The Business Journal added a few questions for the companies that applied for this year’s Best Places to Work lists.
A total of 80 of the 85 companies responded to the three extra questions, which came in addition to surveys about pay, benefits, perks and corporate cultures that both the employers and their employees answered, and which determined the rankings (see How Companies Make List, page 32).
Workforce Quality
Responses to the extra questions indicated that the companies on this year’s list are largely pleased with the quality of the local work force.
We put the following to the companies: Local jobs candidates who apply for positions at our company have levels of skills and abilities that meet our needs. Then we asked the companies to choose whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, or have a neutral view of the matter.
More than half responded positively, with 43 saying they agree and another 24 on strong agreement. Six of the companies strongly disagreed, and another seven said they were neutral on the matter.
Education Levels
The company’s on this week’s list have a lot of college experience. We asked them companies what the average education level is for entry-level hires.
Almost half—46—said a bachelor’s degree is required. Another 22 cited “some college” as a prerequisite for employment.
Ten said a high school diploma is required, and two said no formal education is necessary.
Community Colleges
More than half of the companies said they use the community colleges in Orange County for employee education and training, though only 7 indicated it’s a regular part of their operations. Another 27 said they sometimes use community colleges as a resource for developing their workforces, while 28 said they seldom send workers to the schools, and 18 said they never do.
