Beehive PR is on a workplace award roll. Our company was named to Minnesota Business magazine’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For in June and Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Best Places to Work list in August. What’s really gratifying about this recognition is that our team earned it for our company. We had 100 percent employee participation in anonymous surveys administered by independent research groups. Participation is voluntary, but we always have one requirement: be completely honest. You might think that a PR firm is in the business of getting itself and its clients on lists like these. We see it differently. As a small business, we don’t make deep investments in employee engagement surveys. The data set would be too small to be terribly meaningful, and it’s cost prohibitive. These satisfaction surveys are a gold mine of information for our firm. They’re an opportunity for our team to provide candid and confidential input. We discuss the results together. Our leadership team uses the information to guide planning and development. And we get to see how we rank among a huge pool of respondents. We layer these findings into other surveys, audits and feedback touch points from our team, clients and business partners. The insights drive key decisions about every aspect of our business — mission, vision, values, brand position, service offerings, firm marketing, employee amenities and benefits, workplace design and technology investments. What we learned over the last year guided the development and user experience for our new website. We’ll also move our team into refreshed offices by month end. The colors are warm and energized, and collaborative work areas flow throughout the floor plan. We also have private, quiet spaces for focused work. The new space places a premium on supporting our team in building and restoring energy throughout the work day. We’ve added a cardio gym, a wi-fi-free meditation and yoga room, shower facilities and a work café where the espresso flows freely and fresh fruit is ripe for the taking. Creating a really great place to work takes a willingness to ask for, hear and act on employee input. It takes commitment, resources and time. And it takes care and feeding from everyone on the team, every day, to nurture it into a way of being.