First-Round Success for "Best Companies to Work" Application

When your company is a great place to work, you want everyone to know. People at a Connecticut-based medium-sized manufacturer were proud of their work policies and environment. What better way to tell the world than through a listing in "Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America"?

Applying for the Best Companies list is a two-part process. The first step includes an essay from the candidate company telling the Great Place to Work^® Institute, which produces the list, why the company should be considered. If the Institute likes what it reads in the essay, it invites the applicant to participate in a more rigorous process that ultimately decides which names go on the list.

Challenge
The client's vice president of communications asked Access Consulting to help with the essay. She sent us volumes of data on the company's programs and practices. The information totaled tens of thousands of words. The essay, however, had a 1,000-word limit.

Solution
We distilled areas to focus on and devised a document plan. Sifting through the data and zeroing in on relevant facts, we turned in an essay of 994 words.

Results
On the strength of their submission, the client was selected to go on to the second round.

In addition, because they made the first cut, the client did not need to write a new essay for the following year's application. Instead, the Institute invited them to participate directly in the second round.