the opportunity to tap into their own innate resilience, their own ability to weather a challenge with the highest amount of function possible,” Moran says. As the new coronavirus forced people to work from home, that resilience was tested—and hopefully strengthened, he says.

At Aware, employees who normally work in a large, open room and sit down at a community table for lunch each day had to figure out quickly how to transition. And as employees worked from home, company leaders had to adjust.

“How could we adapt to a schedule where two adults were at home working and watching their kids? How could people continue to work creatively with each other?”

Plenty of technology has helped, Moran says, including a daily 4:30 p.m. “check-in” time over Zoom where employees can talk about any issues they’re having and what’s going on throughout the company.

Metcalf says the ability to adapt quickly to a business disruption—a disruption magnified beyond measure by the pandemic—has been a wakeup call to many businesses. “There’s got to be enough fluidity in the system to adapt to unexpected situations,” she says. “So many organizations are so lean that they’ve removed all the slack and because of that they lack resilience.” The change to a more resilient operation has to start with a company’s

leaders, she says. Rather than focusing on the negatives of the situation, they need to see the positives. “That ability to reframe, to take something unfortunate and find something positive in it, is a huge skill, one of the biggest for sustaining resilience,” Metcalf says. “The more we can master the ability to put stuff into perspective and go forward in a constructive light and support one another, the better off we will all be.

That positivity is as contagious as the negativity. From a business perspective, it impacts absenteeism and engagement, so it impacts the bottom line.”

Jessica Behrendsen, director of content and marketing for another of this year’s Top Workplaces winners, ScriptDrop, says a resilient workforce enabled her company to quickly reframe its business model in light of the coronavirus in March. ScriptDrop connects pharmacies and pharmacy systems nationwide with courier companies to streamline workflow of prescription deliveries to individuals. In mid-March, ScriptDrop expanded its services so individuals can initiate their own prescription deliveries through a text. “We realized that, with everything going on, this is something

people needed more than ever,” Behrendsen says. “We condensed one to two years of work into five days and everyone rose to the challenge, which speaks highly of our executive team. They make us want to work hard for them.”

ScriptDrop CEO Nick Potts exudes positivity and resilience, Behrendsen says. “He has an excitement about what we’re doing as a company and for how much he wants us to succeed, individually and as a company. We’ve had to move some people to different teams through our changes, but not one single person complained. Our staff understands there will be times of chaos and times when things are orderly and they’re OK with both.”

Behrendsen says Potts is empathetic, open and transparent about what’s going on within the company—qualities that help employees rally behind him when change is needed. “It’s really important that your leadership team is setting an example of what you want your culture to look like, to be able to withstand when things get tough,” she says.

Setting an example is vital for leaders, Moran says.

“Volunteer to help with things you

don’t get credit for,” he says. “There’s a tendency in the corporate world for people to focus on the things they get credit for. That’s not a resilient behavior.

In times of plenty that can work, but not when the going gets tough. That’s when you want people focused on the team, on the team being successful.”

Leaders also need to focus on building and maintaining resilience when they’re not facing a crisis, Moran adds.

One way is to put employees in jobs “they’re not 100 percent sure they can do” and making sure they have enough mentoring and support to be successful.

As employees work from home because of the coronavirus crisis, he’s asked them to “look down the road and think about what would make them more resilient,” such as having a higher internet speed or different equipment, Moran says. “You’re more resilient when you feel enabled,” he says. “I want someone who stays calm, is interested in as much data as possible, is willing to act with incomplete information, has empathy and courage and has positivity. You have to start from a place of optimism.”

Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer.

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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A feathered friend at MedVet

MedVet CEO Dr. Linda Lehmkuhl

MedVet Chairman Dr. Eric Schertel, left, and CEO Dr. Linda Lehmkuhl bestow an employee award.

Large Employer

MedVet At growing chain of pet ERs, “everyone is a leader.”

By Laura Newpoff

I

n 2019, MedVet’s veterinarians, specialists and support staff cared for more than a quarter million pets, guiding them and their families through specialty procedures involving things like jaw fractures, pancreatic disorders and cancer treatments. It was able to improve the lives of so many pets because of an ongoing expansion of its network to 29 locations in 15 states.

That growth, however, hasn’t come at the cost of diminishing its close-knit culture.

The entire MedVet network operates from the core values of teamwork, leadership and compassion, or TLC. They are the foundation of the “MedVet Experience,” where all employees work together to provide the best possible outcomes for patients, clients and referral partners.

Dr. Eric Schertel, MedVet’s executive

12 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

chairman who has been with the company since 1999, says a key component of the business model has been to build strong relationships with its 7,500 referral partners. To do that, MedVet realized years ago that happy employees who felt that they were valued and that their work was meaningful would be the ones to accomplish that goal.

