OLSON Recognized Among Minnesota's "Best Places to Work"
Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal Names Agency to Prestigious List
Olson has again been named one of the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal's "2009 Best Places to Work." This marks the fourth year the Minneapolis company has made the list.
Selections were made based on results from an online employee survey that rated work environments, people practices, personal growth, development opportunities and team dynamics, as well as how things work day-to-day and how the company embraces innovations and new ideas.
"In a city brimming with Best Places to Work, it's a special honor to make the Business Journal list," says John Olson, Olson CEO. "We take nothing for granted—staff especially—and we know a good rating doesn't come from compensation or health benefits or even from management; it comes from workers who take personal responsibility for making their workplace the best it can be. This is really a top employee award for all 180 of our people."
There's always something afoot at Olson: from weekly summer barbecues to winter happy hours; from free cardio boot camp and Pilates classes at BRICKYARD, the agency's fitness facility, to unlimited healthy snacks in the company café. Employees also enjoy nearby Loring Park's walking paths and tennis courts.
Other benefits include generous paid time off, health insurance, financial planning and a 401(k) plan, as well as an office lunch program. There are ample opportunities to not only work but also play with colleagues through the company's complex and competitive Tribe network and variety of agency-sponsored sports teams—from softball and bowling to soccer and kickball.
The agency also offers employees built-in volunteering through Olson's own non-profit spinoff, The BrandLab, a public school-based experiment mixing the brightest minds in the marketing industry with students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. The BrandLab aims to inspire students to think about careers in the creative world.
To be eligible for the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal's award, companies must have offices in the 11-county metro area and at least 10 full-time employees, or be based in Minnesota with at least 1,000 full-time employees. To qualify for this year's award, a certain percentage of employees had to complete the anonymous online survey, conducted by the Kansas-based Quantum Market Research.
