Lexington, KY - A Lexington law firm has captured the top spot on this year's list of the Best Places to Work in Kentucky. Stoll Keenon Ogden (SKO) has earned a place on the list for four years running, but this is the first time that the law firm has been ranked number one among the state's larger companies.
And SKO is not the only law practice with a Lexington office to be honored as one of the state's best places to work. Among large businesses with 250 or more employees, Stites & Harbison also made the list with a fifth-place ranking, and Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs placed 18th. In a separate ranking for small and medium-sized businesses with 25 to 249 employees, Sturgill Turner, Barker & Maloney placed 13th, and Ward, Hocker & Thorton placed 26th out of 32 honored businesses across the state.
Despite a difficult economy, local law firms named to the list said that, aside from keeping their focus on client service, they have made a priority of keeping their employees from feeling the economic pain wherever possible. For some, that has meant avoiding or minimizing layoffs and maintaining both large and small employee benefits.
"Like everyone, we've felt the effects of that (the economy), but we did not downsize," said Denise Wilson, director of human resources for SKO, who noted that some positions at the firm were lost to attrition. "We did not have a reduction in staff because of it. And that was partly because of the culture we've generated and the duty to staff that's a part of it."
Among the more recent benefits added at Stoll Keenon Ogden are a tuition reimbursement program that started last year and an extra day of vacation for every employee to celebrate his or her birthday, to be taken any time during that month. Those new offerings are in addition to some of the firm's more popular ongoing perks, such as quarterly chair massages and monthly office pizza lunches. SKO is also looking at ramping up its office wellness campaign in the near future, Wilson said. The office already offers free flu shots and health risk assessments.
"We made sure that folks knew that we didn't intend to stop doing the things we were doing," Wilson said of the company's reassurances to employees worried about economic repercussions at the workplace. "We feel like there's always something else that we can do."
For Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Maloney, this marks the firm's sixth year on the Best Places to Work list, including a first place ranking in 2007, said office administrator Lana McGinnis.
McGinnis considers her firm lucky to have avoided any layoffs or wage freezes in the current economic environment, and she said the personal interest that the company's employees take in their co-workers has been key to the firm's longevity on the Best Places list.
"We really anticipated that 2009 was going to be a tough year, and actually it turned out to be a fairly decent year for us," McGinnis said.
The work environment at a law practice can be particularly stressful, and McGinnis said her firm works to alleviate that pressure by promoting an accommodating family culture.
"We try to be flexible with our employees," McGinnis said. "That can be something as simple as allowing an employee to take an extended lunch for parents day at a child's school."
At Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, the strategy is not only to be a fun place to work, but also to make sure that hard work pays off for employees.
" All of our decisions get made in the interest of what best serves the client," said Mark Burton, partner in charge of the Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs Lexington office. "We value the work and contributions of all the attorneys and staff, and our compensation is intended to reflect our appreciation of that."
As an example, after a one-year vesting period, the firm contributes 10 percent of an employee's salary to that person's 401(k) account, regardless of the employee's contribution, Burton said. The firm also has a quality of work life committee that arranges family activities and fundraisers through the year, including an event this past year to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief.
Burton said that the firm's primary focus has always been on client service, but the company has also worked with an eye toward the interests of the employees who provide that service. Preserving jobs has been an important mission for the company this year in that regard, Burton said. The firm has seen signs of an upswing in recent months, although the economy still has "a ways to go," he added. Over the long haul, the firm has also worked to help its staff develop their skills to meet the changing needs of the legal workplace.
"Our employees' roles continue to evolve, as not only the law evolves but more specifically as technology evolves," Burton said. "What we try to do is encourage our people's professional growth."
Both for and not-for-profit businesses and government entities are eligible for consideration in Kentucky's Best Places to Work competition. Entrants must employ a minimum of 25 full-time associates in Kentucky and have been in business for at least one year. The rankings are based on an analysis of company policies, practices and demographics, along with employee surveys that cover topics such as leadership, pay and benefits, and role satisfaction.
For more information on the Best Places to Work in Kentucky program or to see a complete listing of this year's winners, check online at www.bestplacestoworkky.com.