“The core values of teamwork, leadership and compassion—those were developed to really reflect on what (cofounder William DeHoff) started in the organization (in 1988),” he says. “As time went on, we grew to realize the employee was really the person who delivered all those pieces of the MedVet experience. It led us to set aside the employee experience as our No. 1 strategy. It became a strong message.”

Part of that employee focus was centered around developing leaders from within through experiential learning programs, leadership development summits and ongoing training. The message was that “everyone at MedVet is a leader,” says Dr. Linda Lehmkuhl, CEO. “We realized a few years back that successful leaders in an organization help drive culture and lead to the behaviors and results we are looking for,” she says.

“You couldn’t just hire those people. We wanted our veterinarian to become our medical director.”

MedVet dedicated itself to develop-

ing employees both as individuals and as members of specialty and emergency health care teams. When employees felt engaged and empowered, they succeeded in delivering a top-notch experience to everyone who encounters its hospitals.

Community focus As MedVet has grown it has made a commitment to meet the needs of the local communities it serves by providing continuing education for local veterinarians and their teams. It partners with organizations and events as the emergency veterinarian onsite, provides care to service dogs and drives education and

highlights MedVet medvetforpets.com Founded 1988 Ownership Private Sector Veterinary Employees 2,400

Headquarters Worthington

Photos courtesy MedVet

mistake, it will not be held against me in the future.”

• “I feel that I have a strong support system with my coworkers and am always given opportunities to grow and learn. I also feel that management always listens to any concerns and is so flexible and willing to work with schedules as best to their ability and the hospital’s needs. I also love what I do and what we do here as a hospital.”

• “Tremendous opportunity to do high impact work and work with amazing and engaged people. Overall, at MedVet, we do work that truly makes a difference in people’s lives.”

Coronavirus impact

MedVet family pets are welcome at work.

awareness of emergency and specialty Videocalls care throughout the community. Employare the new ees also teach animal CPR at community normal. events for free.

MedVet also is active in educating its referral partners about industry best practices. It supports animal-related charities in each community and offers discounts to military members and rescue groups.

The employee and community focus were top of mind for MedVet’s employees who were surveyed as part of the Top Workplaces awards program. Here’s what they said: • “I absolutely love my job on many them best, not on someone else’s terms. levels, from the excellent standard of I feel free to point out things I think are medicine that we are able to practice, to not working and that my concerns are the fast pace and ability to learn sometaken seriously. I know that if I make a thing new every day, to the interactions with clients and referral partners. I enjoy my co-workers, my manager is very compassion“I am part ate and I would “I feel that I not want to work of a team that anywhere else.” have a strong really values my • “I am support system with part of a thoughts and team that my coworkers and ideas.” really values my thoughts am always given and ideas. I opportunities to grow have flexibility to work and get and learn.” things done as I do

i love mY job because:

MedVet has mostly expanded through mergers and acquisitions over the years, often buying small community emergency rooms and then expanding them by adding specialists. It’s now dipping its toe into the world of starting practices from scratch and has plans to open a new one in July in Salt Lake City.

That practice likely will be impacted by the industry’s changing protocols because of the spread of the global pandemic Covid-19. MedVet has had to take several steps to protect its workers and clients because its business is considered an essential service and its emergency rooms are busy even as the virus spreads.

These steps include: • MedVet is practicing social distancing by providing only curbside service with client-free lobbies.

• It is communicating predominately by phone or video formats throughout the client’s visit.

• Visitation is suspended for end-oflife circumstances.

• Its team is following enhanced cleaning protocols, excelling at personal hygiene and not traveling.

• Continuing education and other events have been postponed.

Lehmkuhl says MedVet will continue to preserve public health while focusing on delivering urgent care. Employees will work as teams and be responsible for different shifts to minimize exposure across their own group.

“It’s amazing how fast a team can come together and drive change when you really need to,” she says.

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

13

Large Employer

Scotts Miracle-Gro “Gro-ing” employees with connection, giving back.

By Laura Newpoff

K

ristin Dean joined Scotts MiracleGro 20 years ago to work in its finance department, a career move that was perfectly logical since she was an accountant. Over the years, however, she decided to step outside her comfort zone by taking jobs in the information technology department and later in human resources, giving her a chance to expand her skillset and understand how different disciplines help the lawn and garden company flourish.

The various roles she’s filled, she says, demonstrate the vast opportunities available at the Marysville company.

And she recently proved that point again by saying yes to a new challenge as vice president of enterprise management.

“About a month ago the leadership team said, ‘We need a special area to focus on engagement,’ ” she says. “We need to understand what our associates are thinking about and what’s important to them. Creating this (position) shows our commitment to our associates.”

