Why Enquiro is the Best Place to Work
If any of you have been fortunate enough to pursue a career and obtain a job that you love, you’ll definitely appreciate this post. When I look at posts such as Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2009 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/), I see a glaring omission. The omission is for Enquiro Search Solutions Inc. Quite often we hear of these amazing places to work. The Googles of the World, Cisco, the NetApps, Zappos, Starbucks, Deloitte, FedEx and the list goes on. Yet until you actually experience working in an environment where you enjoy waking up and going to your "job", it’s difficult for many to say that they truly love their job.
With all of the economic turmoil that we are experiencing, some of these traditional "best places" to work are experiencing cutbacks and mass layoffs. Even companies such as Google are having to make concessions during these tumultuous times. However there are many factors that determine why a company is a great place to work. Some of the factors which help define companies that are great places to work include:
- Provides a challenge while encouraging innovation, growth and change
- Strives to make a difference in the world
- Never settling for being the best
- Promotes a positive culture
- Is Ethical
The core values of a company must reflect all of these areas if they are to become a successful organization. Just like a musician, or a crowd at a sporting event, a business is nothing without its people. In order to be the best place to work, you need not just good people, but remarkable people. This is why Enquiro is the best place to work. The people, plain and simple. Enquiro has quite simply gathered a team of people that are all remarkable and are hellbent on making the world a better place. A better place for their clients, a better place for themselves and a better place for their community. The following is one brief example of why Enquiro is not just a great place to work, but the best place to work.
Enquiro is very passionate about community and as a result throughout the year undertake and partake in a number of fund raising and charitable events. In the past we’ve held Apprentice-like competitions where we have raised $10, 000 in a matter of a couple of hours for charity. Just like the celebrity apprentice, Enquiro has their own celebrities and that is their people.
A few months back, while we were thinking of a winter event that we could hold to raise funds for a local charity. We have an annual Stampede Pankcake Breakfast that we put on in July, and we wanted to hold a similar event in the winter/early spring. I presented an idea to Enquiro’s social committee that I knew would take a lot of effort to put on. A corporate challenge to our office space neighbours via a road hockey tournament in our collective parking lot. The idea was well received and once we obtained approval from the building owner we began planning the event. It took a few months but with a committee of four people, we set a date for the event, selected the cause for which the funds would be raised and away we went. This was the largest event that we had decided to undertake, so there was a lot of doubt as to whether we could pull it off. Enquiro consists of a team of about 26 people and we knew that we needed everyone’s involvement from CEO Gord Hotchkiss to our new team members of one or two months. Thus the Enquiro Winter Classic was born.
So what does this have to do with Enquiro as being the best place to work? Well as I mentioned it’s all about the people and the challenges set forth. We decided to help raise funds for the Kelowna General Hospital’s Children’s Ward. We set a modest goal of raising $1500 for the Children’s Ward knowing that to expect people, participants and employees to take time out of their lives to play in a road hockey tournament in the end of February on a Saturday might be asking a little much. Enquiro provided the entry fee for our very own hockey team and allowed the planning committee to make this event everything that it could be. This is where the people come in.
- Petra and Denise spent hours in compiling inventory, task lists and sign up sheets, waivers, budgets and supplies. They picked up all of the supplies, hired a face painter for the kids, assisted in setup and made sure that everything was covered in preparation for the event.
- Myself and Chris P. took on the job of planning all of the hockey related items, from getting the Enquiro Cup (trophy), to getting other companies to participate, to building the nets, to purchasing giveaways for the tournament participants, getting goalie equipment (within a tight budget), planning the schedule, getting officials, officiating, playing on the Enquiro team and more.
- Kyle played on the Enquiro team and also provide first aid throughout the day
- Chris D, picked up the PA system for the event and made sure that we had hockey tunes going all day. He also filmed the event with a Flip camera so look for some tournament highlights on YouTube soon. He assisted in the photography of the event and also provided first aid assistance.
- Karl, although unable to attend the event arranged for the donation of the PA System from local music shop Wentworth Music and also provide a mic and cables so that we could make announcements throughout the day.
