Meet the Madison area's Top Workplaces in 2020
Madison’s strong economy, marked by its diversity, workforce and historically low unemployment, is a fertile seedbed for new-company innovation and place for well-established businesses to thrive. These companies are doing just that, according to their employees.
(27) updates to this series since Updated
Madison’s strong economy, marked by its diversity, workforce and historically low unemployment, is a fertile seedbed for new-company innovation and place for well-established businesses to thrive.
Who determines Top Workplaces? The best judges: the employees who work there.
Engaged leadership, a culture of building employee skills and a commitment to helping members boosted Summit Credit Union to the top spot among large firms in this year’s Top Workplaces project.
Working in a convenience store isn’t always seen as desirable, but Kwik Trip officials say their employee benefits and choosiness in hiring have helped redefine that image for the 680-store chain.
EVCO Plastics, a third-generation family company, believes that the power of technology is unleashed by the right human touch.
In 1969, when LeRoy Carlson started what today is TDS Telecommunications, he was a believer in investing in employees – a value that company officials say continues as the firm enters its 51st year.
The Waunakee Community School District draws its identity and its workplace culture from the community it serves.
Tri-North Builders Inc. was founded in Madison in 1981 as a general contracting firm and has continuously expanded services to offer pre-construction, general construction, construction management, design-build, independent cost estimating and green-building consulting services.
Finding qualified, talented employees is a tough job in a low-employment landscape such as Madison’s – but keeping them is also a major challenge that cuts to the heart of a workplace’s culture.
Taking care of the caregivers is one of the ways that Senior Helpers built a culture of compassion among its 160 employees.
The first job at Fairway Independent Mortgage is humility.
Amtelco, a 44-year-old family-owned company, builds its corporate culture on a foundation of treating its employees, its customers and its community like family.
When The Douglas Stewart Company took on a demanding new contract last year, everybody chipped in by working long hours and weekends – including its executives and their families.
NO. 5 MIDSIZE | FIRST CHOICE DENTAL GROUP Workplace flexibility, employee support boost patient care
Kevin Klagos has a simple formula for success in dentistry: Take care of your employees and they will reflect that same care with their patients.
Widen Enterprises Inc. builds software that empowers organizations to create compelling, meaningful and measurable digital experiences.
From groceries to financial services, the midsize company category generated a range of highly ranked firms, whose dynamic approach to workplace culture earned them a spot in Top Workplaces.
KL Engineering provides civil engineering services built around a specialization in transportation engineering.
The companies recognized in the Wisconsin State Journal’s Top Workplaces project this year possess not only vibrant workplace cultures, but interesting histories, practices and approaches to community service.
Dan Fitzgerald believes that enabling employees to make decisions – and learn from mistakes – drives the culture at Horizon Develop Build Manage, providing the underpinning of a Top Workplace.
Keeping creative minds engaged at the brand-building firm Shine United involves both empowering and rewarding employees.
Feeding employees’ ambitions to change a company and an industry, trust and fair compensation are the foundation of the culture at Abodo, an online rental marketplace with a national reach.
Propeller Health emerged from a year of change with its employee culture intact and, company officials say, even stronger.
A few years back, Andy Kurth shifted his focus at Weed Man Lawn Care from being solely money driven to one of helping his employees succeed and thrive.
Here are the rest of the top-ranked small firms in Top Workplaces 2020, reflecting a diversity in business types and workplace cultures that have added up to success in their respective areas.
Although all of the organizations recognized in this section have earned distinction as Top Workplaces for 2020, employees at some of them felt so strongly in certain respects that their companies were singled out for special awards.
When it comes to feeling appreciated at work, what matters most to employees? If you answered “pay,” think again. Research shows pay is low on the list.

