Kathy Perry, President

When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, one Favorite Healthcare Staffing employee’s home laid in its path. Water from the giant storm entered the worker’s residence, damaging numerous items — including a furnace, leaving the family without heat. And the large number of claims from the hard-hit area meant insurers were slow to take action.

What did Favorite Healthcare Staffing do? Employees rallied to help the worker, even donating money from their paychecks to buy a new furnace.

It is one example of Favorite’s workers coming together and the type of environment the company maintains.

Favorite Healthcare takes several steps to make sure its internal workers are happy.

President Kathy Perry says treating employees well makes for a competitive advantage because people who feel appreciated will go the extra mile when it comes to helping clients, working together and more.

“I think it allows us to be agile and respond quickly,” Perry says.

Recently, the company had several large projects and the employees worked together the get the jobs done, even taking on tasks not normally part of their jobs.

What does Favorite do to help employees feel appreciated? Some examples include teaching employees the Stephen R. Covey program (Favorite has a Covey facilitator on site), sponsoring a wellness program and birthday and work anniversary celebrations with personal notes signed by the president.

The company’s training center includes Wii bowling and a ping pong table. It also works with charities, including sending teams to help with Habitat for Humanity and hosting blood drives.

Favorite even holds a “Favorite Friday” event. And as part of an effort to raise money for charities, directors and even the CEO get in a dunk tank.