Wisconsin Builder | Job Satisfaction

Job Satisfaction

Building a better job site

Some people spend their entire lives looking for that perfect job. They jump from employer to employer waiting for some sign that they've found the right balance between their personal and professional lives.

And when it happens, when an employee finds the ideal employer, the click is almost audible as both settle into a career-long comfort zone. There's no need to look anywhere else. The match is made. It's a marriage of shared expectations.

But idyllic as it may be, there's never a guarantee. Employees have obligations to meet in this deal, but the smart employers realize the greater responsibility rests with them. They have to protect the investment they've placed in the employees. They, above all else, have to keep the employees satisfied.

So how do employers offer job satisfaction? That's the question that nearly a year ago sparked this month's Wisconsin Builder cover story. It also set the stage for what is likely to be a project covering several years as we identify the best employers in a variety of professions within construction. Your industry is simply too large for us in one issue to identify all of the best places to work.

This year, we targeted the best employers in general contracting. Here's how we did it: We teamed up with Real World Research, a Madison-based research company, and developed an extensive survey covering objective topics such as pay, benefits, employee retention, training, promotions, bonuses and many more. We put that survey online and waited as generals from across the state vied for top honors.

With completed surveys in hand, Real World took the assigned point value of every question and crunched the numbers. It sliced and diced the results and came up with a multitude of charts ranking firms with point values out of a possible 100.

As you'll see in the following pages, the charts cover a wide range of categories — so wide, in fact, that we couldn't fit them all in this magazine. So if the mood hits you, check out the additional charts on our Web site, www.dailyreporter.com, and click on the Job Satisfaction button.

Many generals realize the importance of keeping their people happy. Many offer an environment suited to long-term employment. But only two distinguished themselves as the best employers this industry has to offer, and they are...