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Businesses nationwide are contending with widespread disenchantment about work, and engagement levels are stuck at 33%, according to a Gallup survey. The vast majority of employees say they’re not happy in their jobs and they’re just doing the bare minimum, or less.

There’s no quick fix or secret formula for building an energized, committed workforce. But there are lots of ways to erode the bond between employer and employee, and it often starts at the top. Michael Kamaka, VP at Bowers + Kubota, says it succinctly: “When it comes to employees, if you don’t care about them, they’re definitely not going to care about you.”

The companies and nonprofits on Hawai‘i’s Best Places to Work 2024 list strive to create better experiences for everyone, according to surveys of employees and company representatives by the Texas-based Workforce Research Group, Hawaii Business Magazine’s partner on the project. Employees at these companies say they’re highly satisfied with their jobs, managers, co-workers and company culture, according to survey responses, and they’re overwhelmingly positive when responding to prompts such as:

• This organization treats me with dignity, not as just a number.
• I am part of a team with a common purpose.
• This organization actively promotes diversity and inclusion.
• I believe in this organization’s leadership.
• I intend to remain at this organization for the foreseeable future.

So what are these companies doing differently? How do their core principles, practices and benefits translate into employees who feel genuinely heard and valued, and who, in return, do their best work?

Two Best Places to Work, Bowers + Kubota and Parents And Children Together, rank first and third in the large companies category, and they’ve consistently performed well for over a decade. Despite being very different organizations – one is an architecture and engineering firm, the other a social services nonprofit – there are some striking, and instructive, similarities.

Both Started Small and Have Stayed True to Their Roots.

Bowers + Kubota launched as a tiny firm in 1980, and has since grown to nearly 300 employees across the Islands. As it’s grown in size, potentially burdensome processes and procedures have expanded as well.

“But we don’t want to become bureaucratic,” says Brian Bowers, president of Bowers + Kubota. “I’m proud that we’ve been able to maintain this family-centric, nimble organization that really puts the employees first.”

In 1968, Parents And Children Together started as a grassroots organization dedicated to improving life at Kuhio Park Terrace, now called the Towers of Kuhio Park, in Kalihi. Today, with a staff of more than 300, the nonprofit stays focused on the mission.

“We started as a community group that collectively came together to work on solving problems,” explains Ryan Kusumoto, president and CEO of PACT. “That foundation helps keep us going. Nothing we do happens in a vacuum … but involves listening to the community. In terms of our workplace, it means listening to your staff.”

Both Face Industrywide Challenges Finding and Keeping Employees.

Today, Bowers + Kubota confronts an ongoing workforce shortage, which means it’s competing for a small pool of engineers and other skilled professionals. Those potential hires have plenty of other job opportunities, with enticing salaries and benefits packages.

Parents And Children Together competes for talent too, and in a notoriously difficult field. Nationally, 4 in 10 employees in the social services sector leave their jobs every year, says Kusumoto, often the result of burnout from working with clients in crisis.

Like Bowers + Kubota, PACT also struggles with a shortage of highly educated and licensed professionals, especially in areas such as mental health and early learning.

Both Focus on Their People, in Ways That Go Beyond Lip Service.

To attract employees and get them to stay, the organizations have to distinguish themselves. They do it by working to create warm, collaborative cultures.

“The managers and leadership realize that the company’s biggest asset are the people. Everything we do follows that mantra. We have to take care of our people,” says Kathleen Chu, VP at Bowers + Kubota.

The company organizes mentoring opportunities, social events, volunteering activities and more to help employees feel connected to each other. At family events, top executives make sure they talk to everyone, and they visit employees in the hospital when they’re sick. “

At the end of the day, anyone can get a job with more pay and more benefits. But I don’t think you get the same camaraderie,” Kamaka says. “We have teams that are fiercely loyal to each other. They’ll do whatever it takes to help each other out. I think that connection is what people like.”

At PACT, Kusumoto says he focuses on belonging, which is a more meaningful measure than employee engagement. “When we focus on the word belonging, we think about how to get that deep connective tissue with our employees,” he explains.

It starts at the beginning of the relationship, by hiring people who share PACT’s values. “When you come to work for us, it’s because you care about this community,” he says. “We’re not here to tell people what to do. We’re here to walk alongside individuals and help them get to the place they need to be.”

He also gives new employees his cellphone number, with instructions to call or text at any time. “I want to hear their stories because that helps make me be better,” Kusumoto says. “Just saying you have an open-door policy is not enough. You have to be intentional about it.”

Both Rely on Employee Surveys to Continually Improve.

Bowers + Kubota participates in both the Hawai‘i Best Places to Work survey and a national industry-specific survey. The senior management team reviews all the responses, publicly answers employees’ questions and follows up with specific actions to address problems.

For example, after getting feedback from younger employees who were struggling with Hawai‘i’s housing costs, Bowers + Kubota rolled out a pay raise. The company also started to hold “rap sessions” between employees and managers to get people talking and sharing more.

“We’re always looking for that edge and to improve our policies and practices,” Bowers says. “Whether it’s quantitatively or qualitatively, you always want to be growing in some way as a company because if you’re not moving forward, you’re probably moving backwards.”

PACT also scours the annual Best Places survey for new ideas and to see what’s working or not. Based on employee feedback, it initiated all-gender bathrooms and formed affinity groups that encourage open dialogue among staff. And it started up an extremely low-interest microloan program to help people deal with emergencies such as car breakdowns and medical expenses.

The nonprofit introduced monthly online meetings that gather staff from across the Islands for information sharing and special speakers. And it expanded its wellness programs and training on how to handle difficult issues, such as suicide prevention.

Both Splurge on Benefits They’re Best Able to Offer.

Bowers + Kubota offers a suite of benefits, such as competitive salaries, fully paid family medical insurance and a 401(k) plan with a company match. But the company goes much further to let employees know they matter: In 2012, it launched an employee stock-ownership plan, or ESOP, which is fully funded by Bowers + Kubota.

Every employee is a shareholder, and they can withdraw their funds or roll them over into IRAs when they leave. “We’ve had people leave after only 10 years with literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in their retirement accounts,” Bowers says.

Human resources expert and Bowers + Kubota principal Amy Matsushima leads staff in elaborate role-playing games so that people understand how an ESOP works, and how their actions affect share price. “The concept can be a little challenging at first, but when they see that first statement, it starts to click into place,” she says.

At PACT, which largely operates from state and federal contracts, Kusumoto says the biggest financial challenge is making sure it can pay people competitive salaries without cutting the quality of services. The organization applies for grants, hosts fundraisers, and advocates for higher payments from state contracts, which have remained stagnant for a decade.

To improve the overall compensation package, people are given lots of paid time off to decompress and rejuvenate. Employees get 21 days of vacation; 12 sick days, of which five can be used for personal days off; and 14 days for holidays. That’s eight full weeks away from the job each year, plus extra days for sick leave.

“Our staff are dealing with individuals with mental illness, they’re dealing with the child welfare system, with domestic violence, with poverty. They’re carrying the weight of the clients we service, so it’s really tough,” Kusumoto says.

“We don’t blink an eye with regards to the amount of days we give off,” he says, “because we know that when people come to work, they work.”