WHILE MANY COMPANIES realize it and some do a good job of rewarding it, many businesses forget at times that their most important asset is the people they employ. Whether the practice is rewarding good performance with public praise, providing a game room or fitness program, or creating a hiring system geared to bringing on only the best, the finalists for Best Practices in People & Workplace keep their employees at the center of their efforts.

Asking employees
Lisa Hannum, CEO of Beehive PR, realizes that in the public relations industry people are her company’s most important asset. The company’s best practice is based on finding the best staffers possible and keeping them happy by promoting work-life balance.

All employees have the option to work flexible schedules from anywhere they wish. Beehive complies with the Family and Medical Leave Act and offers paid maternity and paternity leave.

Engagement, Hannum says, does not cost anything and it’s the best strategy for keeping employees happy.

“We ask and we listen,” Hannum told attendees. “We spend a lot more time asking what our employees will value than we do creating a bunch of programs and then surprising them or assuming we know what our employees will value. It’s our No. 1 best practice.”

Perhaps as importantly, in an age of health consciousness, St. Paul-based Beehive has a comprehensive  wellness program, which includes on-site yoga and Pilates classes, Massage Monday, and health club memberships.

As the company has grown to 13 employees it has retained the first five ever hired and it was honored this year as one of the five most “Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award” winners from the Minnesota Psychological Association. In 2005, the company had billings of $537,000. This year Beehive will exceed $2.2 million.

The company frequently asks its employees what benefits they would like to see and sted.

“How many of you are thinking, Whoa, that’s expensive,” she says. “The real question you have to ask yourself is how can you afford not to do that.

“We’re a professional services firm and truly when I say our product is our people it really is. Without a good strong team that is motivated to be there we don’t have a product.”

Tying jobs to company
CotterWeb Enterprises Inc. provides cash rewards for customers to use the Web and performance-based results for clients who advertise online. But CEO and founder Daren Cotter doesn’t stop at rewarding his clients and customers. He’s also established several internal programs aimed at retaining quality employees.