One of the Best Places to Work in Maine

Who We Are  |  3 years ago

We are really excited to share that CedarWorks was recently named one of the 2021 Best Places to Work in Maine.

The Best Places to Work awards program is a project of the Society for Human Resource Management - Maine State Council (MESHRM) and Best Companies Group. It is a statewide program designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Maine, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce and businesses. 

Companies from across the state enter the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Maine. The first part consists of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process is worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consists of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process is worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determine the top companies and their final rankings.

Best Places to Work is part of a long-term initiative to encourage growth and excellence throughout all Maine companies. To that end, all participating companies receive an Employee Feedback Report to help them see what they do well and what they could change. The Feedback Report is the main reason CedarWorks participates in Best Places to Work. Getting on the list is great, but the most important thing is getting feedback from our employees, so we can see how they are feeling and what we are doing well as well as where we can improve.

“It’s nice to have your name on the Best Places to Work list, but the better value is seeing these reports and listening to what our employees are saying,” says Teri Kenniston, CedarWorks’ human resources manager.  “We get feedback from every department and every level, so we know what is working and where we need work. This makes us a better company for both our employees and our customers.” 

In fact, we have used feedback from past surveys to make changes to our employee recognition programs and our intra company communications that are still popular today. Our weekly check-in meetings and quarterly “State of the Company” meetings feel like long standing traditions now, but they were created in response to employees asking for more regular communication from management. 

Excellence is one of CedarWorks’ core values, and that includes not just our products and our customer service, but how we work together and treat each other. Best Places to Work is one of the ways we can make sure CedarWorks is always striving for excellence. We are enormously proud to be included on this year’s list.