MOVING ON UP, WP ENGINE ONCE AGAIN NAMED TOP PLACE TO WORK FOR MILLENNIALS

For the second year in a row, WP Engine has been recognized by Fortune and Great Place to Work as one of the country’s Best Workplaces for Millennials—improving on its ranking from last year and earning the distinction as the only Austin-based company on the list.

Millennials are defined as the generation born between 1981 and the mid-1990s. They are the largest generation in the workforce, and at WP Engine, they make up nearly 75 percent of the company’s employees.

This year, WP Engine moved up with its 61 ranking on the annual survey—up from 79 last year—out of the 100 workplaces that made the list.

To determine the rankings, Great Place To Work polled more than 430,000 respondents from hundreds of pre-certified companies. Employees from each organization were randomly selected to participate in the survey, regardless of their personal background or position within the company.

Great Place to Work analyzed each organization’s performance in several areas, including:

• Key Great Place to Work Metrics: how positively millennials rated their organizations based on more than 50 metrics that define great workplaces, including managers’ competence, respect and fairness in the workplace, opportunities for meaningful work, how effectively executives lead the organization and whether the company offers everyone an opportunity to innovate and contribute to the organization’s success.
• Comparison to Other Generations: millennials’ survey results were compared to their colleagues’ to ensure they had as positive an experience as people of other generations. Specifically, Great Place to Work looked at an index of factors where millennials often lag behind their peers, such as access to meaningful work, fair pay and plans for a future with their organizations.
• Consistent Experience within a Diverse Group: Great Place to Work also analyzed demographic patterns to ensure the companies included were creating great, diverse workplaces.

For many millennial employees at WP Engine, being recognized as a great place to work is a direct reflection of the culture and values that are stressed at the company and help make it an accepting, fair and honest place to work.

“I couldn’t help but feel intimidated when I first joined WP Engine,” said Manager of Sales Development at WP Engine, Dana Kleen.

“It seemed as if all talent and brilliance gravitated here and I didn’t think I could possibly stand out. Wrong! We truly live by our core value of ‘Where the Best Get Better’ and I am amazed by what I’ve been able to accomplish in three short years,” she said. ‘I’ve never felt so supported and challenged to pursue my dreams.”

“I like working here because I have management that listens to what I care about and responds accordingly with encouragement and guidance that helps me excel professionally,” said WP Engine Copywriter Killian Hagen.

“I get opportunities to grow and work on cool and interesting projects that I care about and I feel like my job continues to get better and better as my responsibilities increase. As a result,  my satisfaction in my role increases too. I can already tell that I’ve benefited greatly from working here.”

“I was hired at WP Engine because I have a background in social media and journalism,” said Jonathan McNamara, a Digital Content Producer at WP Engine. “Very early on, I was given the opportunity to decide what else I would like to do outside of my social media duties, which was videography. Today, I’m the full-time videographer here, and a lot of that is because the managers I’ve had have recognized where my passions are and they’ve given me the chance to learn things where I didn’t necessarily have traditional training.”

“There’s no comparison between this job and any of the previous jobs I’ve had,” he added. “I greatly appreciate that I have been able to work in a place where my managers are equipped to provide me with opportunities to learn and grow—that’s not something I’ve had before.”

“You cannot attract millennial talent with just awesome perks and great benefits anymore,” said WP Engine Recruiter Aiste Juozaponyte.  “What millennials seek out now is the ability to grow within the organization, to learn new skills and challenge themselves by doing work that gives them a sense of purpose and meaning.”

“What we offer at WP Engine is a place for employees to attain and exceed their goals, to grow professionally and personally and to learn from the most talented individuals every single day,” she said. “It’s the place where the best get better and that’s why I don’t just go to work, I speed to work!”

In addition to those efforts, WP Engine actively works to retain millennial talent in a number of other ways—among the more popular initiatives the company undertakes are its bi-annual All-Hands events, where employees meet outside of work to engage, collaborate and get to know one another in a more social setting. This is also where new employees affirm and sign the company’s core values.

WP Engine employees are also encouraged to give back to the community through various philanthropic initiatives, including (but not limited to) volunteering at the Capital Area Food Bank, supporting Habitat for Humanity and Dam That Cancer, a fundraising effort for Flatwater Foundation, which provides access to mental health services for those in need affected by cancer.  

Millennial employees at WP Engine also said they value benefits such as the company’s employee stock program, the catered lunches that are offered every Monday through Thursday and flexible PTO and sick days that begin on an employee’s first day of work.

“Great Place to Work is proud of these Best Workplaces that give their millennial employees the tools they need to succeed,” said Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work.

“Organizations like WP Engine set the bar for other workplaces seeking to retain and develop the next generation of leaders, and prove that giving millennials jobs with purpose and meaning drives them to give their best at work, benefiting the company as a whole.”

Check out the full list of great places to work for millennials here, and visit WP Engine for more information about career opportunities.