A big part of her new role, which will involve “continuous listening,” will be her participation in all of Scotts’ employee resource groups—networks that include people of shared backgrounds

highlights Scotts Miracle-Gro scottsmiraclegro.com Founded 1868 Ownership Public Sector Consumer goods Employees 5,500

Headquarters Marysville 14 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

or experiences and those who want to support them. The goal, she says, will be to keep a finger on the pulse of associates to see whether Scotts is on the right track or whether things need to move in a different direction.

Connecting more At the beginning of April, Scotts launched its fifth employee resource group for those who are in or want to support the LGBTQ community. It joined other networks for women, veterans, black employees and young professionals. Dean says while other large companies have long had networks for those in the gay community, Scotts needed to wait for associates to come to the company Photos courtesy Scotts Miracle-Gro

Employee gardens at Scotts

The Scotts garden at Franklin Park Conservatory

and say, “We’re ready.” And that’s exactly what they did.

“I think it’s really cool that (these groups) aren’t started from corporate,” says Dean, who is a member of all of the networks. “It started with our associates.

They come up with a charter and we support them along the way. Associates really need to connect with something.

They have a passion for our business and what we do and these (networks) are an outlet for people who just like to connect more.”

Kreg Elsass, brand manager, lawns marketing, leads Scotts’ young professionals network. He joined the group the same year he started at the company in 2016, seeing it as a way to get to know people outside his department. Over time, it’s meant much more.

“It gave me a chance to take on

some leadership opportunities outside of my day-to-day job,” he says. “It’s been a fun experience to help other young professionals take advantage of the culture here where you’ve got a very entrepreneurial spirit mixed with this family environment that trickles down from leadership.”

Through the network Elsass is able to meet frequently with company leaders and offer recommendations about changes that can be made to benefit younger workers. He’s also used the platform to bring in leaders from outside

“It gave me a chance to take on some leadership opportunities.“

the company to speak on career development topics.

Community good

At Scotts, the networks are funded by the company and have a big focus on community outreach. That’s been especially appealing to Jim Fuller, plant safety manager, who spent 13 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. As part of the veterans group he takes part in the annual Central Ohio Veterans Stand Down that helps former military members with a variety of services including clothing, health “(Younger screenings and benefits counseling. workers) come in As baby new to Scotts and find boomers retire and work out right away forces across that stewardship is the country continue to get important. They see younger, the it’s a priority for the networks and the work they do in company.” the community likely

i love mY job because:

will be attractive to younger generations who, surveys show, equate giving back to a great work environment. “(Younger workers) come in new to Scotts and find out right away that stewardship is important,” Fuller says. “They see it’s a priority for the company.”

The networks also give different groups of people a chance to interact.

Fuller says his group, for example, teamed up with the black network to put on a coat drive a few years ago. The work the networks do in the community is an extension of an overall corporate philosophy of giving back. As a baseline, every Scotts employee gets two paid days off to “Give Back and Gro” by volunteering in the community. “Gro-ing,” in fact, is a community service theme.

In 2018, Scotts launched a Gro1000 program that supported 1,000 community gardens and greenspaces across the U.S. over an eight-year period. It aimed to help children affected by food insecurity, children with special needs and refugee populations. Sensory benefits of the gardens also were designed to help people for therapeutic purposes. The program allowed seniors to work with pre-schoolers and veterans to work

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn

with teenagers to transform abandoned lots and empty school yards into community assets. The 1,000th garden was installed in 2018 at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Called the Scotts Miracle-Gro Children’s Garden, the 2-acre garden is the largest horticulture project ever taken on by the conservatory.

Wanting to take its advocacy further, in 2019 Scotts launched a “Gro More Good” program to connect 10 million

children by 2023 to the benefits of gardens and greenspaces through hands-on work in communities and by providing grants, educational curriculum and training. To accomplish its goal, Scotts is working with national and grassroots organizations, from the National Head Start Association and No Kid Hungry to 4th Street Farms in Columbus.

At its headquarters, associates also plant gardens each year where they harvest the vegetables and then donate them

to the Marysville Food Pantry. Other examples of community outreach include Scotts’ support of the Central Ohio Heart Walk as a leading fundraiser and ongoing participation in Pelotonia.

Scotts also recently launched an internal cancer support community to offer employees resources, access to counseling and medical professionals and support from group sessions.

During the coronavirus outbreak, Scotts is essential as its products are integral to the food supply. In early March, corporate staff began working from home. It has not implemented furloughs or layoffs, and it increased pay for employees still in the field. Scotts’ supply chain is making face shields for use by health care workers.

