Last week, Excella made The Washington Post Top Workplaces for the fourth year in a row, and we have Excellians to thank for the accolade! Positive employee feedback and survey responses ranked us among the top 150 companies in the DC Metro Area and the 15th mid-sized company.
Whether it’s the numerous opportunities to network, socialize, develop professionally, or serve the community, most of us who work here know that Excella is a special place. Excellians specifically point to our strong culture, values and opportunities to do meaningful work. Unsurprisingly, we are not alone in what we value in the workplace.
Researchers found that 50% of employee engagement is tied to feeling connected with company culture, while another study found that employees who aligned strongly with their company’s culture and values were more likely to report job satisfaction, stay with their company and perform highly.
We know that culture and values are important, but is that truly what makes Excella a top workplace? If you ask co-founder and partner, Steve Cooper, it’s the people. “I believe the best technology firm is the one that is most human,” said Cooper. “Excellians make technology approachable. New tech can be cold and it takes a special person to melt that barrier – Excellians are those people. We do what we can to make Excella a great place to work, but they make us a great company.” The Washington Post, incidentally, agrees, finding that this year’s top workplaces all shared one big common trait – a strong focus on their people.
Excella is committed to recruiting the best and the brightest people who both make technology better and more human. One way Excella achieves this is through a unique component of our hiring process known as the “partner interview.” Giving every candidate an opportunity to meet with at least two of the partners offers them a better sense of our culture. For the partners, it provides a better impression of whether the person is a culture fit.
Given the importance of culture in an organization, particularly one dispersed across client sites, Excella justifiably places emphasis on culture fit. It should be noted that culture fit, as mentioned in a recent Forbes op-ed, “doesn’t mean that an organization is recruiting the same kind of people with the same backgrounds and experiences,” but rather “finding the right people who share the cultural beliefs with effective and ongoing training and professional development [that offers] winning results.”
To celebrate our fourth Top Workplace ranking, we’re kicking off a new series we’re calling “Partner Interview, Part Two” – we can’t think of a better way to talk about workplaces than to talk directly to an Excellian about their own experiences. First up partner Steve Cooper sits down with UX Designer, Daphne Puerto about her time at Excella. Stay tuned!