How do you judge the quality of a workplace? Ask the experts: The employees.
For the fifth year, employee survey firm Energage has partnered with the Herald-Tribune to determine the best places to work in Sarasota and Manatee counties. It’s not a popularity contest, and not everyone gets a blue ribbon. A select few are honored based on a scientific survey process.
Energage administers an employee survey that covers 25 factors and takes just a few minutes to complete. The survey asks employees to offer feedback about such things as pay and benefits, direction, leadership, meaningfulness, and appreciation. Energage crunches the feedback data and scores companies based on the responses.
There is no cost to participate in Top Workplaces and no obligation
to purchase any product or service.
The 2026 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Top Workplaces
Special awards
Your company can be considered for the 2027 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Top Workplaces
The awards are open to any employer with 35 or more employees in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Survey results are valid only if 35% or more employees respond; employers with fewer than 85 employees have a higher response threshold, requiring responses from at least 30 employees.
Employers earn Top Workplaces recognition if their aggregated employee feedback score exceeds national benchmarks. Employers are grouped into similar sizes to best compare similar employee experiences. Energage has established those benchmarks based on feedback from about 30 million employees over 19 years. They are ranked within those groups based on the strength of the survey feedback.
There are a few reasons why you might not find a particular company on the lists. Perhaps the organization chose not to participate. Or, the employee survey feedback might not have been strong enough to merit recognition. It also might not have been large enough to meet participation standards, or not enough employees responded.
Energage runs tests on survey feedback and, in some cases, may choose to disqualify organizations, for example, if a high number of employees said they felt pressured into answering positively.
To participate in the 2027 Top Workplaces awards, or for more information, go to the nomination page at heraldtribune.com/nominate.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota area employees name the best places to work
