CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio—It's time once again to find out which companies qualify as Rubber News Best Places to Work.
This is the sixth year our publication has conducted the survey program, but this year we're adding a twist. Rather than just announcing the overall winner in an issue of Rubber News, we're going to invite the finalists to the Global Polymer Summit, where we will unveil the overall Best Place to Work in the rubber industry.
The Global Polymer Summit is Sept. 8-11 in Cleveland, and is being presented by the ACS Rubber Division's International Elastomer Conference and Rubber News' International Tire Exhibition & Conference.
Details for the Best Places to Work event at GPS still are in the planning stages and will be shared as they are finalized.
But in the meantime, registration is now open for the 2025 Rubber News Best Places to Work contest. We invite companies in our industry to join this free program and get an objective rating on how your firm stacks up in terms of being a place employees will want to work. To view full participation details, visit RubberNewsBestPlacesToWork.com.
In the 2024 program, nine companies qualified as Best Places to Work, with Ohio-based HB Chemical Corp. taking the top honors for the second year in a row. Winners the first three years were Specification Rubber Products Inc., Reed Rubber Products and Americas International.
Sales and distribution firm HB Chemical knows the value of having an invested work force, and our BPTW program is one way to validate the firm's actions.
"There is no barrier because of what someone's role is at HB Chemical. We are all pulling the rope in the same direction," said Rob Pierson, the firm's national commercial director. "This is something I've really enjoyed and never experienced before at another organization, building these relationships and that family feel that we have here."
And while the ending has a twist, the rest of the program will run as it has in previous years. Here's all you need to know to get your company registered to participate.
Best Places to Work is a survey competition designed to determine which industry participants are the best employers. The process is managed by Workforce Research Group, with those qualifying as Best Places to Work announced in July. After the overall winner is crowned at the Global Polymer Summit, all BPTW companies will be profiled in a special report in our Oct. 23 issue.
U.S. and Canadian companies doing business in any aspect of the rubber industry are invited to register by April 25 to participate.
Workforce Research Group is an independent research firm that specializes in identifying and recognizing great places to work. The rules to enter are simple. In order to participate, the business must:
- Be a public or private company with a facility in the U.S. and/or Canada;
- Have a minimum of 15 employees;
- Be in business a minimum of one year; and
- Derive at least 50 percent of revenue from elastomer-related operations, including thermoplastic elastomers and polyurethanes.
Eligibility is open to companies that make tires or end rubber products, as well as suppliers or service providers in the rubber industry. These can include: End rubber goods makers; suppliers of materials, chemicals and fillers used in rubber manufacturing; custom mixers; machinery and equipment makers; mold and tooling makers; testing firms; suppliers of testing machinery and lab equipment; rubber recycling firms; distributor/fabricators of finished rubber goods to end users; and distributors of materials, equipment or services.
The first step in the competition is for a business to register for participation. There is no cost to participate, as long as the surveys are completed online.
After registration, the competition includes two surveys to gather detailed data about each participating company. Workforce Research Group conducts the surveys, analyzes the data and determines the winners and rankings.
The first survey is the WRG Employer Assessment questionnaire, which gives information about your company's benefits, policies, practices and demographics.
The second part is the Employee Feedback Survey. The employees answer a series of questions that focus on nine areas of employment, ranging from general employee experience and role satisfaction to leadership, benefits and work-life balance.
To ensure the credibility of the survey, organizations with 15-24 employees must have an 80 percent response rate or better on the employee survey. Those with 25 or more employees must have a response rate of at least 40 percent.
Companies that meet WRG's benchmarks are named a Best Place to Work, while those not meeting the criteria are not named. A final listing of those named Best Places to Work will be published, and the company with the highest mark overall will be named the industry's top place to work.
While participation is free for those completing the process online, participating organizations can receive their Employee Feedback Report for as little as $850 (depending on the size of the company), detailing the company's employee responses. The report also includes employee engagement and employer industry benchmarking data. There is an early bird discount of 15 percent for companies that register and pre-purchase reports by April 25.
For more information or to register, visit RubberNewsBestPlacesToWork.com. If you have further questions, email Workforce Research Group at [email protected] or [email protected], or call 281-602-5004.
