Best Christian Workplaces Recognized by Survey

Winners in the first ever Best Christian Places to Work survey, commissioned by Christianity Today magazine, were announced Monday, February 24. The top four organizations in ten categories were named. The categories and first-place winners are:

Christian service and product organizations
Large: Evangelical Christian Credit Union, Brea, Calif.
Small: Christian Medical and Dental Assoc's, Bristol, Tenn.

Media organizations
Large: Group Publishing, Loveland, Colo.
Small: Howard Publishing, West Monroe, La.

Missions and parachurch organizations
Large: Coalition for Christian Outreach, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Small: Medical Ambassadors International, Modesto, Calif.

Colleges, universities, and seminaries
Large: Whitworth College, Spokane, Wash.
Medium: [tied] Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Tex.
Multnomah Bible College and Seminary, Portland, Oreg.
Small: Phoenix Seminary, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Private Christian schools
Covenant Christian High School, Indianapolis, Ind.

The landmark survey is the largest ever conducted on the attitudes of employees of Christian workplaces, with more than 8,500 respondents. The winners will be featured in the cover story of the April issue of Christianity Today, which the Associated Press recently called "evangelicalism's quality middlebrow voice." The article will be posted on our website (christianitytoday.com/ctmag/) on Friday, February 28.

Those who work at Christian organizations generally get paid less than they would at comparable secular companies. So what causes them to accept their compensation? The survey clearly established that they are excited by, and committed to, the mission of their organization.

A strong conclusion derived from the survey was that treating employees well is less about offering creative perks and high compensation levels-and more about managers having the right mindset toward their staffs. The winning organizations see the nurturing of their employees as a spiritual mandate, for purposes well beyond the good of their own organization. They cultivate trust in a variety of ways, from avoiding micromanagement to offering creative and flexible working arrangements. They have found creative ways to demonstrate their appreciation for employees. And their leaders are described as humble, approachable, caring, and godly.

For this survey, administered by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute, applying organizations had to have more than 15 employees, and a Christian mission, as well as an explicitly Christian product or service. A statistically significant, high percentage of employees in these organizations were asked to fill out an online survey that covered various aspects of their company's people practices; the companies also provided detailed profiles of their human resource practices.

An independent panel of judges weighed the employee score averages, the survey-participation rates of the organization's employees, and the management profiles in making their selection. All organization identities were kept confidential from the judges to ensure an unbiased result.