Best Places To Work 2019

G iven the usual cycle of economic booms and busts, we know this won’t last forever, so treasure the moment: It’s an employee’s job market out there, and companies looking to hire are increasingly upping the ante with better pay, benefits, and perks to get your attention.

Our best places to work survey received hundreds of nominations this year, and we wouldn’t blame you for assuming that tech firms led the pack. However, the nominees included a range of sectors, from nonprofits, marketing, and manufacturing to health care and even the restaurant industry, which most people don’t normally associate with high job satisfaction.

Companies this year wowed us with perks such as generous vacation time, fat tuition-reimbursement checks, affordable health care, and profit-sharing. And many of the winners put a premium on things like cool work spaces and just having fun.

So after you check out our list of Baltimore’s best places to work, you may decide it’s time to trash some old tweets and roll out the résumé.

How Are The Winners Chosen?

To arrive at our results, we ran an online poll on baltimoremagazine.com for several months to collect workplace nominations from employers and employees alike.

Then the hard work began: four months of research into the benefits, office culture, and labor-relations history of each nominee. We also considered less tangible factors, such as dynamic leadership or the inherent gratification that some jobs offer simply because of the work they do, whether it’s curing sick children, designing the next NSA satellite, or helping the poor. And while many survey respondents enjoyed comprehensive benefits packages, the most valued workplace attributes were work-life balance and investment in career growth. From the opportunity to work outside (Baltimore Water Taxi, Irvine Nature Center) to a focus on wellness (Mend Acupuncture, FX Studios) to just some really sweet digs (Westminster American Insurance, Balti Virtual), these local companies raise the bar by offering employees something extra.

And when all that was checked out, there were a few more requirements: We wanted assurances of each finalist’s financial health, no sign of imminent mergers or acquisitions, and no recent record of layoffs. The best part? The winners had to be planning to hire in the next year.

Baltimore Water Taxi

1800 S. Clinton St., Unit C, Baltimore | Number of employees: 20 off-season; 70 in-season

What they do: Inner Harbor transportation.

Why we like them: Since its 2016 purchase by Sagamore Ventures, Under Armour founder Kevin Plank’s private investment firm, the Baltimore Water Taxi has overseen modernizations to its fleet, including new boats equipped with WiFi, GPS tracking, USB charging plugs, and better heating and air conditioning. The boats have long been popular with tourists, but the changes are part of a broader plan to attract more local riders, including a private charter option, fare membership plans, and partnerships with the Sagamore Pendry hotel and Sagamore Spirits distillery.

Best benefits: Employees say the company’s Canton headquarters is laid-back and dog-friendly (on any given day there may be as many as three dogs running around the office), while deckhands, captains, and technicians value the opportunity to spend days working on the water. Team bonding experiences, including happy hours, pizza parties, and birthday celebrations, are frequent—a recent dog birthday was celebrated with a dog pizza party on one of the boats.

Good news: Baltimore’s employment market is growing. In the past year, hiring bumped up 1.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the growth means companies are ramping up and trying to find their next great hire, says Joe Gonzales, regional vice president in Baltimore for staffing firm Robert Half.

But what exactly are employers looking for? If you think they’re only paying top dollar for hard skills like advanced Excel expertise or data analytics, you’re only partly right. More companies are also hiring for soft skills, such as bilingualism and problem-solving abilities, Gonzales says.

Sectors where soft skills are in demand include education and health services, professional and business services, and trade, transportation, and utilities. Zippia, a career search service, found, for instance, that the fastest-growing jobs in Maryland include interpreters and translators, home health aides, and personal care assistants. Here’s the employment experts’ list of soft skills to brush up on:

Baltimore Corps

2401 Liberty Heights Ave., Ste. 2730, Baltimore | Number of employees: 18

What they do: Nonprofit that connects job-seekers with careers in the social sector through a year-long fellowship.

Why we like them: For more than five years, this innovative organization has worked to deploy human capital to tackle the city’s biggest challenges, and it’s expanding its three core programs: funding social entrepreneurs, connecting job seekers with social impact careers, and the fellowship. Today, a network of more than 100 Baltimore Corp alumni are working to improve their community at private, public, and nonprofit organizations throughout the city, from the mayor’s office and Code in the Schools to the T. Rowe Price Foundation.

Best benefits: Employees here feel a sense of community throughout the team and from the inspirational leadership of co-founder and CEO Fagan Harris. Located in TouchPoint Baltimore, a co-working space in Mondawmin Mall that Baltimore Corps shares with Thread and Center for Urban Families, employees describe it as “open, flexible, and collaborative.” Working from outside the office is encouraged. There’s also an emphasis on health, including a monthly “wellness” day for employees to take off and recharge, time for community service, and a stipend to spend on any wellness activities, be that yoga classes or a gym membership.

Design Collective

601 E. Pratt St., Ste. 300, Baltimore | Number of employees: 90

What they do: Architecture, planning, interiors, landscape architecture, and graphics.

Why we like them: Since its founding in 1978, this firm has been shaping our community and those around the world. With specialties in education, workplaces, and residential and mixed-use spaces, Design Collective is behind developments including West Towson Elementary, Planit headquarters, and The Fitzgerald. A mid-sized, employee-owned firm with a range of expertise, Design Collective creates spaces where communities can live, work, and play.

Best benefits: Headquartered in The Power Plant (one of its own projects), Design Collective’s offices overlook the Inner Harbor and boast abundant natural light and flexible work settings. An in-house library of finishes and a lighting lab allow employees to test product performance. Favorite perks include full medical deductible coverage and 90 percent premium payment; annual passes to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, National Aquarium (a client), and the Baltimore Science Center; 401k plan and ESOP contributions; eight paid holidays and two weeks of vacation starting the day of hire; a bonus after passing professional certifications; and Live Near Your Work home-buying incentive.