- Barb helped with concession and the cooking of hotdogs and clean up. She also provided hockey sticks to Enquiro team members
- Tracy and her daughter Emma braved the cold to help with setup, make announcements, act as the official time keeper of the games, sell tickets for the draws, help with concessions, assist with clean up and share smiles.
- Mike took some amazing photographs throughout the day in between the games in which he was playing.
- Doug is our local gourmet chef and along with Barb ensured that we had hotdogs for everyone. He also played fantastic in goal for us and won a game by himself as we held on for a 2-1 victory.
- Andrew announced the pre-game ceremonies and played on the Enquiro team. He also prepared an upcoming press release to announce the success of the one-day event.
- Bill was able to obtain an autographed Kelowna Rockets Jersey featuring the signature of two goal medalists and one silver medalist from this year’s World Junior Hockey Championships. Bill, also the voice of the Rockets, announced the winner of the first ever Enquiro Winter Classic (congratulations to Capri Insurance as they defeated Scotia MacLeod in the finals).
- Gord took time away from his daughters own volleyball tournament to make two appearances at the Event. How many CEO’s do you know who would do that on their Saturday?
- Jennifer, one of Enquiro’s newest team members came out and assisted with food preparation and helped with concessions.
- Ian, another of Enquiro’s newest team members, along with his fiancee Kate helped with setup. I was amazed to see them scraping ice at 8:00 am two hours before the start of the event to help prepare the playing surface. Kate baked a remarkable cake that resembled an ice hockey rink. Pictures do not do the cake justice. Ian helped take photographs, helped referee some games, and was there for anything that was required. Did I mention that he’s only been with Enquiro for just under two months? Are you seeing a theme here yet?
- Rich, who is a Project Manager for our Research Division helped with setup and was out there bright and early sprinkling ice melt on the playing surface and helping with setup. Rich ever-the-focus on continuous improvement pulled me aside in between games and said, "..hey Jody come check this out…" We watched a game where one of the teams had all placed green tape on the blades of each of their sticks and on the shaft of their sticks to help identify their teammates when making a pass. A tremendous idea, that Rich brought to my attention so that the Enquiro team could possibly incorporate the idea next year. This was just a simple observation by Rich, but the fact that he pointed it out to help better the Enquiro team that was playing in the tournament was one of those remarkable things that the people of Enquiro just do naturally.
- Laura, who also works in our research department was amazing. She had signed up to help officiate the games and when I discussed the rules with her, she was awesome in the way she ref’d the games. She was highly entertaining and super friendly and a number of players on the other teams made comments ot me how they enjoyed playing with Laura referring. Every time I looked around Laura was doing something. From scraping the ice, to helping cleanup to compiling the recycling to helping with concessions. to updating the scoresheets, she did it all. Laura was definitely my MVP for the tournament.
- The Enquiro hockey team featured Kyle, John, Mike, Ryan, Julie, Chris P, Lisa, Andrew, Doug and myself all had a tremendous time.
This is but a small sample of how everyone pulled together to make this event a success. I’ve listed names here, because this is what makes Enquiro the best place to work. The people of Enquiro are brilliant. They always come together not just to get the job done, but to get the job done remarkably. I had numerous people from the other companies that participated in the hockey tournament come up to me and say that they thought their company was "cool", or that their company was a great place to work, but that Enquiro is simply remarkable. That put a smile on my face. You see I already knew that Enquiro was a remarkable place, but when everyone else knows it, that’s when you know that it is the best place to work. There’s already talk of other companies looking to hold similar events. Enquiro set the bar, and we will continue to raise the bar for that is who we are.
At the end of the day, Enquiro raised over $2,000 for the Kelowna General Hospital’s Children Ward. Fun was had by everyone, and for one Saturday on the last day of February in 2009, Enquiro made the world a better place.
Enquiro is not part of the following list from Fortune Magazine, but you know what? It’s only a matter of time. Enquiro is the best place to work. We have a culture that is unmatched. We have passion that no one else even comes close to matching. We strive to be remarkable. We desire to make the world a better place. We realize that each day is a gift and to us we is more important than me.
Full List of Fortunes Top 100 Places to Work: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list/
