Skyline Construction is a Superstar Employer
March 6, 2008

Finding and keeping top-notch employees is a challenge for any business, but smaller-sized companies have the advantage of treating employees like family, offering innovative perks and maintaining a workplace where each employee feels he or she contributes to the bottom line.

These six companies go way beyond the free snacks in the office to show that whether your employees are factory workers or computer coders, you can become a superstar employer that offers competitive company perks.

Skyline Construction
Year started: 1996
Employees: 65
Employees lost last year: 2
Average length of employment: 5 years
 
Skyline Construction  is one of the few companies in the U.S. that uses a 100 percent employee stock ownership program, according to David Hayes, CEO of the construction firm that focuses on green building. The San Francisco-based company also has an open-book management style, in which employees have full access to the company's numbers and information, including personal and group performance and customer feedback--an unusual practice for a construction company.

From gym memberships, car allowances, performance bonuses and paid education plans to letting sales and project management staff set their own salaries--between $100,000 and $150,000--Hayes says his competitive advantage is creating the company's ownership culture.

"Great pride takes over knowing you are responsible for what happens here, not just the CEO, president or CFO," Hayes says. "It creates tremendous peer pressure to perform on all levels."