“When you look at the news, it tends to focus on all the negative stuff that’s going on, and many people might not see all the great things people are doing,” Fuller says. “One thing that’s really resonated with me the most during my (13 years here) is the commitment (CEO Jim) Hagedorn has made to give back to the community.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

OUR EMPLOYEES

MAKE US BETTER! At Worthington, better is a mindset. It’s a commitment all of our employees share.

Because of their accomplishments, we can provide our customers better solutions and our communities better leaders. We’re Worthington, and we’re makers of better because we believe that together, better is possible.

Make your mark at Worthington! jobs.worthingtonindustries.com

16 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Midsize Employer

Lower.com Fast-growing mortgage lender puts culture first.

By Christine Bryant

highlights Lower.com Lower.com Founded 2018 Ownership Private Sector Mortgage lending Employees 200

Headquarters New Albany 18 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Lower.com employees helping build houses.

The company’s one-year anniversary

Photos courtesy Lower.com

D

an Snyder believes a great culture is more than just office perks. While an onsite gym is certainly fun and useful, Snyder says to attract the best talent—and keep that talent happy— it’s critical for companies to look into investing in people at a deeper level.

“It’s about each of our team members being encouraged to share their ideas and understanding they’re truly valued,” the CEO of mortgage lender Lower.com says. “Some companies look to invest purely in surface perks like a personal chef or gym or masseuse, but we invest in our people at a deeper level first.

Then, we have fun.”

That employer philosophy has helped Lower.com experience significant growth in just two years. Headquartered in New Albany, Lower.com opened in December 2018 and now has nearly 200 employees. The idea behind Lower.com was inspired by another business of Snyder’s.

In 2014, Snyder started a company in Columbus called Homeside Financial that has grown from seven employees in a small temporary space at Easton to more than 500 employees across 40 locations nationwide. The company continues to thrive as a top 50 national mortgage bank, serving more of the traditional retail footprint.

“The big dream I had beyond Homeside was to create a financial technology company that focused on digital banking, building an ecosystem to enhance a customer’s journey to homeownership, and leverage AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) to help not only qualify the customer, but recommend to the customer if they should buy or not,” Snyder says.

Lower.com began with a handful of employees who worked at Homeside and has expanded quickly as more customers have begun taking advantage of a digital one-stop shop to buy a house or expand their current home. “Homeownership is

the single greatest wealth creator for the majority of consumers across the country, and our goal is to simply make more homeowners,” Snyder says.

Later this year, the company will begin offering high-yield, FDIC-insured savings accounts to help individuals save money.

It also will offer real estate brokerage services at a deep discount to customers buying or selling homes.

What Robinhood did to stock trading and SoFi did to student loans, Snyder says he hopes Lower can do for housing. “Clean, simple, thoughtful and with a purpose,” he says. “If we can do that, well, we will be really big.” To do so,

“A big deal for sure as a new company, but what you get out of that is simply reinforcement that we are on the right path to providing a place to work where people don’t hate their lives,” Snyder says. “The last thing I want is to win an award or be recognized and then have the majority of our team roll their lives.”

That’s especially important at a time Once in a generation when COVID-19 and how workplaces are adapting is the top concern for many employees. “Give me a real, authentic This year, jobs site Glassdoor.com culture that can survive even a once-inranked Lower.com as the 21st best place a-generation pandemic, and I’ll take that to work in North America. over a trophy,” he says.

Out of the gates, Snyder says “I am the company strived to make transparent, bullish that we caring and quick “Give me a decisions for its can, as long as real, authentic employees. “It we continue to like you culture that can survive isn’t go through keep a great how to do this even a once-in-aculture.” of stuff generation pandemic, intype business and I’ll take that over school, so we all were coming from a trophy.” the standpoint of long term versus short however, Snyder knows the importance of having a staff that’s all in—and being all in for his staff. “I am bullish that we can, as long as we continue to keep a great culture and find smart people (who have) bought into our mission,” he says.

i love mY job because:

term,” Snyder says. “So we immediately sent as many people as we could home to work remotely.”

The company pushed out communication to its customers and was available to answer questions day or night. “We have a great leadership and management team that worked overtime to make common sense decisions with the interest of the team at the center,” Snyder says. “We definitely remained as open for business as we could, because we had customers across the country relying on us to come through on their purchase or refinance of their home.”

As it does with many companies across the country, the situation remains fluid, he says.

Secret sauce Instead of hiring leaders from the outside, Snyder says he looks for them from within.

“As the business grows naturally, you will have gaps in your organization chart,” he says. “When you launch a business, you don’t need a head of sales,

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Casual Friday

CEO Dan Snyder

human resources or operations. You have a small team that wears a lot of hats.”

Through his multiple businesses, Snyder has learned that a great culture that develops future leaders is much easier to achieve with more continuity.

