Chroma Technology Named Best Place to Work in VT, Again
89 North’s parent company, Chroma Technology, was recently named one of the best places to work in Vermont by Vermont Business Magazine. Chroma was one of several medium sized companies to be awarded by Vermont Business Magazine, which has awarded the honor to Vermont companies since 2006.
This is the second year that Chroma has been named to the list. The awards program (which was created in alliance with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont Department of Commerce Community Development and the Best Companies Group) highlights and honors the corporations that offer the best employment environments across the state. The list is broken down into three categories, Small Businesses (15-99 employees), Medium Businesses (100-249 employees) and Large Businesses (250+ employees). Every company that enters is evaluated on their policies, practices, and demographics. A survey is then distributed to employees, who assesses their workplace environment and employee experience. The top companies are then determined, with the employee survey comprising 75% of the total evaluation.
As a 100% employee owned company and certified B-corp, Chroma makes sure all of its employees know they are valued. The firm offers generous benefits, such as paying 100% of individual employee’s health care costs (vision and dental included), ten paid holidays as well as 160 hours of vacation and sick time (combined). The firm embraced a living wage philosophy long before it was popular; over 25 years ago Chroma began paying every employee a true living wage, established to ensure every employee would be able to afford to purchase a house. Employees were compensated at a higher rate than the Vermont average, and this made the firm a role model for other businesses to follow.
During the early days of the pandemic, both Chroma and 89 North made sure to protect its workers and community by sending employees to work from home. For those essential workers in the manufacturing branch that could not work from home, Chroma made sure to accommodate by creating separate shifts for those who were especially vulnerable. Chroma adopted strict cleaning regimens and changed the rest of its shifts to limit the number of people in the building to ensure the safety of its employees.
Chroma is an employee-led firm, and embraces a philosophy of a triple bottom line: people, profits and planet. Being recognized by the Vermont Business Magazine means that the firm ranks among some of the most progressive companies in the state. Thanks to Vermont Business Magazine and all our employees for making this honor possible.