Would you go bowling with your boss?
That’s a fair question for employees of the 100 companies in the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in Orange County rankings (see lists, starting on page 28), because two dozen of the firms offer bowling to their staffs for team-building and recreation purposes.
The sport is popular across our three company size categories, which include enterprises that are based or have significant operations here:
• Small, with 15 to 49 employees.
• Medium, with 50 to 249 workers.
• Large, with 250 or more on staff.
Companies made the rankings due to high scores on surveys as part of proprietary research conducted for the Business Journal by Best Companies Group. The scores were heavily affected by employees’ views on workplace conditions.
Some OC firms’ recent moves to recruit employees and keep them motivated are responses to the tightening local job market, which explains how perks such as bowling got to be so prevalent.
Orange County’s unemployment rate was a low 4.4% in June.
OC companies are responding in ways that include “creative-office” spaces—73% of those on our lists have renovated offices or moved into existing creatively designed spaces—and added benefits that include flex-time schedules (see OC Data Drill, page 22).
Our research also shows that the best local companies to work for build corporate cultures that enhance employer-employee relationships (see OC Data Drills on pages 24 and 26).
That’s where team-building exercises such as bowling come in. Most schedule the conventional version of the sport—which at bowling centers today can include music and appetizers for corporate meetings—but some add flavor.
Long Beach accounting firm Windes Inc., No. 18 on the medium firms list, has held “costume bowling,” and two other companies—Irvine-based IT services provider GDR Group, No. 16 on the medium companies list, and H. Hendy Assocs., an interior designer in Newport Beach, No. 22 of small firms—have held bocce ball events.
Newport Beach-based commercial real estate broker Cresa Orange County ranks No. 5 on our large firms list.
“We have an event each quarter, and lawn bowling is sometime in the summer,” said Jeff Manley, a principal at Cresa. “You need events where 50 people have maximum participation. It’s fun and competitive, and people seem to enjoy it.”
Thoughtful Attention
Many firms on our lists offer profit sharing, retirement plan matches, and tuition reimbursement.
Alzheimer’s Orange County in Irvine, No. 28 on the small companies list, is a nonprofit organization. “You won’t get stock options,” said Chief Executive Jim McAleer. It therefore reaches workers in other ways.
“We do handwritten notes on people’s birthdays, and also acknowledge employees in areas important to them,” he said.
The monthly recognitions can include books for bookworms or theme park tickets for families, he said.
“You want the employee to understand you took a moment to understand the thing they like.”
The charity also has held weekly yoga sessions and taken employees and guests to Angels games.
Poker and Pizza
Many of the companies in our rankings also focus on food as a benefit.
• Akins IT Inc. in Newport Beach, the No. 18 small company, maintains a pub with a pool table, bar and darts, and Digital Benefit Advisors in Aliso Viejo, the No. 3 large company, holds “poker lunches” during the week.
• Jackson Lewis PC in Newport Beach, the No. 23 large employer, has “random pizza days,” and Mattson Resources LLC in Costa Mesa, No. 3 on the small companies list, sometimes brings a hot dog cart on its premises.
Most companies noted potluck meals and holiday parties as standard fare.
The showstopper may be Alteryx Inc. in Irvine, the No. 11 large company, which installed a VW bus in its break room—its engine is in the software company’s foyer—with spots for two 5-gallon kegs of beer and meeting space for four.
“We used it recently as a networking event for prospective employees,” said Chad Bennett, vice president of human resources.
The Race for Fun
Some firms offer gym memberships and weight-loss challenges—and sometimes bring employees directly to a workout, such as mud runs, 5K and 10K races, and other running events.
Swinerton Builders in Irvine, the No. 1 large company; Optimal Outsource in Lake Forest, the seventh-ranked small company; and R.D. Olson Construction Inc. in Irvine, the No. 22 medium company, all bring teams to local runs.
Olson Construction President Bill Wilhelm said employees “get together as a unit, and families get involved, too.”
He said Olson chooses fun events, as well as ones for its more athletic employees, and that participation has doubled in the past two years.