“I personally love watching people grow their careers beyond what they thought possible,” he says. “For example, I had a college intern work for me named Lauren Randall. She did some sales and some admin work, and I ultimately hired her after she graduated as a recruiting coordinator.”

Fast-forward to today, and Randall serves as the director of human resources for the

company. “We have so many examples like Lauren across our company,” Snyder says. “It is our secret sauce.”

Leadership journey In addition to investing in its own employees, Lower.com offers several other leadership opportunities that make the company a top workplace. “We bring in talented speakers once per month to talk about their leadership journey and hopefully provide perspective to our growing

EIGHT

ISN’T ENOUGH!

We’re thrilled to be a Top Workplace honoree for the eighth year in a row, but we won’t stop there. Our culture of continuous improvement drives us to keep pushing to provide outstanding customer service and support the best sales force in the industry.

kimballmidwest.com/careers

20 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

team,” Snyder says.

The company’s Emerging Leaders development program provides leadership training to employees, while an employee-led philanthropy committee gets employees involved in the community, with endeavors including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Junior Achievement and the New Albany Foundation.

“We invest heavily to support our team members as they come up with ideas to engage their co-workers or help the community,” Snyder says.

Christine Bryant is a freelance writer.

Experience the

Tradition

Fairfield Medical Center is proud to once again be named a Top Workplace by Columbus CEO. For more than a century, we’ve been a regional healthcare provider who delivers both exceptional care and experiences to our patients and employees.

fmchealth.org

Small Employer

Jewish Family Services

Senior services includes a cart of goodies.

‘Agency full of helpers’ abides by three simple questions.

By Peter Tonguette

A

s the extent of the coronavirus crisis started to become evident, the employees of Jewish Family Services felt motivated, energized and maybe even a little inspired.

In mid-March, during their first week of working remotely, the team threw themselves into need assessments, outreach, delivering meals and other productive activities. “Our team is really good at a crisis,” says Karen Mozenter, the CEO of the Bexley nonprofit organization whose mandate is to assist Central Ohioans in gaining economic independence and developing emotional well-being. “Everybody leapt into action, and it was almost a frenetic pace,” Mozenter says. “When you’re an agency full of helpers, it helped people feel some control, and it made people feel good to be helping.”

By the time the second week closed in, however, Mozenter and her colleagues realized it might be time to dial things back. “We all decided, OK, now we need to take a breath,” Mozenter says. “The

highlights Jewish Family Services jfscolumbus.org

reality was sinking in. We know this is going to be a long haul; we have to take care of ourselves.”

For 112 years, Jewish Family Services has exemplified an organization committed to the long haul. The organization derives its principles from a trio of questions attributed to ancient Jewish leader Hillel the Elder. First among them is: If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

“We were founded by the Jewish community to serve, at the time, Jewish immigrants coming from Europe who were making Columbus their home,” Mozenter says.

The second question—But if I am only for myself, what am I?—inspires CEO Karen Mozenter

Founded 1908 Ownership Nonprofit Sector Human and social services Employees 52

Headquarters Columbus Photos courtesy Jewish Family Services

22 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

the organization to work with clients outside of the Jewish community, while the third—If not now, when? —gives the group its commitment to acting in the here and now.

“That’s our call to action because we know there’s an urgency to the work,” says Mozenter, who breaks down the organization’s work into two main categories: helping clients gain employment and community services, including counseling, case management and service navigation.

Jewish Family Services prides itself on taking a holistic approach to its clients’ needs. “If people call us because they need help finding a job, we are finding out what else is going on in their lives,” Mozenter says. “We know if we don’t help them address other issues, like transportation, child care, rent, food security, those types of things, they’re not going to have success in the workplace.”

The organization employs 52 people, most of whom provide services directly to the individuals who walk through their doors. “It’s career counselors who are helping people find jobs, who are doing career coaching, helping with life skills,” Mozenter says. “We have social workers who are doing case management.”

Among those 50-plus workers, only a small minority, around seven, perform

philanthropy before accepting her initial position with the nonprofit. “I was really looking for something that would utilize all my different skills and my varied career path, working with a really highperforming organization with people who would be excellent colleagues, and also something that feeds my soul,” she says. “Jewish Family Services just delivered on all fronts.”

In managing her team, Mozenter is committed to what she calls “frontlineforward” thinking. “We want the people who are on the frontlines, who are working directly with clients, to feel empowered so that they can bring ideas and innova“Racially tions to the work,” she says. “That we’re creates a culture diverse, religiously where people really buy in we’re diverse, by to what we’re nationality—in every doing.”

The workimaginable way. It force reflects a wide variety of contributes to a cultural backcaring culture.” grounds, equipping the team to inter-

administrative duties. “Everyone else is either providing direct services or managing the program teams,” Mozenter says. “It’s very hands-on. I think part of what makes us a great workplace is that we have a very collaborative culture.”

