Family-founded, and still family owned and operated after 85 years in the Santa Clara Valley, Guglielmo Winery is the proud recipient of a coveted Top Workplace Award for 2011.
The Bay Area News Group, in conjunction with Workplace Dynamics, invited companies with at least 50 employees Bay Area wide, to participate in a survey regarding workplace conditions and opportunities. Employees were asked to respond to a set of statements regarding their workplace using a seven point Likert scale.
Guglielmo Winery ranked 5th out of 35 in the Small Company category, along with Sereno Group Real Estate of Los Gatos, A10 Networks of San Jose, Jive Software of Palo Alto, NOVA of Sunnyvale and Easter Seals Bay Area.
Large companies accepting awards were Stryker Endoscopy, Citrix, Hitachi Data Systems, Fremont Bank, Brocade Communications, SAP Labs, Quest Diagnostics, TiVo and Sybase. Midsize companies included Workday of Pleasanton, The Container Store, Air Systems, Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and Fairchild Semiconductor.
The BayAreaNewsGroup Top Workplaces survey was sent out to 1370 companies in the Bay Area, and 109 responded, representing 34,375 employees. Out of 27,314 receiving surveys, 16,246 employees who work at those companies filled out the comprehensive surveys, from which the 65 finalists were nominated. Workplace Dynamics provided the survey criteria and processing, and Dan Kessler, Director of Operations, described some of the results. Overwhelmingly, factors other than compensation fuel employee loyalty and enthusiasm for remaining with an organization. Employees ranked working conditions and company direction (72%) as the most critical factors in rating their employer, followed by career opportunities (71%), execution (70%), managers (58%) and pay & benefits (46%).
Survey respondents stressed that managerial appreciation for their efforts was paramount to job satisfaction, and the majority expressed a great deal of confidence in their future and in that of their company (67%). The same number expressed satisfaction with their career opportunities at their company (67%), and 65% of respondents expressed confidence in their company’s direction. Most felt their senior managers and company leader understood what was happening at their company, and 61% said their company operated according to strong values and ethics.
Most employees (58%) felt their company encouraged new ideas, and felt well-informed about important decisions being made (55%). Managers were by and large rated highly for encouraging employees to learn and grow and helping them to do their jobs more easily and efficiently (53%). Employees seem to be asking for more training opportunities, as just 49% expressed a positive response to the statement “I get the formal training I want for my career.”
It appears that many of the respondents feel a bit underpaid (45% said they were being fairly compensated for their work), while just 41% said they had the flexibility to balance work and personal life. Only 35% feel their benefits package was good compared to others in the industry. And yet, the words “recognition,” “appreciation,” “opportunity,” and “encouragement” were recurring themes: some things money just cannot buy.
The awards were presented at a luncheon Thursday, June 23, 2011, by Bay Area News Group President and Publisher, Mac Tulley.
General Manager of Guglielmo Winery, Gary Guglielmo (left), accepted the award on behalf of the Morgan Hill winery.
