HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber held an awards celebration to honor the "Best of the Best" member businesses in the Tennessee Valley. Each year, businesses that create an excellent workplace culture through employee engagement, strong leadership and communication are celebrated.
The awards were announced during a luncheon at the Von Braun Center South Hall Ballrooms. This year's hosts were Sharné Rice, Lead Systems Engineer for PM SHIELD of the U.S. Army, and Collin Orcutt, Huntsville Market Lead for Schoel Engineering.
The winning companies are determined by confidential employee surveys, and results are tabulated by Quantum Workplace. Companies take the competition seriously – it’s definitely a matter of pride to win!
Awards were presented in the following categories:
GOLD:
- MICRO (10-24 employees): STaR - Systems Technology & Research, Inc.
- SMALL (25-50 employees): Mission Driven Research
- MEDIUM (51-100 employees): KODA Technologies Inc
- LARGE (101-250 employees): Avion Solutions Incorporated
- X-LARGE (251+ employees): IronMountain Solutions
SILVER:
- MICRO - Focus Physiotherapy
- SMALL - Phased n Research, Inc.
- MEDIUM - QTEC Aerospace
- LARGE - NTA, Inc.
- X-LARGE - Integration Innovation, Inc.
BRONZE:
- MICRO - Patriots International
- SMALL - Cortina Solutions, LLC
- MEDIUM - PDW
- LARGE - Thompson Gray
- X-LARGE - Torch Technologies
Huntsville/ Madison County Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Small Business Ashley Engles-Ross said these awards are solely based on employee feedback. "We had over 9000 employee surveys filled out to determine the winners today. Companies are nominated and then we hire a third party company that sends surveys out to all of their employees."
Patriots International is a service disabled, veteran owned, small business, bronze winner of the day taking the Micro category award. One employee said, "Much more proud of winning something that is based on employee feedback than anything that is revenue based."
That was only the first award of the day. There were so many more awards where that came from. With over 700 hundred people at this event and 109 companies in attendance. Engles-Ross explained that this event is all about encouraging companies to truly listen to their employees. "We're encouraging folks to really look at their employees, listen to their feedback and make those changes work with their H.R. teams to find out what their employees need."
