The 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon 2019 event took place recently, and once again Evergreen made the list. For the past eight years, we’ve been honored as a 100 Best employer, frequently in or near the top 10 among medium-size companies. Why does being a top company to work for matter? We posed this question to Evergreen President Matt Gibbs and asked him to talk about Evergreen’s unique culture.

1. How would you describe Evergreen’s culture?
We take pride in our distinctive service-based culture, which is founded on collaboration, client service, and meaningful relationships. We self-identify as a family, which we call “The Evergreen Way”.

2. Why does your culture matter?
One hundred percent of our staff work virtually, located in home offices close to our clients. Our culture is the glue that keeps the team connected to each other and accountable to performing at a high level each day. We see ourselves as an extension of our client’s team and in turn, bring them into our team to better communicate and collaborate.

3. What does it mean to Evergreen to be a top employer?
The 100 Best ranking is an annual assessment on our company based upon feedback from the opinions of our employees. We pay attention to their opinions and take direct steps to address their comments to become a better company.

4. How does Evergreen help employees achieve a work-life balance?
Our staff understands that our business is dependent on meeting client needs. However, we offer staff the autonomy to blend the achievement of results for our clients with being productive at life. Because we’re virtual, for example, every day at Evergreen is bring your dog to work day. Families have the flexibility to take kids to and from school or look in on aging parents. Many of our folks start their day a little earlier or end a little later to accommodate their family obligations during the day.

5. What is a crazy challenge that you’ve been able to solve?
Surprisingly, we learned that people were not using all their vacation benefits. To incent our staff to relax and recharge, we now offer a once-per-year $500 bonus when employees take off work five days in a row.

6. How does being a top employer help Evergreen become a better company?
It is important to pay attention to what employees are telling us; their comments and concerns are relevant and valid. When the staff can provide input, and then see ideas and suggestions put into action, our company gains credibility.

Email info@evergreen-efficiency.com to learn more about Evergreen and how our unique culture can help you achieve your goals.