AlphaBEST Education, a before and after school enrichment provider based in Lewisville, NC, is committed to delivering top-notch programming to its students. The company knows that in order to deliver on this promise, they need to first make sure they’re bringing the best talent possible onto their team.

“AlphaBEST is a company that’s grown exceptionally quickly over the past few years, which has created some wonderful challenges,” said Judy Nee, AlphaBEST’s CEO. “We’ve had to become much more intentional about our company’s culture and hiring practices, and as a result have made some changes we’re really proud of.”

The majority of AlphaBEST’s 1,700 employees – about 75 percent – are part-time team members, but those team members have access to benefits that include healthcare and a 401K retirement plan, as well as paid time off and other leave time.

“AlphaBEST is a relationship-oriented place, and we want to make sure our employees feel supported to both grow in their careers with us as well as within their personal lives outside of AlphaBEST,” said Laura Moynagh, Director or Talent & Culture. “We want to create an environment where people are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work each day – a place that celebrates different perspectives and talents.”

AlphaBEST’s Inspiration for Growth

To help inspire and direct additional changes within the company, AlphaBEST has invested in sending several employees to the WorkHuman conference, first in 2016 (when a handful of employees went to scope out the event), then again in 2017 (when they sent 53 employees to Phoenix for the event after realizing what a great fit it was for the direction AlphaBEST was headed), and then earlier this year (the Human Resources, Marketing, and Professional Development teams headed to Austin for that one). WorkHuman is an annual conference centered around true transformation in the world of HR and workplace connection, recognition, and potential.

“We’re a company that’s focused on putting employees at the center of all we do and all the decisions we make, but we realized sometimes those intentions aren’t clearly supported with strategies,” said Nee. “As we continue to grow, making our employees feel truly heard and valued matters more than ever, which is why we knew WorkHuman would be such a perfect fit for our organization.”

Coming out of WorkHuman, AlphaBEST built ways for the company to connect more deeply, including a weekly employee recognition call-out in a dedicated internal Facebook group, developing a set of core values for the company (ones that would help to guide decisions and inspire great performance), integrating software solutions that were more human-centric, and more.

Recognition for AlphaBEST’s Human-Focused Culture

And these intentional changes to continually make AlphaBEST a great place to work have not gone unnoticed.

This May, AlphaBEST was named a Best Employer in North Carolina by Business North Carolina. (They were ranked #18 among large companies, defined as companies with 250 or more employees.)

According to Business North Carolina, “This awards program was designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best employers in North Carolina, benefiting the economy, workforce, and businesses in the state of North Carolina.”

The list is made up of 45 companies, and participating organizations completed a two-part survey to be considered as a Best Employer. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems, and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined
scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process, analyzed the data, and determined the final rankings.

“Being named a top employer in our home state only fuels our motivation to keep raising the bar at AlphaBEST,” said Nee. “Just like one of our core values states, ‘we are the BEST at what we do’ – a distinction we don’t take lightly. We are dedicated to making our team as strong as possible so they are able to deliver the highest level of enrichment and care possible to our students and school communities. We look forward to continued growth and connection here at AlphaBEST.”

AlphaBEST’s Core Values:

We put children first.
We take seriously our responsibility
for influencing and educating thousands of students across the country every single day, arming them with skills they’ll use their whole lives.

We value connection.
AlphaBEST fosters connection: between employees, with our school and district partners, and with the families we serve. We’ve created an environment that encourages experimentation, collaboration, and teamwork.

We are driven by innovation.
We not only embrace change –
we drive it. By keeping a pulse on the latest educational developments, we implement cutting-edge curriculum that is as fun and engaging as it is innovative and skill building.

We are the BEST at what we do. Our commitment to continuous improvement allows us to deliver the highest quality of service.

We lead with a “yes” mindset.
We’re committed to extreme customer focus! We challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zones and to have a can-do attitude.

We make it right.
We aren’t perfect, but we do aim to respond perfectly. When things don’t go as planned, we double down and make sure the situation is handled seamlessly –
and that we learn from those missteps and avoid them going forward.

We have fun.
Our programs are structured to keep engagement front and center by fusing
fun with learning in everything we do. We embrace the adage that education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.