Employees see a lot of positives in Central Florida businesses – Orlando Sentinel

There was mostly good news with a little less good news in the 2022 Orlando Sentinel Best Workplaces Survey of Central Florida employees.

The Sentinel has again partnered with Philadelphia-area research firm Energage to collect survey results from more than 33,000 employees of Orlando-area businesses.

The goal was to identify the best companies and what employees say make them great places to work. Despite the challenges of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, workers in the region still see a lot of good in Central Florida workplaces.

A record 106 businesses in the region were selected as Top Workplaces based on employee survey responses.

First, the good news.

In the annual Orlando Sentinel Top Workplaces survey, workers expressed positive attitudes across 24 key workplace questions.

Below are some of the findings from our survey of what employees said matters most to them. The percentages come from employees who said they slightly agreed, agreed, or strongly agreed with the statement, which Energage calls “positivity.”

The top five “positive” statements were:

• “My manager helps me learn and grow” – 83.1%
• “My job makes me feel like I’m part of something meaningful” – 82.3%
• “I feel really appreciated in this company” – 79.6%
• “I feel included in this company” – 79.5%
• “My manager helps me learn and grow” – 79.3%

Reflecting the tight labor market, the last five statements show that employees want to be appreciated by their employers.

The five lowest “positive” statements were:

• “My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry” – 50.3%
• “My pay is fair for the work I do” – 53.4%
• “I haven’t considered looking for a better job in the last month” – 57.0%
• “Meetings at this company are a good use of my time” – 63.4%
• “I feel well informed about important decisions of this company” – 67.7%

Now, the bad news.

In our survey of Central Florida employees, their “positive” responses to our 24 key workplace issues were below the national average in all but two categories.

“Senior managers understand what’s really going on at this company” scored a positivity score of 70.7% here among Central Florida employees, compared to 68.6% in the national average. “I’m getting the formal training I want for my career” came in at 69.7% positive here versus 69.2% nationally.

The biggest disparity between Central Florida workers and the nation? It’s all about benefits and compensation.

“My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry” received a positive response of 50.3 in Central Florida, 7.9% below the national average.

“My pay is fair for the work I do” was 53.4% ​​in our region, 7.6% lower than the national average.