Fifteen of the nearly 100 businesses represented were honored with awards this week by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber along with two companies inducted into the “Best Places to Work’’ Hall of Fame.

Winners in Gold, Silver and Bronze were honored in five separate categories along with HOF laurels awarded to Modern Technology Solutions and PeopleTec. Those two joined Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation, which was inducted into the inaugural class in 2021.

HOF inductees are companies who have been awarded for 10 straight years in the Chamber’s Best Places to Work award ceremony’s 15-year history. Companies selected to the HOF are not eligible to enter the awards contest for at least three years to give others opportunities to win.

“It’s been a good tool for companies to use over the years, to improve their culture, to help with employee relations and employee retention,’’ said Claire Aiello, the Chamber’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

Awards were given in five divisions based on number of employees – Micro (10-24), Small (25-50), Medium (51-100), Large (101-250) and X-Large (251-plus).

“This is one of our favorite events of the year,’’ said Ashley Engles-Ross, the Chamber’s Vice President of Small Business. “It is wonderful to celebrate companies who value their employees and their feedback – they truly care about creating a culture to make their workplaces inviting and productive. It sets a real example for others to follow, in terms of making these companies places where employees want to stay for the long run.’’

Winners were chosen based on employee surveys returned to the Chamber and tabulated by Quantum Workplace. Winners in each category are listed gold, silver and bronze:

Micro: Peterman and Sons Solutions, JS Solutions LLC, Systems Technology and Research Inc.
Small: Phased n Research Inc., Crossflow Technologies, Mission Drive Research
Medium: KODA Technologies INc., Invariant Corporation, Trivector Services Inc.
Large: Avion, NTA Inc., Thompson Gray Inc.
X-Large: IronMountain Solutions, Integration Innovation Inc., Radiance Technologies Inc.

“These are companies that listen to their employees and they listen to feedback and they Implement that feedback,’’ Aiello said. “They listen to what their employees think could be better. They make it a priority to listen to their team members who want to work with you. You know, you want to work in a place that does that, you want to work in a place that values your opinion and your feedback and improves. So these companies do that, they care about their employees, they work with them on family matters.’’

Aiello added that is a key ingredient to those honored by Best Places to Work.

“These are companies who put family first,’’ she said. “They understand the parents have concerns with their kids and the company, they work with them. They need some time to be with their children or with their family, but still get the job done. It’s just a variety of things that companies do. They listen to their employees about what could be better and they implement change.’’

Aiello added that these companies go beyond to make their employees want to stay.

“Throughout the year, they get feedback when they do an employee survey. That’s how (Best Places to Work) is kind of graded. Employees fill out a survey – more than eight thousand or this year.’’

Synovus, represented by Beth Sippel, was the presenting sponsor. The North Alabama chapter of the Society for Human Research Management (NASHRM) was a partner in the event.

PeopleTec was a Gold sponsor. Silver sponsors included KODA, Radiance Technologies, Torch Technologies, Integrated Innovation (i3) and Modern Technology Solutions Inc. (MTSI). Bronze sponsors included 4M Research, Cepeda Systems and Software Analysis, Guidehouse, Hill Technical Solutions, Hyde Homes, QTEC Aerospace, Redstone Federal Credit Union and Redstone Government Consulting.

Representing HOF company MTSI was Executive Vice President Tim King.

“MTSI is extremely honored to be a Best Place to Work in the great city of Huntsville and to be inducted into the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber’s Best Places to Work Hall of Fame. We want to acknowledge our peers and business partners in the Huntsville community. Thank you to the Chamber and Quantum Workplace for facilitating these surveys,” said King

“Most importantly, thank you to all of my co-workers at MTSI for fostering our culture where employees come first, where we truly own and solve our customers’ problems and where we live by our core values.”

Employees of Best Places to Work Hall of Fame inductee MTSI

PeopleTec, an employee-owned company, was represented by CEO Terry Jennings.

“It is a privilege and honor to be voted a Best Place to Work for over 10 years by our employee-owners,’’ he said. “PeopleTec provides top-tier benefits and an exceptional workplace culture where the best and the brightest want to work. Our employee-Owners champion the mission to support the Warfighter and offer their technical expertise to improve our nation’s defense.

“PeopleTec is proud to be inducted into the Best Places to Work Hall of Fame this year in recognition of our dedication to our employees and customers. We will continue to work hard for our employee-owners’ vote of confidence.’’

Aiello said companies supporting Best Places to Work use the surveys returned to improve their business model and recruit employees. She said companies like MTSI and PeopleTec have figured out how to use the employee surveys to improve.

“They do it well and we want to honor them with this Hall of Fame,’’ she said.

The Chamber’s efforts are just part of the picture for the Huntsville and surrounding communities that grow by the day.

“We firmly believe that if we work together and we’re all in the same direction, we’re going to get there a lot faster and a lot more effectively than if we all just, you know, try to do it ourselves,’’ Aiello said. “And this is the thing for our board of directors as well. We’ve really tried to be engaged on things together. When we go to elected leaders, whether it be a state legislature issue or a congress thing, you know, going to our Congressman, going through the Senators, we really try to go with a united voice.

“That is reflected in our state and federal agendas that we prepare every year, we really try to go with a United voice to ask for something or or you know, you’re, you know, work on an issue together.’’

That’s a theme that has worked for Huntsville over decades.

“You’re just going to get there a lot more quickly and that goes back to the days of our space program,’’ Aiello said. “What we have done over the years – to get man to the Moon here in Huntsville. That was an example that the rocket team did, they’ve solved some very tough problems over the years.

“So that’s kind of been our mindset here. We believe that and we want to keep that tradition going, where if we row in the same direction we’re going to get there a lot faster. Whether it be infrastructure challenges or workforce challenges, we try to attack the problem as a team and I think that really helps us get past hurdles.’’

For more information, please visit hsvchamber.org.