Mozenter, who joined the organization in 2017 as its COO before becoming its CEO two years later, can offer firsthand testimony about the qualities of the workplace.

An attorney by training, Mozenter had stints in the fields of education and

“Our team is really good at a crisis. Everybody leapt into action, and it was almost a frenetic pace.”

i love mY job because:

act with a diverse client base. “Racially we’re diverse, religiously we’re diverse, by nationality—in every imaginable way,” Mozenter says. “It contributes to a caring culture because we see all those different perspectives.”

Mozenter says that staff members internalize the principles that guide Jewish Family Services, using the example of one of her workforce development directors who happens to be part of a refugee family from Somalia. “We all have our keycards for security access to the building, and on the back of his keycard, he has Hillel’s three questions,” Mozenter says. “We have our value statements in every single office and conference room and along the wall as you come in the building.”

Of course, when the coronavirus outbreak compelled Jewish Family Services to send its employees home, statements on office walls would no longer be seen.

Instead, the nonprofit had to reinvent its work habits in a heartbeat. “We’d seen it coming,” Mozenter says. “Luckily, we’d already had all our documents in the cloud and [were] using SharePoint.”

Weekly staff meetings and daily leadership meetings now take place on Zoom;

Panda Express is honored to be recognized as one of the

Top Workplaces

in Columbus To learn more about the Panda family, visit us at www.pandacareers.com Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

23

Working remotely

a virtual birthday party was recently held for one staffer, and a group calling itself the Morning Coffee Group logs in at 9:15 a.m. each workday.

The shift from the physical to the virtual has also led to fresh approaches to engaging clients. “We’re using the phone, we’re using Zoom, we’re doing tele-

24 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

therapy,” Mozenter says. “That happened within a week’s time. We’re doing a lot of just checking in with clients and making sure they’re OK.” Other collaborations are emerging, too. For example, Jewish Family Services and Catholic Social Services are sharing a live document listing community resources. “A social

worker from our staff, who is heading up this project, is now working with a staff member at CSS, so CSS staff can also access the document and contribute information as well,” Mozenter says.

Mozenter is aware that that the work done by her team can be taxing. “Our staff members who work with Holocaust survivors, their clients die too frequently,” she says. But the collaborative, committed workplace promoted at the nonprofit helps prevent mental burnout.

Mozenter points to a saying by her predecessor, former CEO June Gutterman: “We’re Jewish Family Services: Family is our middle name,” Mozenter says. “[If] somebody has a family member who is ill, we are flexible with our staff members so that they can meet the needs of their own families.”

The results speak for themselves: Just ask those served by the organization and the employees who represent its soul.

Says Mozenter: “Sometimes I’ll just get a voicemail out of the blue from someone who says, ‘I just want you to know about a staff member and what a difference they made in my life.’ ” Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.

Start your

COMPLIMENTARY SUBSCRIPTION TODAY at columbusceo.com.

Special Awards L

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All the jobs The CEO of Eco Plumbers understands what his employees face.

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became licensed as a plumber. “I went out on my own with a few close friends doing new construction plumbing,” he says. “When the economy downturn happened in the early 2000s, I learned a lot about the trials of growing a business and personal growth.”

By Christine Bryant

His small team made the decision to start from scratch in 2007. That’s when he founded Eco Plumbers, a residential plumbing company. This year, the Hilliard-based business that helps clients save water and energy had grown to 87 employees. “I was young enough and still very ambitious, and that is when the Eco Plumbers came to be,” Gaynor says.

While the business model emphasizing sustainability has been a hit with clients across Central Ohio, Gaynor himself been a hit with his employees by ensuring they feel they have a direct role in the success of the company. “I’m committed to growing these folks,” he says. “I

Team spirit

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t starts at the top.

That’s the personal rallying cry of Aaron Gaynor, who as owner and CEO of Eco Plumbers has faced his share of challenges over the years. It was through these tribulations that he realized in order to transform and grow his company, he would need to grow as a leader.

As someone who has been at the bottom and the top of the business ladder, Gaynor has learned lessons that help him connect with his employees and be the leader he is today. “Having grown this company from the ground up, I have worn every hat,” he says. “Knowing what people go through to be in the trades and the positions they are in gives you a real insight into the job and what they are doing every day. I understand what they are going through because I have been there before.”

Gaynor began his career in trades in 1997 immediately out of high school. At 23, he took his state plumbing test and

CEO Aaron Gaynor

highlights Eco Plumbers ecoplumbers.com Founded 2007 Ownership Private Sector Plumbing Employees 87

Headquarters Hilliard

Slushies at the office.

Photos courtesy Eco Plumbers

26 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Summer picnic race

understand that my team has great ideas to share, or they occasionally need to just vent. Sometimes they just need to know that their managers care.”

