One element of our B Corporation ranking is based on our employee satisfaction and engagement. When we went through the evaluation process to receive our certification, our Employee Engagement ranking score was 24, compared to the median score of 18 for all B Corps globally. While we ranked above average in this category, we consider that number a starting point benchmark to improve upon. We’re proud to be able to offer our employees competitive pay, good health benefits, flexibility and fun perks, but beyond these basics, we want to continually keep our employees engaged with interesting client work that also aligns with the shared B Corp mentality of “doing well by doing good.”
It’s well documented that employees who are highly engaged are more productive, healthier and can determine the long term profitability of a company. In her book “Thrive” Arianna Huffington notes that companies such as Starbucks, Safeway and Google use employee engagement as a predictor for long term success. Huffington argues, “We pay a heavy price – both personally and collectively – when we treat employee engagement and profitability as separate.”
You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to foster a culture of engagement at work. In fact, it’s easy to start small and let it grow organically. When engagement is high, the work is better, clients are happy and profits follow. It’s an ideal cycle of work-life balance supported by financial prosperity for all.
Our newest teammate, producer Rachel Brenner was drawn to Cascade in part, for our commitment to professional growth. “I have a lot to learn and I realized that working at Cascade would give me the opportunity to work with a company that encourages learning and growth.” Brenner spent the last several years as a freelance project manager, “...I didn’t have much time to develop working relationships in every place I worked, it feels great to be part of a team.”
One of the many benefits of being a B Corp is that we now have benchmarks to share openly and revisit often with our team to work on ways we can all stay engaged and growing professionally. Not only will it impact our long term success, but our collective health and the work that we produce for our clients.
If you’d like to learn more about our process of becoming a B Corp, drop me a line. ben@cascadewebdev.com