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During the last three years, many employees have faced 401k losses, pay cuts, and layoffs, among other hardships. In times when the economy is compared most often with the Great Depression, it’s easy for company morale to drop, if not plummet. That’s why it’s even more notable when firms receive praise from their employees for the way they’re doing business.

Offering flexible schedules, implementing an optional layoff program, contributing to the firm’s bonus pool and 401k plan, offering cash rewards for employees’ professional successes, and recognizing milestone years of service with a bonus and two weeks of mandatory paid time off (PTO) are just a few of the things this year’s best firms, and their employees, can be proud of. In return, CE News is proud to name them the 2010 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For.

Below, you’ll find a listing of the top 35 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For, plus a sidebar with four honorable mentions — Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc., Hattenburg Dilley & Linnell, OHM (Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment, Inc.), and DKS Associates.

Read on to learn more about these firms and find out how they’re not just succeeding, but excelling in a tough economic environment.

Participants
More than 70 firms applied this year to be ranked as one of the Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For. And because not every firm applies every year, we’re seeing a few new faces on the list this year. For example, 12 of the top 40 firms from the 2009 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For list did not apply this year. However, 16 new firms appear on this year’s top 35 list (these firms may have applied in past years, but didn’t make the top rankings).

Add to that the fact that each year, firms step up their efforts to be “the best,” causing a shift in our list. Firms that apply annually may rise or fall on the list depending on the employee satisfaction, workplace practices, and quality of other firms on the list.

Had enough suspense? Want to find out why the top three firms were ranked among the 2010 Best Firms To Work For? Then let’s put some names to these rankings!

The top three
First place: Delta Airport Consultants, Inc.
One can learn a great deal about the work culture at Delta Airport Consultants, Inc., just by reading the president of the company’s job description: “Do the right thing. Help others reach for their best. Plan for a great future. Add value every day. Have fun — it’s contagious.”

This airport development firm excels by valuing its employees and providing excellent customer service — all while having fun and sharing a passion for aviation.

“While many engineering firms today have sought to diversify their practices in order to economy-proof their firms, Delta Airport Consultants remain passionate specialists in their niche market,” said Judge Cara Bobchek , management consultant at Kogan & Company. “In a field where clients have choices among technically qualified professionals, Delta Airport Consultants’ bold conviction distinguishes the firm — and it’s apparent that they love what they do.”

Many of the firm’s employees are licensed pilots who fly company planes to client sites, Bobchek said. The firm even provides financial reimbursement for those employees that would like to train as pilots.

The planners, engineers, and architects at Delta Airport Consultants are all aviation enthusiasts — some even have a pilot’s license. Employees bring their families into the field for Family Fly Day.

In addition to vacation days, holidays, and personal/sick days, the firm offers three to five paid professional development days per employee, per year. Delta also equips its employees with a complete health care package, including 100-percent paid medical and dental insurance for the employee, spouse, and family. Plus, it pays 100 percent for life insurance and long- and short-term disability coverage, matches employee 401k contributions, and offers Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP), said Judge Carol A. Metzner, president of The Metzner Group, LLC. One of the greatest employee incentives is the company’s anniversary program, recognizing milestone years of service with $2,000 and two weeks of mandatory PTO.

“Many firms have decreased employee celebrations, which often can be seen as a contributing factor to lower employee morale,” Metzner said. “To the opposite, in order to celebrate Delta’s 30th year in business and reward staff for their contributions, all employees and spouses were treated to a four-day western Caribbean cruise.”

Although Delta offers incredible employee benefits and incentives, that’s not the only reason its employees are content.

“It is striking that so many of Delta Airport Consultants’ employees cite ‘excellent customer service’ as a hallmark of what makes a firm one of the ‘best’ to work for, as opposed to more conventional references to employee benefits,” Bobchek said.

As a result, the firm was able to hire three architects and open a new architectural studio in 2009, ending the year profitably.

“Handled properly, tough times can be a golden opportunity to demonstrate your core values as a person and as a team,” said Charles D. Lamb, president of Delta Airport Consultants, Inc. “The true measure of a person is not what he/she does when things are going well, but instead, what he/she does when on the threshold of a major new discovery or when facing true adversity.”

Second place: Calibre Engineering, Inc.
Some firm leaders stand by the conviction that despite tough times they will not lay off employees.

The entire Calibre Engineering staff demonstrates their fun, family-like atmosphere in front of one of the firm’s survey trucks. Calibre engineers volunteer regularly for Habitat for Humanity, the American Diabetes Association, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and more. Here, employees are building a house on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.

“With layoffs comes low morale, decreased confidence, and diminished satisfaction,” said Gregory V. Murphy, president of Calibre Engineering, Inc., which provides land development civil engineering, municipal engineering, master planning, and surveying services for builders, land developers, metropolitan districts, and land owners along the Colorado Front Range, in Colorado mountain communities, and in surrounding states. “To combat this, we met with each employee individually and discussed workload options. We then met as a group and decided to spread the workload equally. This resulted in decreased workload for some employees, but allowed us to maintain our current staff. Similarly, we implemented an optional layoff program. Under this program, employees are able to take an optional layoff to find more fluid opportunities.”

That’s just one demonstration of how the firm caters to its employees. It also offers them above-average vacation hours, flexible schedules, and monthly activities unrelated to work to encourage a friendly, family-like atmosphere. The firm’s size of 12 also aids in creating this type of environment.

“The firm size allows for not only direct and frequent conversations with company leaders, but permits each staff member to be involved in all internal company decisions,” Metzner said. This was one of Murphy’s goals when creating the company.

