Hanscom once again among best places to work in Massachusetts

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  For the third year in a row the Boston Globe has named Hanscom Air Force Base as one of the best places to work in Massachusetts, recognizing the competitive pay and benefits of employment and the strong quality of life at the base.

The Globe, Boston's major metropolitan daily newspaper, announced Hanscom's selection as one of the top 25 large organizations Nov. 5 in an article on Boston.com, and featured the base in a special pull-out magazine in Sunday's edition entitled "The Boston Globe Top Places to Work." Displayed prominently on the back page of the magazine is a full page civilian recruiting ad highlighting Hanscom and the Electronic Systems Center. A large organization was defined as one with more than 1,000 employees.

"The Globe's third annual Top Places to Work is designed to help you figure out which organizations are treating workers right," said Shirley Leung, Globe business editor, in the magazine. "But there's one thing we have done differently this year: We divided the rankings into small, medium, and large employers. The reason? Working at a place with 100 employees is very different from one with 1,000."

"Once again, this is great news," said Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds, Electronic Systems Center commander. "To be recognized among the state's best work places three years in a row is something to be proud of, and the best part is that it is based on the opinions of the men and women who work here every day."

The Top Places to Work recognizes the most progressive companies in the state based on employee opinions about company leadership, compensation and training, diversity/inclusion, career development, family-friendly flexibility, and values and ethics. Private companies and nonprofits as well as publicly-held businesses were included in the analysis.

Survey information was collected by Workplace Dynamics, an independent company specializing in employee engagement and retention. In June, a random selection of about 700 Hanscom military members and government civilians, including Non Appropriated Fund employees, took part in the survey.

Overall, the Globe invited 1,160 employers to participate in the third annual Top Places to Work. Of those, 236 organizations went all the way through the process, allowing a confidential survey of their workers. Workplace Dynamics contacted more than 133,000 employees at those companies, and received completed surveys from 82,000 individuals. Each was asked to grade their organization's performance according to 23 distinct statements, ranging from "This organization demonstrates it values employees during difficult times '' to "It's easy to tell my boss the truth.''

"This recognition clearly shows that our military members and civilians recognize that the base is a great place to work where you can earn good pay with excellent benefits and make important contributions every day to our national defense," General Bowlds said.

"Hanscom is a fantastic base with an important mission, and definitely a great place to work," said Col. Stacy Yike, 66th Air Base Group commander. "The base offers wonderful opportunities for the people who work here with discounted child care, free fitness and health and wellness centers and on-base education opportunities."

Being recognized as one of the best places to work in Massachusetts has been helpful in recruiting civilians during the strategic hiring initiative over the past two years, according to Rich Lombardi, ESC's executive director.

"We continue to seek out the best candidates for positions in the fields of finance and accounting, engineering, contracting, program management and a number of other disciplines," Mr. Lombardi said. "Prospective employees can see from this ranking that our employees here are very engaged in the mission, and appreciate the career development, flexible work schedules and health and wellness opportunities offered at Hanscom."