Through company huddles and meetings, as well as his open-door policy, Gaynor works to check in with everyone on a regular basis. “Communicating with my team as much as possible is important to me,” he says. “You can tell by team member actions when they are engaged.”

That transparency and attention to meeting his employees’ needs has never been more evident than now during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plumbing is considered an essential business, so Eco Plumbers employees are still out interacting with the public. The company prioritizes safety by following federal health guidelines to conduct regular temperature checks on employees, enhance the cleaning of all equipment and trucks, and provide protective gloves, boot covers and masks.

The company has creatively taken a page from the medical field’s playbook, too. Eco Plumbers has implemented a video call tool called the “Virtual Plumber” on its website, minimizing contact while still meeting a client’s needs.

“This allows them to get help with an emergency or advice about a plumbing issue to help them decide if they need to schedule a service call,” Gaynor says.

“We are taking this day by day.”

emht.com

Christine Bryant is a freelance writer.

Engineers, Surveyors, Planners, Scientists

Cookout time Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Jumping in Randy Schoedinger makes sure employees are freed up to excel.

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to take on the responsibility himself, indefinitely.

“That’s a perfect example of his leadership style,” said Carley Childress, the company’s human resources manager.

“He genuinely cares about all of our employees.”

By Laura Newpoff + Photo by Rob Hardin

Staying accessible

t Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Service, employees across the company for years have taken turns taking night call, a process that requires them to spend the night in an apartment atop the company’s downtown chapel to answer the phone from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. It’s a job that, while not loved equally among employees, has worked smoothly for the company that has to respond to deaths at all hours of the day. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, however, made rotating multiple people in and out of one space untenable.

Company leaders at first tried to come up with a way to set up a system so associates could handle the calls from their homes, but technology challenges made it more efficient to keep the current system in place. Not wanting to increase the odds of an employee contracting the disease from another person in the company, CEO Randy Schoedinger decided

Schoedinger got his start with the company working as a driver when he was in high school in the 1980s and then joined full time in 1994. He, along with his brother Michael, who serves as president, are sixth-generation leaders of a business that was founded in 1855, six years before Abraham Lincoln became president.

Schoedinger, in fact, is one of the city’s oldest family-owned businesses.

As CEO, Schoedinger says he spends at least 50 percent of his time focused

A

highlights Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Service schoedinger.com Founded 1855 Ownership Private Sector Funerals Employees 177

Headquarters Columbus 28 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

CEO Randy Schoedinger

on company culture, whether through ongoing improvements to its wellness program or finding ways to be more accessible to employees.

“I’m a big believer that you can’t be an effective leader unless you truly care about people,” Schoedinger says. “I hope that comes across in the mutual caring and compassion we’ve established in our culture.”

The company has a mix of employees of different ages and levels of experience, which keeps him on the hunt for new ideas that will help attract and retain workers. In survey responses for the Top Workplaces program, an employee commented that Schoedinger “makes good decisions after weighing the pros and cons.” He’s “open to new ideas and is willing to try something as a test project knowing there may be things we need to change or update.”

He’s worked with Childress to implement several initiatives to better connect with Schoedinger employees and make them feel appreciated, such as small group get-togethers to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and associate appreciation events that highlight their accomplishments. He also makes himself accessible to employees through routine visits to the company’s 10 locations where he speaks with them and the

grieving families they are serving.

“The (associates) value that time where they get to talk with ownership or leadership,” he says. “It’s important to be out there and asking them how they’re doing and actually seeing what goes on in the facilities.”

As the coronavirus outbreak worsened in March, Schoedinger made several operational changes. Services and visitation were made strictly private with the option of complimentary on-site video streaming. Families who choose to hold a private service will have the option to hold a public memorial service at a later date. For those families, the company will waive the memorial service fee. Schoedinger also emphasized good hand hygiene and cough etiquette habits to its associates and heightened daily disinfection practices for high-touch surfaces.

Childress, who shares an office with Schoedinger, says he wouldn’t ask an employee to do anything at work that he wouldn’t do. She says it makes him relatable and approachable.

“When he’s around, he’s the first person to say, ‘Do you need help moving this?’ ” she says. “Or, ‘I’ll get the phone, you guys are busy.’ ”

Because being a top workplace starts on the inside.

Madison Health takes great pride in providing comprehensive and personalized healthcare for our communities.

We are now proud to provide our employees a top workplace

www.madison-health.com

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

Our employees love it here as much as our residents do!

Thank you for naming Friendship Village Columbus as a top workplace for the past five years.

FVC is a Life Plan Community with a full range of residential and healthcare services under one roof.

Call (614) 304-3415 or visit fvcolumbus.org to learn more.

