The Triad Business Journal on Wednesday evening revealed the honorees in its Best Places to Work awards program, including celebrating the top scorer overall and the top three scorers in each of three size categories based on local employee counts.

Winners were determined by national research firm Quantum Workplace, based on employee responses to a survey gauging factors ranging from workplace engagement to executive commitment. Employers had to achieve a participation threshold based the size of their local work force and had to score an overall score of 82 to be among the honorees.

Following are some details of practices that made this employer outstanding. See our special publication in Friday’s print edition for bonus content, from photos to employee shout-outs to moments they remember as the best of the past year for each honoree.

Best of the Best winner

(Top scorer among employers of all sizes)

Omega Construction

Description: Privately owned general contractor serving the Southeast

Year founded: 1975

Top executive: Paul R. Covington, CEO

Address: 344 Shelleybrook Drive, Pilot Mountain 27041

Phone: 336-368-5156

Website: www.omegaconstruction.com

Twitter: @omegaconst1

No. of Triad employees: 32

No. of employees total: 65

Describe your company culture in five words: Family-oriented; honest, goal-oriented, driven; respectful

Three ways you ensure all of your employees know they are valued? 1.) Flexibility and encouraging a healthy work/life balance. Family always comes first. 2.) We value safety and make it an utmost priority. Our employees know we care. 3.) There is open communication on all levels. Everyone truly cares about their co-workers, and our office feels like a large family.

What steps do your senior leaders take to create a great work environment for all employees? The environment at Omega is based around hard-work, integrity, open communication and is a true family atmosphere. Our senior leaders try to model and reinforce those traits on a daily basis, including an open door policy and making sure everyone’s questions/concerns don’t go unanswered. It sounds simple, but the Golden Rule is truly what is modeled by all of our employees.

Examples of how your company creates opportunities for individual development and career growth at all levels of the company? We assign new employees to work directly with experienced employees to mentor and train them. When new employees have shown they are ready, we give them opportunities to take on more responsibilities. We try to give employees opportunities to get experience with different project types and sizes to give them varied and well-rounded experience.

How would you describe your company in 30 seconds to someone you meet at a cocktail party? Omega Construction Inc. is a privately owned general contracting firm located in Pilot Mountain. We have been serving the construction needs of the Southeast for 40 years. We are a contractor of choice in the hospitality, retail, industrial/distribution, and institutional/commercial markets. We are also one of the premier design-builders in the Southeast and have extensive experience and expertise in our target markets. We are uniquely equipped to provide full estimating, pre-construction and construction services to our clients and have an unmatched record of completing projects on schedule and within budget. Our strength is our people, and we have one of the most experienced and qualified teams working today in the markets we serve, averaging over 21 years’ experience per employee. Most popular perks? Flexibility to ensure work/life balance for our employees is amazing. There is a level of trust throughout our company, and we know that family should and will always come first. We also have discounted gym memberships as well as discounted services from Verizon. Free lunches happen regularly for our employees and we have a great benefit package.

How does being a Best Place to Work affect your bottom line? Construction is all about people. We feel strongly that this award will allow us to recruit more great employees to add to our family.