Companies celebrated in Times-Picayune's Top Workplaces 2021 competition

Seventy New Orleans area companies and agencies received a boost Tuesday night when they were lauded for being among the region's best places to work.

The 2021 Top Workplaces program, sponsored by The Times-Picayune, is based on an anonymous survey of employees who nominated their employers for Top Workplaces awards.

LAMMICO, a Metairie-based, policyholder-owned medical malpractice insurance company, was the overall winner of the Small Companies division. That division is for companies with 124 or fewer employees.

In the Mid-Sized division, which includes companies with 125-399 employees, Home Instead Northshore was the winner. The Slidell-based company has caregivers who visit elderly clients at their homes to provide personal care, medication management and companionship.

Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company was the top winner in the Large Companies division. The bank employs about 400 people at 20 New Orleans area locations.

"This award means a lot because it represents the collective group" of employees, said Slade Simons, the bank's executive vice president for wealth management. "We place a very high premium on core values and that permeates throughout our organization. Receiving something like this (award) is always nice."

A dozen other special awards were handed out to employers based on standout scores for employee responses to specific survey statements. A complete rundown of the special awards and other aspects of the competition will be featured in a special section of Sunday's newspaper.

The contest was conducted in partnership with employee engagement firm Energage of Philadelphia. The annual competition, which is in its seventh year, seeks to highlight standout job providers in the region and identify ways organizations can become places where people want to work. It also increases workplace pride and morale among workers.

Bob Helbig, Energage's media partnerships director, acknowledged that the pandemic has provided extraordinary challenges for employers, particularly those in the New Orleans region who also encountered Hurricane Ida this year.

"You don't get on this list by accident," he said. "You don't get on this list by buying your way on. The only way you get on this list is if your employees deem you worthy."

Helbig said Energage surveyed more than 36,000 employees in the region, and learned what's most important to them is connection.

"Connection with your remote workers; connection with your brave colleagues on the front lines; connection with your teammates as you navigate returning to the office," he said. "Real connection is a two-way street. Real connection requires more than top-down, companywide communication."