Making the office cool again

It didn’t take long for Spurrier Group employees to want to be back in the office after the pandemic began.

Within the first four weeks of workplace shutdowns in 2020, the women working at the Richmond-based strategy and media-buying firm started asking CEO Donna Spurrier when they could return to the company’s comfortably fashionable office, with its Restoration Hardware furniture, overstuffed chairs and full kitchen. During a recent interview, Spurrier even had a chicken roasting in the office’s kitchen oven.

Her 14 employees — all women — returned to the office only weeks after the initial pandemic shutdowns. Spurrier says she wants them to feel comfortable at work, and among other benefits, she pays for weekly on-site 30-minute massages and car washes. “Moms are busy — busy. Women in general, we’re busy,” she says. “Who has time to wash their car? No one. So, if I can bring somebody in here washing [cars] in the parking lot while we’re working and being productive, well then, that’s a bonus. People love it.”

While Spurrier’s team is all-in on in-person work, that’s not the case for every company listed among Virginia’s Best Places to Work — or even nationwide. A March 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that, among U.S. full-time workers whose jobs can be performed remotely, 35% were working remotely and 41% were working hybrid schedules.

Whether their employees are working remotely, hybrid or in-person, the 100 companies making up Virginia Business’ 2024 Best Places to Work cohort have one big thing in common: showing appreciation to their employees through special perks, gifts, rewards and flexibility.

Now in its 14th year, the Best Places to Work in Virginia program started in 2011, when Virginia Business and Pennsylvania-based Best Companies Group began collaborating to identify the state’s top workplaces. Best Companies Group selects the winners based on surveys conducted with companies and their employees that include detailed questions about culture, worker satisfaction, training opportunities, benefits and more.

In-person perks

Reston-based ThunderCat Technology, which has made the Best Places to Work in Virginia list for more than 10 years, happens to employ a lot of golfers, which makes its in-office golf simulator a very popular perk. Employees at the federal information technology contractor play golf together outside of the office, sponsor golf events and take golf trips together, says co-founder and CEO Tom Deierlein, so prioritizing an in-office space for practice was a no-brainer.

Even though golf is sometimes viewed as an “old boys’ network,” women at ThunderCat also have embraced the game and have created a women’s golf group, whose members receive lessons at local driving ranges paid for by the company. Other employees also have taken training “courses to help them learn, be more comfortable and have fun on the golf course,” Deierlein says.

After moving last year to a new headquarters office in Reston that included more meeting spaces, plus access to a gym and a deli, ThunderCat installed the high-tech golf simulator.

“Once we found a building with those basics, we then turned our attention to special things that would motivate folks post-pandemic to want to come back into the office,” Deierlein says. “We knew that our shared love of golf could be a factor, along with the business and convenience aspects, to motivate folks to come back to the office.”

Now, ThunderCat has started a company league in which people are blindly matched with a partner playing in two-versus-two matchups on digital courses. ThunderCat has also added a racecar simulator since they have “quite a few folks into cars and racing,” Deierlein says.

Along with the golf and racing simulators, ThunderCat provides an on-site gym and a dedicated “quiet wellness room” for nursing, rest and reflection time. Employees also have standing desks “to minimize physical strain,” as well as dual monitors, blue light glasses and noise canceling headphones. Employees can unwind by playing a game of cornhole, putting together puzzles, coloring posters, or enjoying healthy snacks like fresh fruit, yogurt and cheeses. They also have the option to work outside, where the company has provided chairs and couches with a pond view.

At Richmond’s Good Run Research & Recreation, in-person work looks a little different from most offices. Employees at the consumer market research firm are greeted by two tire swings — a pillar of the “Rec Room,” the nickname for the office where
17 full-timers work. A candy wall, massage chair and puzzle board round out the space.

“The whole building is designed so that it feels vibrant and fun and engaging from the minute you walk in,” says Good Run President and CEO Stacy Thomas. “We are naturally — as people — imperfect and messy, and we color outside of the lines, and so, we really wanted to create a physical space, as well as a conceptual space, that really embraces that truth that we are.”

Out of office

Another way that companies recognized as Virginia’s Best Places to Work have earned recognition is by providing unconventional benefits outside of the workplace. Sometimes this means company-hosted trips or out-of-office events. For example, Troika Solutions, the Reston-based management and technology consulting firm that won this year’s small employers category, has taken its workers and their significant others on vacations to Disney World and Las Vegas.

When the pandemic started in 2020, the company treated employees to a stay at the W Washington D.C. (now the Hotel Washington), a luxury hotel across from the White House, says Kenneth Lasure, president and CEO of Troika Solutions.

“It’s my responsibility to make sure I can provide that environment for them,” he says. “I think that makes it enjoyable.”

Similarly, ThunderCat Technology hosts companywide trips. These vacations used to be available only to top performers, but company leadership struggled to set fair and objective criteria to qualify for the trip. A few years back, the company had a “particularly good year,” and decided to take all employees on a trip to the Caribbean.

“A funny thing happened when we were there,” Deierlein recalls. “I looked around the final dinner and saw the connections, the laughs and the smiles. I was happy to see us all together. So, from that night forward, we decided this wouldn’t be a one-time thing, and announced on the beach that the club trip was open to everyone every year.”

Now, that companywide vacation has morphed into an annual trip at no cost to employees that also includes corporate trainings and other team-building activities.

Awards programs are also commonplace among 2024’s Best Places to Work in Virginia — whether themed for holidays, fun contests or simply recognizing employees randomly.

At ALKU, a Massachusetts-based staffing and recruiting firm with an office in Herndon, employees participate in sales-motivated competitions. Prizes include afternoons off on Fridays and box seats at Washington Capitals NHL games.

The competitions help provide the “motivation going to keep hitting our numbers,”
says Lauren Husson, a talent marketing coordinator with ALKU. “It’s just another little extra bonus for people to look forward to, because especially on the revenue side, people are making those phone calls all hours of the day.”

Good Run Research & Recreation likes to treat its employees to special events and gifts throughout the year. Every month or so, the company hosts Good Run Fun events, all of which are meant to provide time and space for employees to share an in-office cocktail or mocktail and do an activity. Some Good Run Fun events are also open to friends, family and clients, like in December 2023 when the firm served Moscow mules while employees put up holiday decorations. Good Run also has an RV that sleeps eight to 10 people and is available anytime for employee use.

There’s a reason that “recreation” is part of the company’s name, Thomas says. “We believe we are the best versions of ourselves — at work and at home — when we’re having fun.”

Other ways that Good Run rewards and recognizes employees include its annual “12 Days of GRRRISTmas,” a program in which the company makes donations to nonprofit organizations that have personal meaning to its workers and gives gifts like company swag and gift cards. 

“It’s not the traditional benefits necessarily that make the difference,” Thomas says. “It’s the little things. Life’s too short to just have a job, right?”