The Gazette partnered with the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC and DataJoe LLC, a Boulder-based data collection and analysis firm, to determine the top workplaces in the Colorado Springs area. Providing a program to better serve customers and employees — and recognize excellence — is a logical step for the local business community.

The Gazette sought nominations in June and by Aug. 1 received over 225 nominations from private, public and nonprofit and government organizations in the Pikes Peak region. Nearly 160 rolled out online surveys to their workers, generating nearly 4,000 responses.

Employees were asked to answer 27 questions about organizational health, engagement and leadership plus other areas like work-life balance, training, pay, benefits and corporate social responsibility. They rate their employers with scores ranging from 1-7; a 1 represented “strongly disagree,” 4 was “neutral” and 7 was “strongly agree.” Employees also could write comments on such topics as motivation, referrals of potential employees, retention, leadership, values and ethics, direction and cooperation.

Employers were required to have a substantial number of responses from employees to be honored as a best workplace. Any employer with mostly negative responses was excluded. Based on participation this year, 99 employers were honored as best workplaces.

Employers were grouped into four categories by size — extra large with 300 or more employees, large with 76-299 employees, medium with 30-75 employees and small with 10-29 employees (because smaller employers tend to score higher than larger employers).

The 99 employers selected as Best Workplaces in Colorado Springs were honored Dec. 7 during a gala at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. The Best Workplaces program, now in its seventh year, is designed to be an annual free survey and workplace health analysis to identify companies that are creating strong, healthy workplace cultures.

Cutting Edge Realtors has won the top award in its category three times, while Alpine Construction and Ent won the top award in their category twice. Cause and Solutions, Classic Homes, Cutting Edge Realtors, Colorado Springs School District 11, Ent Credit Union, HDR, Hero Practice Services, Modern Technology Solutions, Oakwood Homes, The Resource Exchange, Treasure Davis Real Estate Team, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Vanguard Skin Specialists and Young Scholars Academy all have been honored as a top three employer in their category multiple times.