| Answers |
| Q After
I register my company to participate, what happens next
and when? |
| A Please refer to the Timeline for a detailed list of important dates and deadlines for
the program. All registered companies will be notified
regularly via email of upcoming deadlines. |
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Q Our
parent company is located outside of the San Fernando
Valley region. Are we still eligible to participate?
|
| A As long as you employ at least 15 full- and
part-time permanent employees in the San Fernando
Valley region, you are eligible. Only employees working
in the San Fernando Valley region are eligible to
participate. |
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Q We
have several companies operating in the San Fernando
Valley under one parent holding company. Each company
has its own Employer Identification Number (EIN) and
each has its own set of benefits and working environments.
Do I need to register each company?
|
| A Yes. Since each company is its own entity
with its own benefits and working environment, we will
treat each company as a separate employer and send each
location a separate set of surveys, etc. Each subsidiary
company must have at least 15 full- and part-time permanent
employees to be eligible. |
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Q We
have several offices/facilities in the San Fernando
Valley region that operate using the same EIN and same
set of employee benefits and procedures. Should I register
each company separately?
|
| A No. If you are one company with multiple locations,
facilities, factories, stores, etc., you should submit
only one registration for all locations. We will then
conduct a survey of employees that are randomly selected
from the various business units that you operate in the San
Fernando Valley region, up to a total of 400 employees. |
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Q Our
company has employees throughout California. Will I
need to survey all employees throughout the state?
|
| A No, only
those individuals employed in San Fernando Valley region
will be surveyed. If you employ more than 250 employees
throughout the San Fernando Valley region, a
random sample of all regional employees will be asked
to complete a survey. |
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Q We
are a personnel placement company with associates who
are technically our employees, but they work for other
companies. Are we still eligible to participate?
|
| A Yes. However only those "in-house" employees
will be counted and surveyed. The employees who are "placed"
with other companies are not counted and will not be surveyed.
There must be a minimum of 15 "in-house" employees to
be eligible. |
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| Q What
if our workforce contains union employees? |
| A This is not an issue. We make no distinction
between union vs. non-union employees. Union employees must
be included in the survey. |
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| Q Our
company employs seasonal, temporary, per diem and independent
contractor employees. Should they be included in the survey? |
| A No. Seasonal, temporary, per diem, independent
contractors, interns, volunteers or consultants should
not be included in the survey process. We only want to
survey the permanent full- and part-time employees. |
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| Q Is
there a fee to participate? |
| A No. Participation in the "Best Places
to Work in the San Fernando Valley" program is free if
you choose the online survey process. If your company
should need paper surveys for your employee base, there
is a nominal paper survey fee to cover printing, shipping
and processing. Please see the Assessment
Process for the paper fees. |
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| Q Should
the paper survey fee be submitted with our registration? |
| A No. Best Companies Group will invoice you
for the paper survey fee after you register and it is
determined that your company meets all the requirements
to be eligible to participate. |
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Q Do
surveys go to everyone?
|
| A If you have 250 or fewer employees in your
company, then the answer is yes. If you employ more than
250 associates throughout the San Fernando Valley region,
a random sample of up to 400 employees will be asked to
complete the survey. Please see the Assessment
Process for more information. |
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| Q We
have more than 250 associates to be surveyed. Who decides
which employees will receive the survey and how they are
distributed? Do we have to give you a list of who is being
surveyed? |
|
A The random selection will be conducted
by Best Companies Group for the online survey process.
Companies choosing the online survey process will be
asked to upload a list of all employee email addresses
into an online portal. Best Companies Group will
then randomly select the appropriate amount of employees
(based on company size) to receive the survey.
Companies will be asked to upload the employee email
addresses via an online upload portal sent shortly after
registration has closed. Companies choosing the
paper survey process will be required to tell Best Companies
Group how they conducted the random selection of their
employee population. Please see the Timeline for dates surrounding the portal.
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Q Are
managers included in the employee survey?
|
| A Yes. All employees will be asked to complete
a survey unless the company has more than 250 employees.
At companies employing over 250 associates, a random sample
will be chosen, and even then, managers are not excluded. |
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Q How
long will it take to complete the employee survey?
|
| A It should only take about 10 to 15 minutes
for each associate to complete the employee survey. |
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Q How
long will it take to complete the employer questionnaire
(EQ)? Will it require a lot of research?
|
| A The employer questionnaire may take between
8-10 hours to complete, depending upon how easy it is
to retrieve your company's information regarding policies,
practices and demographics. Some research may be
necessary. The EQ is completed and submitted online.
A list of questions can be found on the Survey & Report
Samples page. You may begin gathering the information
requested on the EQ prior to the survey start date. That
way when the actual invitation is sent, you can simply
enter the requested information online. |
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Q How
does the paper survey process work?
|
| A Best Companies Group will send your company
a box of paper surveys and postage-paid return envelopes
that must be distributed to employees. Employees complete
the survey, place it in the envelope, seal it and then
drop the completed surveys in the US mail. Completed surveys
are mailed back to our processing facility by each employee. |
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Q What
does the employee do with the paper survey once it's
completed? Will the return envelopes be postage-paid?
|
| A The employee will put their completed survey
in an envelope (provided), seal it and place the envelope
in the US postal mail back to our processing facility.
