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BENEFITS FOR ALL, from page 7
every six months. We also strive to acknowledge our employee’s contributions to the business and have a bonus program that managers can use throughout the year to reward outstanding performance “on the spot.” I’ve learned through the years that a simple thank you and acknowledging an employee’s commitment to our clients and company often means as much as a financial reward. That said, we don’t lose sight of making sure our employee- owners feel great about their compensation and benefits. TZL: Does your firm work closely with any higher education institutions to gain access to the latest technology, experience, and innovation and/or recruiting to find qualified resources? JP: We work with several universities. We have a formal internship program that often results in students returning to work at the firm for multiple years and they often find long-term employment here. We regularly participate in career fairs at local universities and colleges. Our staff is active in STEM activities, including partnerships in some innovative and exciting scholarship and formal mentoring programs within multiple states. TZL: How often do you valuate your firm and what key metrics do you use in the process? Do you valuate using in-house staff or is it outsourced? JP: As an ESOP, we have three internal trustees (senior employees who are not company officers) who lead the valuation process in close coordination with management and an outside valuation firm to set the share value each year. The valuator looks at a variety of company performance metrics and forecasts during the valuation process including cash, growth, the market, revenue trends, and forecasts for future years. The valuation also includes “external” factors like the overall economy and what’s happening with valuation industry trends. The overall process is exceptionally transparent, and the supporting information is shared with all employee owners at the close of the process. TZL: Research shows that PMs are overworked, understaffed, and that many firms do not have formal training programs for PMs. What is your firm doing to support its PMs? JP: Parametrix places an emphasis on project manager training and support. We provide formal training through [outside consultants] and we have a dedicated project delivery team to support project managers. They conduct project reviews to help identify efficiencies and share best practices with PMs. The firm also continues to invest in business management software to enhance the tools available. Parametrix recently upgraded to BST10 and through our partnership with BST, we’re collaborating on making more features available to PMs. TZL: Diversity and inclusion is lacking. What steps are you taking to address the issue? JP: We’re currently very focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We’ve been prepping for the firmwide conversation for well over a year and earlier this year we began working with an outside consultant to help us assess
Parametrix celebrates third place win on Seattle Business Magazine ’s Best Places to Work list.
where the firm currently stands. We’re doing this through a company-wide survey where we established some baselines for developing improvement plans. These went well beyond simple statistics for measuring how diverse we are, but took a deep dive into understanding unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, privilege and its effect, and other related items. We’ve engaged our 2019 class of Leaders Emerging at Parametrix to work with the survey results and consultant to make recommendations to the firm’s leadership later this fall. These will include ideas that can be put into practice right away as part of our normal course of business as well as a clear plan to address longer-term needs. We actively support outside organizations that are focused on reducing barriers to higher education and launching young professionals from diverse backgrounds into STEM careers. Parametrix was also an early adopter in partnering with a key client in launching a mentor-protégé program aimed toward supporting a new Disadvantaged Business Enterprise to better understand how to do business with large, public sector clients. TZL: A firm’s longevity is valuable. What are you doing to encourage your staff to stick around? JP: One of the firm’s strategic plan initiatives is “Continuously Improving as a Best Place to Work.” To support this goal, the company works to ensure competitive salaries and benefits, and career growth opportunities. We go to great lengths to link our performance with being an employee-owned company, and how that performance results in everyone benefiting. This is not only financially, but in the many things we do to give back to employees (like five extra days of paid vacation in each of the last three years). We don’t have to satisfy outside investors or a few individuals who own the firm – everything we do and give back is for the benefit of all our employee-owners. Employee-owners are encouraged to think like owners and have an active voice. We conduct regular surveys and listen to our employee- owners for opportunities to improve the workplace or business. I’m proud to share that Parametrix has recently been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Oregon Business Magazine and ranked No. 3 for Best Places to Work for all large businesses in Washington State by the Seattle Business Magazine . That’s rarified air!
© Copyright 2019. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.
THE ZWEIG LETTER October 21, 2019, ISSUE 1317
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