AD, a member-owned buying and marketing group, has been awarded a Delaware Valley Top Workplaces 2019 honor by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by research partner Energage, LLC, a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution and connection.

“Making AD a great place to work is a top priority for our organization," said Bill Weisberg, AD chairman and CEO. "While this was a huge team effort which involved AD Associates at every level, it would not be possible for us to receive this honor if it wasn’t for the leadership of our HR department helping us strategically improve our company’s employee engagement, retention and development. There are many companies our size that don’t have an HR department and I understand their concern about ROI.  But the decision we made to invest in HR has demonstrated a clear and tangible return on this investment.

“The results we have seen in our own company motivated us to identify ways we could give back to our members and help them access Service Providers, like Energage, and build a strong AD HR community,” Weisberg continued.

In 2015 AD launched AD HR Services with the goal to connect their 600-plus members with high-quality, innovative and cost-effective HR service providers, provide them with best practice sharing and professional development opportunities, and create a foundation for a strong AD HR community. Since the launch of the program, AD HR Services has saved AD members over $3 million. 

“Employee engagement is about winning the heads, hands and hearts of your employees," said Neil Cohen, senior vice president, human resources. "Highly engaged employees are willing to go above and beyond to meet your company’s goals. They are committed to their jobs and their colleagues and act in the best interests of your company. Part of AD’s mission is to ensure that our Associates reach their potential and have a great place to work. We’ve used our third-party engagement survey for years to help us benchmark against other top-performing companies and learn where we are strong and where we have opportunities to improve. So, the entire AD team has a lot to be proud of in winning this award.”

“Top Workplaces is more than just recognition,” said Doug Claffey, CEO of Energage. “Our research shows organizations that earn the award attract better talent, experience lower turnover, and are better equipped to deliver bottom-line results. Their leaders prioritize and carefully craft a healthy workplace culture that supports employee engagement.”