Foreman Wolf

4800 Roland Ave., #200-B, Baltimore, and other locations | Number of employees: 375

What they do: Restaurants and wine stores.

Why we like them: With eight properties throughout the greater Baltimore area, this partnership between chef Cindy Wolf and restaurateur and wine director Tony Foreman is known for killer wine lists, impeccable service, and skilled cuisine. Despite operating its first restaurant, Charleston, for more than 21 years, Foreman Wolf feels anything but stale by bringing new concepts to market, such as Bar Vazquez (formerly Pazo) in 2016 and Lupa (formerly Petit Louis Columbia) in 2018. Most of all, its founders have developed a culture that feels more like a family than a workplace—a family of more than 300, that is.

Best benefits: Employees get discounts on dining and wine; excellent benefits for the food service industry, including health and dental insurance; and a fun, chummy atmosphere. Servers appreciate the opportunity to earn great tips and the flexibility to create their own schedules.

Job-Hopping Their Way to Happiness

Since graduating from college in 2013, Stephani Peterson has worked at five different companies, having never reached the average 4.2 years employees typically spend with a single employer before moving on to another job. But Peterson’s not ashamed of her job-hopping ways. The 27-year-old says it helped her land a career she loves—working as a senior manager at Career in Nonprofits, a staffing firm that matches job candidates with nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and San Francisco.

While millennials aren’t necessarily changing jobs more often than previous generations, the younger members of their ranks today are more likely to have shorter employee tenures—all thanks to low unemployment rates and a healthier economy than we had five or 10 years ago.

For Peterson, moving through numerous employers and job titles allowed her to climb the corporate ladder much more quickly than staying in one job and waiting for a promotion. That’s because, as she rode the waves of change, Peterson picked up new skills and experiences that made her more marketable to other employers.

She started off as an after-school coordinator for a South Baltimore academy, then moved on to work as a graduate residence coordinator and interim career specialist at Notre Dame of Maryland University. What followed was a slew of other jobs—from developing marketing strategies for a nonprofit to managing day-of-event operations for a catering service. Plus, after taking a higher-level position last year, she was able to secure a hefty salary increase. In fact, payroll processing company ADP found that job-hoppers often see higher wage bumps after working two years for an employer and then shuffling off to a new job.

But young workers aren’t just concerned about maximizing their earning potential or getting the career advancement of their dreams. They also care about a company’s culture: “We want to work at an organization that’s going to let us have that work-life balance, because we’re not going to burn ourselves out,” she says. “Once we have those places—someplace that’s going to accept us and our authentic selves—that’s when we might start staying.”

She says that even though some hiring managers might look at a millennial’s resume and assume their short tenure means boredom and unwillingness to commit, the truth is that young people, like herself, like to stay challenged. “My generation is really proactive,” Peterson says. “We like to be busy, to progress and not be stagnant.”

Quitting With Class

Decided to resign and start a new gig? There are important “Dos” and “Don’ts” to consider to avoid burning bridges, damaging your reputation, and even exposing you to liability. To get the list, we went to Stephanie Baron, a principal in the Baltimore office of Miles & Stockbridge who advises businesses in all aspects of labor and employment law.

Oldies But Goodies: They’re Still at Work

Three years ago, David Beaudouin started a new career as managing editor of content strategy for the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s publications. He was 65 years old then, only a year away from his full retirement-benefit age.

Beaudouin is not alone: He’s part of a trend of people continuing to work in their later years instead of choosing retirement. Like Beaudouin, nearly 40 percent of people age 55 and older were either working or looking for a job in the past year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that trend is increasing: By 2024, older workers are projected to dominate the labor force.

This increase should come as no surprise, since baby boomers have longer life expectancies than previous generations and face more challenging financial hurdles. For instance, the BLS reported that changes to employee retirement plans—or their elimination—and raising of the full retirement age for Social Security benefits are pushing older folks to keep working. And the last market crash in 2008 and subsequent deep recession derailed a lot of retirement investments. Lucky for them, more companies across all industries are hiring workers well into their golden years.

JR Keller, an assistant professor at Cornell University who studies hiring processes and workplaces, explains that, in the past, older workers tended to be overlooked. But with unemployment rates at an all-time low across the country, older workers are now in demand to fill positions, particularly those that involve customer interaction.

“One of the big benefits of hiring older workers is that they have more life experience and tend to have higher emotional intelligence,” Keller says. He adds that some employers say individuals over 55 are often more committed and reliable in their jobs than younger workers. And they often like staying in the game. “They actually enjoy being part of the workforce and having something to do where they feel like they’re contributing to their employer and society,” Keller says.

That’s certainly true for Beaudouin. Besides earning a steady income, working at the School of Medicine allows him to communicate with other people, whether it be designers or practitioners, and craft content on new discoveries and research. Despite having previously worked as a communications consultant in technology, biosciences, and medicine, he also says he finds joy in learning and writing about complex scientific concepts such as total face transplants and artificial lungs.

Keller adds that certain employers may shy away from hiring older workers, but their reasons tend to be based on misconceptions. For example, employers may say hiring an older worker is expensive because it would cost more to pay for their health claims, but health care costs for workers age 35 to 39 are actually increasing more rapidly. Plus, there are employers who think older workers don’t have the needed tech skills or won’t be able to learn them as fast as younger workers. “But studies have shown that older workers actually learn faster because they have more experiences in the past that they can build on and use to pick up new skills more quickly,” Keller explains. “And if that’s not the case, it turns out younger workers are often open to helping older workers learn new skills.”

As for Beaudouin, retirement won’t be in his plans anytime soon. “I’m a decently healthy person, and I enjoy the working environment,” he says. “And if I were home, I’d just be writing anyway.”