2024 BEST PLACES TO WORK — LARGE EMPLOYERS WINNER: Patriot Group

In the past five years, Patriot Group International has been recognized four times as the Best Place to Work among large employers in Virginia, but that doesn’t keep company leadership from wanting to do more and do better by its employees.

Participation in Best Places to Work “provides us with great insight on some of our shortcomings,” says CEO Gregory Craddock. “Through the process of continual improvement, we get better.”

One example has included the Warrenton-based federal contractor’s corporate strategy, which some employees said in a survey that they didn’t fully understand. Now, Patriot Group leaders host town-hall meetings every couple of months to help personnel understand the company’s direction and seek input.

While Patriot Group International has been featured in articles several times in the past by Virginia Business, that was when the Warrenton-based company was smaller and had fewer service offerings. When the U.S. Armed Forces withdrew the last troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, Patriot Group lost nearly 20% of its revenue and was forced to lay off more than 75 employees, but the contractor has since rebounded, expanding its federal government agency and Department of Defense client bases, as well as its work for private sector clients. It has grown from around 230 employees in late 2022 to 600 employees, including 37 at its Warrenton and Herndon offices.

Founded in 2004, the company historically provided mission support security and risk management services to federal intelligence agencies as well as defense and private sector clients, which often included high-risk projects overseas. But within the past year, Patriot Group has migrated a lot of its business out of warzones and into data centers across the U.S., says its chief operating officer, Robert Whitfield. 

“That has been extremely fruitful for us and for our employees,” Whitfield says. “It allowed us to maintain a lot of the things that make us one of the best places to work: our benefits, our compensation levels, our corporate culture.”

Like other Best Places to Work companies, Patriot Group is generous with benefits and pays 100% of health care, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for its employees and dependents, as well as providing a health reimbursement agreement (HRA) card to use toward medical expenses, copays and deductibles. It also offers 401(k) matching contributions and three weeks of paid vacation.

Within the past six months, Patriot Group has more than doubled its global presence, providing medical personnel in “largely austere environments,” Whitfield says, providing services “on three continents in undisclosed locations.”

The company has seen “a lot of growth, but it’s been controlled growth,” he adds. “We haven’t experienced what some companies
do, where they really lose the ability to connect with their employees and staff — especially if they’re geographically dispersed across the United States or across the world.”

Whitfield credits consistency in leadership to Patriot Group’s success. He, Craddock and company President Al Buford have been with Patriot Group from the beginning and have witnessed very little turnover among C-suite or other senior leadership positions.

With an emphasis on hiring veterans, Patriot Group has always been a mission-focused organization, but it’s also always been focused on being good to its personnel “through … communication, compensation, benefits and just an overall appreciation of their talents and services,” Craddock says.

“That model hasn’t always been easy because in our industry there have been periods of time when there’s been a push to cut prices, benefits, etc.,” he adds. “But we’ve maintained — and in many cases improved — what we’ve offered to our personnel. And we’re proud of all that.”  

RELATED STORIES

Best Places to Work 2024

2024 BEST PLACES TO WORK
MIDSIZE EMPLOYERS WINNER: Sriven Technologies

2024 BEST PLACES TO WORK
SMALL EMPLOYERS WINNER: Troika Solutions

Making the office cool again