PJ Named "Top Workplace" By Madison.com for 3rd Consecutive Year

Palmer Johnson Power Systems (PJ) is thrilled to be recognized by Wisconsin State Journal’s Top Workplaces rankings for the third year in a row. The honor is awarded to companies solely based on anonymous employee feedback regarding workplace culture and is calculated using a third-party research partner, Energage LLC. Top Workplaces shines a spotlight on how corporate culture can engage employees and help organizations thrive — even through crisis.

Resiliency in a Crisis

“The challenges this year were enormous, but the results show Madison-area businesses responded with creativity, compassion, and innovation — and their employees showed remarkable strength and grit through it all,” said Chris White, State Journal publisher.

“Make no mistake about it: The effects of the pandemic have left painful scars, with many people jobless and some businesses shuttered. But this year’s Top Workplaces project shows that many employees across the Madison region remain resiliently upbeat and are clinging to their workplace cultures, even from a distance.”

3rd Consecutive Top Workplace Award Win

“To win this award three years in a row speaks to the quality of our team and culture! We truly are a family at PJ, and this award is thanks to the leadership, collaboration, and genuine care of all our teammates,” says Ashley Matthys, Director of HR at Palmer Johnson Enterprises.

“2020 was certainly a difficult year, and while it may have knocked us down a bit, we got back up together by focusing on our #1 core values: We Care About Each Other. By staying true to our values, we now have an even stronger team and a more positive outlook on 2021!”

“Amid this crazy year, we were able to come in as number 5 on the top workplaces small business category in 2021, climbing 11 spots from our previous ranking. That is something our whole team can be proud of!” Matthys continues.

The Wisconsin State Journal Top Workplaces program has continued to gain popularity each year. In 2021, 792 employers in the region were invited to have their employees take the survey. Any organization was eligible to participate, provided it had at least 35 employees in the Madison region. Employers could be public, private, nonprofit, or governmental. There is also no cost to participate.

Workplace Culture Components

The anonymous employee engagement survey consisted of 24 questions, gathering responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture:

• Alignment – where the company is headed, its values, cooperation
• Coaching- managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development
• Connection – employees feel appreciated, their work is meaningful, working at full potential, feel informed
• Engagement- productivity, retention, recruiting
• Leadership – confidence in company leaders
• Performance- execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clue-in leadership
• The Basics – pay, benefits, work/life flexibility, training, expectations

In almost every measure of employee satisfaction assessed by Energage, the Wisconsin State Journal’s research partner on Top Workplaces, Madison-area workers view attributes such as pay, confidence in company leadership, work-life balance, and company values higher than the national average.

Pulse Check

Outside of this employee engagement survey for Top Workplaces, PJ routinely sends out our own survey. “PJ uses an employee engagement survey to make sure leadership keeps a pulse on what’s working and what’s not. We dive in and change to get better. We will continue to listen to our people and communicate back with transparency,” says Ashley Matthys.

We are honored to share this award with these other outstanding companies in and around the Madison area: UW Credit Union, Exact Sciences, Horizon Develop Build Manage, InfoSec Institute, Shine United, and many more!