The return envelopes are postage-paid. |
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Q What
if not all of the employees complete and return the
surveys? Is there a minimum response rate?
|
|
A We are looking for a response rate of
approximately 65% or greater. Therefore, it is not absolutely
necessary that all who receive a survey fill it out.
While companies who have not reached 65% may still be
considered, response rates are taken into account during
the analysis process. The higher the response rate the
more representative it will be of your company as a
whole and the more valuable your company's data will
be at the end of the process.
Companies in the "small-sized" category (15-24
employees) must have an 80% (or better) response rate
from their employees filling out the survey.
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Q How
does the online survey process work?
|
| A To conduct the online survey process, companies
submit a list of employee email addresses. Best Companies
Group will perform the random selection of survey recipients
for companies having over 250 employees. Employees are
then directly sent an individual survey invitation via email containing
unique access information from Best Companies Group. The
invitation directs employees to a unique Web page where
they can submit their confidential responses. We can only
send email invitations to company email accounts. |
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|
Q Not
all of our employees have company email addresses. Can
we still utilize the online survey?
|
|
A Yes.
The online survey process can still be utilized, as
long as the majority of employees have company email
addresses. In order to maintain the integrity
of the survey process, we cannot supply access codes
for your entire employee population, or for more than
15% of the number of employees that need to receive
a survey based on company size. If
you will need to request access codes for more than
15% of employees participating in the survey, you will
have to switch to the paper survey process.
Employees receiving access codes will need
to be able to access the Internet at work. In
this situation, it is recommended that the company set
up a computer station/kiosk for those employees without
company email to take the survey, as the online survey
can only be used if employees have Internet access.
Best Companies Group will then provide the organization
with enough unique access codes for employees without
email addresses (less than 15%, if applicable),
so that they can complete the survey online.
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Q Can
I combine both the online and paper survey options?
|
| A No, we cannot combine both survey methods.
Companies must choose to use the online or the paper survey
process. |
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|
Q I
am concerned about the confidentiality of the survey
responses.
|
| A We will make every effort to maintain the
anonymity of the employees completing the survey as well
as protect the summarized data of all participating companies.
Please see our Statement
of Confidentiality for more information. |
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|
Q Can
the job role and department demographics on the employee
survey be customized to more closely align with our
organization?
|
| A Yes, for a fee, the job role and department
demographic categories can be customized. Please call
Best Companies Group for more information or select the
"Customization" option on the registration form and you
will be contacted with more information. |
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|
Q Can
I see samples of both the employer questionnaire and
the employee survey?
|
| A Yes, you can see samples on the Assessment
Process page or click to view the Survey &
Report Samples. |
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|
Q What
information is included in the Employee Feedback Report
and when will we receive it? What is the benefit of
purchasing this report?
|
| A Purchasing the Employee Feedback Report will
allow you to gain valuable insight into what your employees
are thinking. The Employee Feedback Report comes
in a folder and will contain large spreadsheets detailing
and summarizing your employees' responses (in percentage
format) to the 72 survey questions as well as the
employee comments. It will also include detailed instructions
on how to interpret the results. The reports will be mailed
to each company shortly after the companies are notified
whether or not they have made the list. Regional
benchmarking is also included so companies can compare
themselves to the "Best Places to Work in the San Fernando
Valley" list-making companies as well as against overall
participation. The benchmarking portion will
be sent after the rankings are revealed. |
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|
Q What
is the benchmarking?
|
| A The benchmark
report will represent the average responses for each of
the seventy-two (72) statements for all the region's
list winners as well as against the overall participation.
This information will allow your company to compare itself
to the "Best Places to Work in the San Fernando Valley." |
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|
Q How
do I order my company's Employee Feedback Report?
|
| A An Employee Feedback Report can only be ordered
once you have registered to participate in the "Best Places
to Work in the San Fernando Valley" program.
To register, click
here. If you have already registered please call Best
Companies Group toll free at (877) 455-2159 or visit the
Order
Your Reports link. |
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|
Q When
will we find out if our company made the list and where
we rank?
|
| A You will receive a notification letter informing
your company whether or not you made the list. If you
make the list, you will find out where you rank in a special
issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal in August 2010. See the Timeline for more details. |
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Q A
portion of our employees do not speak English. Do you
offer employee surveys in alternate languages?
|
A We offer employee surveys in a variety of
languages. Additional languages are available at $195
per survey translation. If you need alternate language
surveys, please select the "Languages" button on the registration
form and you will receive additional information. |
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|
Q How
much is the fee to translate the employee survey into
another language?
|
| A To translate the employee survey into another
language, the fee is $195 per language. Spanish surveys
are available in both the online and paper versions of
the survey. |
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Q How
will my company be notified throughout the survey process?
Will I receive regular updates?
|
| A Yes, you will receive periodic updates regarding
the survey timeline via email. However, we do recommend
that your company place the dates that we send to you
in your calendars. Best Companies Group primarily works
through email. It is important that you read all instructions
and details sent to you from Best Companies Group. |
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|
Q Who
can I contact with additional questions?
|
| A Please call Alicia Perry toll-free at (877)
455-2159. |
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Q Does
Best Companies Group have any other programs or conduct
any other surveys or services?
|
| A Yes. Best Companies Group is identifying and
recognizing great workplaces on national, state, regional
and industry stages. For a complete list of programs or
to learn more about our additional services, please visit
www.BestCompaniesGroup.com. |
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