“I wanted to start my own company to combat the difficulties that I experienced when working in the AEC industry,” Murphy said. “Primarily, I wanted to provide an environment that valued each individual employee. Too often, I found that companies practiced an ‘everyone is replaceable’ mentality, which I don’t believe. I built a company with my close colleagues and structured the organization so that the individual comes first.”

As a result, Calibre Engineering encourages employee growth and development every step of the way. The firm offers a mentoring program, pairing younger employees with senior mentors, to aid in their professional development and encourage relationships within the firm. And, when business was slower than usual, the firm directed employees to get involved in something beneficial to their careers.

“Calibre took advantage of a lighter workload in this slow economy by encouraging all of the firm’s employees to focus on professional development,” Bobchek said. “Their employees participate in an array of professional organizations.

And even though Calibre has been continually improving over the years, it isn’t finished yet.

“The one thing I would change, then, is that I’d like to branch out into a couple of other industry sectors so that we’re prepared for future recessions,” Murphy said. “To address this concern, we have spent the last 12 months embarking on new partnerships and development techniques. This focus has led to the creation of MC Alliances, a minority-owned joint venture which gathers the most highly qualified disadvantaged businesses under one management umbrella in an effort to meet contract DBE goals under one simple contract. Because of this, and other partnerships, I believe that we’re headed in a direction that will help us to combat future times of economic distress.”

Third place: Bowers + Kubota Consulting
“Ohana,” the Hawaiian word for “family,” holds great meaning for employees at Bowers + Kubota Consulting. The Waipahu, Hawaii-based architectural and engineering consulting firm issues third-party employee surveys to measure the company’s performance. Many of these surveys mention the family atmosphere. In fact, 97 percent of employees said that leaders at the firm are doing a good job in terms of caring for employees and having the right vision for the company, said Brian Bowers, CEO and president of Bowers + Kubota Consulting.

The Bowers + Kubota staff in their LEED Gold office.

“Bowers + Kubota has made the connection [that] happy employees lead to satisfied clients,” Bobchek said. “To this end, they wisely engage regular third party-administered employee climate surveys, the results of which they act upon in order to improve the work experience. In addition, their generous 100-percent coverage of employee and family health insurance, focus on employee wellness, and 401k matching go a long way toward making employees feel valued, as well as bringing a sense of stability. Results from the firm’s frequent client satisfaction surveys — another hallmark of a ‘best’ firm — are perpetually positive.”

But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the firm. “In the mid-1990s, we had to make a 25-percent staff reduction due to the economic conditions in Hawaii and a poor vision and strategic plan for the firm,” Bowers said. “We were on a path to going out of business. Due to layoffs and resignations, our firm declined from about 30 people to 10. Morale at the firm was at an all-time low. I have found that in such situations, the best thing that a leader can do is to communicate to your team the reasons for a controversial decision (staff reduction) and a vision for the future. We did this, as well as drafted and implemented a strategic plan for the future. We now have approximately 100 team members and are building a sustainable firm.” This year, the firm has only had one voluntary resignation, equaling a 1 percent turnover rate, Bowers added. The firm is becoming sustainable in another sense as well. The firm’s new LEED Gold office helps the environment and offers a sense of pride for employees.

“Bowers + Kubota tops the list on practicing sustainability in their office(s),” Metzner said. “The firm purchases renewable energy credits and pays for renewable energy from the power company. Notably, the Bowers + Kubota office met USGBC gold standard for commercial interior space in 2009.”

The firm also gives back by encouraging contributions to worthy causes, such as the Aloha United Way, The Hawaii Foodbank, Lokaihi Giving, and Adopt-A-Highway programs. The firm even used its holiday party budget to give to a local charity that assists families during the holidays, the firm said.

Conclusion
Congratulations to the 2010 Best Civil Engineering Firms To Work For! You’ve definitely earned this recognition.

We’d like to give a special thanks to all of the firms that applied and their employees for giving their honest feedback in our employee survey. Your participation makes the Best Firms To Work For program what it is.

Thanks to ZweigWhite’s research and management consulting staff who executed the Best Firms To Work For program on behalf of CE News. And last, but not least, thank you to our judges for putting their time and effort into evaluating our top three firms to ensure the best ranking order.

We look forward to next year!

The Judges
Carol A. Metzner President, The Metzner Group, LLC, Myersville, Md.	Cara Bobchek Management consultant Kogan & Company Arlington, Va.	Stephen Gianotti President/Founder The Woodland Group, LLC North Hampton, N.H.
Superlative spotlight The following superlatives celebrate the noteworthy individual successes of firms for specific achievements, independent of their overall ranking: Best Employee Survey Score Foresite Group, Inc. Best Professional Development Program Delta Airport Consultants, Inc. Best Collaborative Environment Foresite Group, Inc. Best Employee Recognition Program Foresite Group, Inc. Best Recruiting & Retention Program CRW Engineering Group, LLC
Mark your calendar! If your firm didn’t apply this year, if you didn’t make the list, or even if you are a ranked firm, you are encouraged to apply next year. To be sure you don’t miss out on the 2011 application information, sign up today for our Contact List at www.bestfirmstoworkfor.com/2011. We’ll notify you directly via e-mail when the 2011 applications are posted online. One important note to newcomers: Rest assured that the names of firms that apply but do not make the list will not be revealed. Hope to see you on the list in 2011!

For more information, visit www.bestfirmstoworkfor.com.