The best workplaces in Michigan cure challenges with communication
The global microchip shortage and global supply chain shortage; the implementation of new technology; replacing a longtime, respected CEO, and rising mortgage rates are just a sampling of the challenges faced by some of the top-ranked companies from the 2022 Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces competition.
While the challenges vary by company and industry, leaders from the companies agree that solving these challenges starts and ends with effectively communicating with employees at all levels of their organizations.
“It always drills down to communication,” said Coleen Murphy-DeOrsey, president and co-owner of Bingham Farms-based Optimal Home Care, which has been ranked as a Top Workplace for nine consecutive years.
For the nurse-owned and operated Optimal Home Care, a colorful, two-page newsletter, which was distributed via email as a PDF and also mailed in paper form to team members' homes, resulted in “unexpected positive feedback” during a year when the agency transitioned to new electronic records.
Such was the case for Southfield-headquartered Plante Moran, which has been ranked as a Top Workplace for 13 consecutive years.
The question “What will help you the most” was posed to staff members at Plante Moran, which employs more than 3,000 people globally and more than 1,900 in Michigan.
Initially Jim Proppe, Plante Moran’s managing partner, felt that the question would yield an unmanageable number of responses, but the outcome was the establishment of a “balance fund” that provides reimbursement for personal experiences and activities that bring balance to the lives of individual team members. Plante Moran employees have used the fund for student loans, technology, child care, support for parents, cooking classes and much more.
More:Complete lists of 2022 Michigan Top Workplaces winners
At Troy-headquartered Towne Mortgage Company, a Top Workplace the past two years, employee feedback provided through surveys has been a game-changer, and in some ways, life changing.
“We survey our team members all the time and we try to respond to every response we receive,” said Monica Horger, Towne Mortgage Company’s chief people officer. “There was one team member whose child has autism and he asked us to add a rider to our benefit coverage to cover autism and we looked into it and we added the rider. We want to make sure we’re taking care of each person as a person, and while that may not always be feasible, we do the best we can when it comes to providing benefits and taking care of families as well as our team members.”
Like Towne Mortgage Company, East Lansing-headquartered GreenStone Farm Credit Services has received the Top Workplaces distinction in consecutive years and GreenStone also relies heavily on a survey. Each quarter, employees take part in an employee engagement survey to allow the organization’s leadership to “retain a current pulse of employee perspectives and determine processes that are working and areas that require further attention,” said Melissa Rogers, vice president of marketing and public relations for GreenStone, a member-owned cooperative, which serves 28,000 members in Michigan and northeast Wisconsin and is undergoing its most significant software implementation in the organization’s 106-year history. Rogers added: “Through external employee surveys, we have found our team engaged and a part of the greater good.”
Companies among the 200 that made the 2022 Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces list, the 15th year of the competition, also cited instances when team-building events sparked much needed communication among employees while also benefiting good causes outside of the communities where the companies do business.
At Southfield-based Real Estate One, a Top Workplace for 12 consecutive years, Stuart Elsea, president of financial services, referred to the company’s community-service activities as a “uniter,” as team members from various areas of the organization have come together to support causes that they are passionate about, including Special Olympics.
And then there was a weekend assembly line scene with about 50-60 people wearing hair nets and gloves, while tossing 80-pound bags of wheat and flour, during the preparation of 17,000 meals for people in need. This scene was described by Simon Thomas and Reina Snively, the CEO and operations director respectively at Birmingham-based DOBI Real Estate, which was founded the summer of 2018 and has been a Top Workplace the past two years.
“The charitable aspect of our business has been No. 1 throughout the year,” said Snively, who also described a similar assembly line when her team came together to mass produce “Superman Boxes” with items designed to excite and engage foster children. Thomas added: “When we prepared the meals, from a team-building standpoint, it was amazing. Everyone was laughing and having fun and afterwards we all realized what goes into preparing 17,000 meals. It was cool–priceless.”
Contact Scott Talley: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Top Workplaces in Michigan cure challenges with communication
