For the sixth straight year, the Wisconsin State Journal and research firm Energage are partnering to recognize our area’s Top Workplaces — businesses that recognize accomplishment, provide work-life balance and create a supportive, transparent and mission-driven work environment.

Recognizing these high-performing organizations is the driving force behind the Top Workplaces project and this is your chance to have a voice in nominating those organizations.

Nominations are being accepted online at topworkplaces.com/Madison or by calling 608-234-5446 by Sept. 22.

To be eligible, organizations must be located in Dane, Sauk, Columbia or Rock counties and have at least 35 employees. Anyone — businesses, employees, customers of those in the community — can nominate an organization.

Nominees can include businesses, nonprofit groups or government agencies.

Energage, a Pennsylvania-based employee engagement and workplace improvement research firm, contacts the companies that are nominated to conduct a simple and short 24-question survey of employees. Participation is free.

Firms taking part in Top Workplaces will have access to the full results. Those survey results are then tabulated by Energage to determine the Top Workplaces rankings.

The rankings will be published online at Madison.com and in a State Journal special section in spring 2024. Last year, 115 companies with more than 16,000 employees were surveyed.

“Madison’s strong economy depends on building creative and supportive workplaces,” said Kelly Lecker, executive editor of the State Journal. “Top Workplaces spotlights the innovative approaches of those organizations and inspires others to follow suit.”

The project has shown that even under turbulent conditions — such as COVID-19’s Great Resignation — Madison-area companies were able to respond and succeed in the marketplace by leaning into workplace culture issues.

Top Workplaces affords organizations a chance to be recognized for creating excellent workplaces, attract and retain employees and raise their profiles in the community.

Last year, Energage conducted Top Workplaces surveys in 62 markets across the nation. It has surveyed more than more than 2 million employees at more than 8,000 organizations since 2022.