SEM Named a 2018 Best Place to Work
Triangle Business Journal (TBJ) recently revealed their annual Best Places to Work awards winners and are honoring the awardees today. We are proud and excited to be a part of the class of 2018! Each year TBJ opens the floor to nominations for one of the most sought after business awards in the Triangle. Winners are chosen based on an employee-survey process conducted by Quantum Workplace. Once nominated, a company must meet a threshold in employee participation – a percentage that varies based upon the size of the company – to be eligible to be honored.
As a local business and B-Corp, this award means a lot to us. In fact, winning a best places to work award is actually a long term goal we, as a company, set to achieve by 2021! Receiving this award means that we are meeting our team’s expectations and creating an environment where team members are excited to take part in our mission to use business as a force for good for people and the planet.
What makes us a best place to work, you might ask? Here are just a few reasons we think make us pretty awesome.
“We appreciate all the hard work all have put into making SEM a place our team members enjoy working at. This is something Maria and I value so much. We created SEM to grow a company where team members are treated well and this award is recognition of that vision. And prove to others we can make a business that prioritizes our B Corp and Core Values and make it thrive.
This type of award happens when a team really works well together, solves issues well and TRUST each other. Great milestone! Way to go!!”
Bob Kingery
Co-Owner & CEO, Southern Energy Management
How we run our business.
Doubling down on our use of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (aka EOS/Traction) and making the investment to educate every team member on EOS principles. This has improved communication across the company and made accountabilities more clear. We now have an unprecedented level of company-wide trust and alignment, which has resulted in truly distributed decision-making and self-directed high performance. For example, our team decided we wanted to win this award a couple of years ago, and here we are!
“Being the Change” as a certified B-Corp.
Maintaining our commitment to sustainability through consistently improving our B Corp score has led to our being awarded a B Corp Best for the Environment Award two years in a row. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. SEM is also proud to have received the Energy Star Market Leader award for over a decade.
These achievements validate that we are truly living our mission and continuing to be the change we want to see in the world, which is very motivating to our team members.
Equal opportunity.
All of our team members are engaged in regular “Level 10” team meetings where we are expected to raise any issues preventing them from doing their best work. Team members say this cooperative problem-solving approach leads to a level playing field in the company and allows them to have more autonomy in their work.
Investing in our team as a team.
We are engaging all team members (from field technicians to senior leadership) in multiple internal trainings focused on our company’s goals and vision, personal development and key management skills. We’re finding this to be even more valuable than expected – we learn from each other and develop bonds that enable every team member, whatever their role, to contribute at a higher level toward achieving our shared goals.
Uplifting our team members and recognizing achievements.
Each month a different member of the team selects another team member as the winner of our “Shine On” Award for living our core values. The winner gets internal recognition, money to spend on what they support and the coveted “Shine On” parking spot in front of our facility.
Celebrating moments, big and small, as a team.
We have a large gong in our office to celebrate accomplishments, good news, and each other’s successes. We keep a running list beside the gong so everyone can keep up with all the great things happening around SEM.
All friends are welcome at SEM!
We are pet friendly, letting team members bring in their dogs, their neighbor’s dog, or any other animal they can keep reasonably contained. We also have our own fish, pet rats, and a ball python named Clyde.
Committing to be a best place to work everyday.
We’ll continue to invest in our team’s development and work together to determine what we should focus on to be an even better place to work!
About Us
North Carolina’s solar power and building performance expert. Founded in 2001, we’ve worked for 20+ years to improve the way people make and use energy.
