However, company-wide communication policies do play a role in employee satisfaction. At Lancet Software Development in Burnsville, trust plays a major role in keeping workers engaged and intent on maintaining a high level of performance, says Susan Bjork, Lancet’s human resources director. The company’s has an open-book management approach and provides every employee with a copy of monthly financial statements and weekly sales and operation reports. The goal of this transparency is to foster regular dialogue regarding corporate decisions and direction.

“These reports allow our employees to be involved and aware of the growth and activities of the organization,” Bjork says. “Trust is the stuff of empowerment, and empowerment leads to productivity.”

The eight-year-old company has been recognized locally and nationally for its worker-friendly environment. The Principal Financial Group, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, recognized Lancet in 2003 as one of the top 10 companies nationally for employee financial security. Locally published Venturer magazine named Lancet one of its Great Places to Work in 2001.

But the biggest reward, says Bjork, is the company’s low annual turnover rate, which has consistently hovered around 5 percent (even during the dot-com boom before 2001, when turnover rates at many high-tech companies exceeded 25 percent). “Our open management style creates deep connections among our teams, which extends to our clients who can trust that the same people will be there to help them two or three years down the road.”

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Twin Cities Business Monthly