To be competitive in the talent market – or more specifically to be able to attract and retain the best workers – businesses know they must keep a focus on employee engagement.  

This year the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business, along with some outstanding partners, has launched the Best Places to Work Mid-Columbia program. The business-focused program will recognize Tri-City area employers doing things right and creating cultures that make employees proud to work there. 

It isn’t a popularity contest in which the same people and their friends vote for themselves each day. 

Our results – and the ensuing bragging rights of being named one of the Best Places to Work – will be determined using comprehensive employer and employee surveys.  In other words, those who make the list do so because their employees anonymously rated them high enough on some pretty sophisticated workplace culture metrics.

We hired a national research firm to gather the data. It will poll participating businesses’ employees, anonymously of course. Participation is free, though employers can buy a detailed report about their employees’ aggregate responses and learn how their organization stacks up against others in the region. 

To be eligible to participate, companies must: 

• Have at least 15 full- or part-time permanent employees working in Franklin and Benton counties. 
• Be a publicly or privately held organization. 
• Be a for-profit, a not-for-profit, or a government organization. 
• Have been in business for at least one year at the program registration deadline on June 28. 

We strongly encourage all qualifying Tri-City businesses to participate. Registrations are now being accepted, and the deadline to apply is June 28. Go to: tcjournal.biz/BPTW. 

Those who rank among the area’s Best Places to Work will be highlighted in a special supplement in our November edition. We also plan to celebrate them at an in-person breakfast event on Nov. 7 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick. 

A special thanks to our two major sponsors who clearly recognize the value of the program, Kadlec Regional Medical Center and the Columbia Basin Society for Human Resource Management. 

Best Places to Work is a great opportunity for employers, especially those without big budgets for employee engagement, to receive information to help them identify what they are doing well and how they can improve. Only good can come from that kind of introspection, such as keeping and attracting quality workers.