5800 Forest Hills Blvd. • Columbus, Ohio 43231 • fvcolumbus.org Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Special Awards A

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Adapt and succeed Trust is central to life at Two Labs Pharma Services.

By Peter Tonguette

F

irst, let’s clear up something about that name.

The Powell-based company Two Labs Pharma Services supports pharmaceutical manufacturers in getting their drugs to the right patients through the right means. “The overarching mandate is to help them find the path from the clinical development of the drug to the patient,” says Howard Miller, the company’s general manager of commercialization and one of Two Labs’ three

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founding principals.

Given such a mission, many take it as a given that the word “labs” is short for “laboratories.” Not so, says Miller.

“It refers to two Labrador retrievers,” says Miller, whose colleague, Two Labs founder Rich Wartel, owned the two dogs for which the company was named. The pet-friendly atmosphere continues to this day. “I bring mine in every day,” Miller says. “Oftentimes our clients put up with tennis balls hitting the wall and dogs occasionally barking in the background.”

For Two Labs’ approximately 160 employees, including around 50 in Central Ohio, the significance of the reference runs deeper. “It’s very much like a family,” Miller says. “We’re highly loyal, and we don’t drool that often, but occasionally.”

The company was founded in 2003 to service pharma companies that lacked the resources to guide a drug from development to market. “Back in the ’80s and ’90s, every company was vertically inte-

grated,” Miller says. “They did the R&D, they did the distribution of the product, they collected the cash.”

Two Labs adopted a patient-centric approach, reverse-engineering strategies for its pharma clients by first asking the question: Who is this drug meant to serve, and how can we best get it to them? “Is it coming through a traditional retail pharmacy, or could it be going through a specialty pharmacy?” says Miller, adding that Two Labs often takes on so-called “orphan” or “ultra-orphan” drugs—some serving only hundreds of potential patients. Drug affordability is also a priority.

Two Labs participates in events like Rare Disease Day and hosts speakers at

highlights Two Labs Pharma Services twolabs.com Founded 2003 Ownership Private Sector Pharmaceutical Employees 126

Headquarters Powell

Two Labs employees mostly work remotely, but gather on occasion.

Photos courtesy Two Labs Pharma Services

30 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Principal Howard Miller and his Labrador, Hunter

group meetings to talk about specific drugs and their benefits. Such presentations can sometimes hit close to home.

“Employees in the company talked about their own challenges from a health standpoint and how the industry has helped support them,” Miller says of a recent group meeting.

Much of Two Labs’ staff works remotely where clients are based, including Boston and the Bay Area. To help maintain culture, employees travel to clients in groups, and far-flungers are often brought back to home base. Employees are encouraged to get to know each other personally, not just professionally.

On a practical level, ideas and solutions are often “floated up” from employees. “It’s really just a foundation of listening to the folks that are actually closest to the client,” says Miller.

That close-knit ethos recently underwent a big test: In response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Two Labs is now working entirely on a remote basis.

The workers are deprived of face-to-face interaction, not to mention the dogs that roam the halls, but Miller says the staff was unusually well-equipped to roll with the punches.

“The trust that we have at the end of the day allows us to bring a level of flexibility to the relationship that oftentimes differentiates us,” says Miller, pointing to the freedom given to employees to build their own work-from-home schedules.

“We have people who are getting up early so that they can get their work done before the kids get up, or they want to get to it in the evenings,” he says.

Adds Miller: “None of us anticipated what was coming, but we have a highly adaptive culture and a highly supportive culture.”

Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.

Top Workplaces 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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Direction I believe this company is going in the right direction.

Northwestern Mutual Columbus

Special Awards The following special award recipients were chosen based on standout scores for employee responses to specific survey statements.

Employees rate these statements on a seven-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Large

Pat McCurdy Kimball Midwest Midsize

Randy Schoedinger

New Ideas New ideas are encouraged at this company.

Homewatch CareGivers

Doers At this company, we do things efficiently and well.

Leading Edje

Work/Life Flexibility I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.

First Federal Savings & Loan Association

Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Small

Aaron Gaynor Eco Plumbers

Values This company operates by strong values.

Managers

ScriptDrop

My manager helps me learn and grow, my manager makes it easier to do my job well, my manager cares about my concerns.

Ricart Automotive

32 ColumbusCEO l Top Workplaces 2020

Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.

Keller Williams Realty of Central Ohio

Leadership I have confidence in the leader of this company.

Clued

Communication I feel well-informed about important decisions at this company.

Northwoods

Appreciation I feel genuinely appreciated at this company.

Two Labs

Meaningfulness My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful.

Olentangy Local School District

Training I get the formal training I want for my career.

SS Bendure-Hartwig

Benefits My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry.

ScriptDrop

Aldi