As distributors compete with each other, manufacturers and essentially all businesses, for talent, receiving staffing-based accolades has become a key differentiator and marketing tool.

It’s why you see distributors proudly tout being named to various “Best companies to work for”-type lists, which there are many more of than 5 or 10 years ago. 

Promoting such an honor is a talent recruitment and retention tactic, and an effective one as Millennials and Gen-Z have always lived in the information age and are more likely to vet a distributor via its social media before they consider applying. For those currently staffed at one, seeing their company receive these awards can add a sense of pride and reassurance in their employer.

We see the same with MDM’s Top Distributors Lists, even though they are meant to be much more of an industry resource than an accolade. We love seeing distributors sharing their placement on that feature.

One particular accolade that many distributors want to achieve is to be certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the firm of the same name. Great Place to Work provides workplace certification and lists that align with culture. Achieving Great Place to Work certification is a two-step process that includes surveying your employees and completing a questionnaire about your workforce.

From there, the firm tabulates a score based on employee feedback and independent analysis that rates how well a company “genuinely offers a great company culture.”

You can browse all Great Place to Work Certified companies here. Each company’s listing on the site shows a basic company description, company headcount, industry classification and headquarters, employee tenure demographics and a breakdown of its company culture score. It even shows a word cloud drawn from employee comments on the Trust Index survey used to get feedback.

After seeing several prominent distributors announce their Great Place to Work certification in recent weeks, it compelled me to see what other distributors have garnered that honor. I was happily surprised to see it was far more than I expected, with my count at 43, along with a handful of their subsidiaries.

So, after paging through the firm’s various industries, here’s what I found from all of the distributors certified as a “Great Place to Work” as of mid-July. This is in company alphabetical order and includes their score. Subsidiaries were grouped under the parent company:

Distributors with Great Place to Work Certification – as of July 15

• Air Hydro Power (Louisville, KY) – 86%
• Bell Electrical Supply (Santa Clara, CA) – 87%
• Belt Tech Industrial (Washington, IN) – 98%
• Bunzl Distribution USA (St. Louis, MO) – 80%
  • Bunzl Retail Services (Morton Grove, IL) – 69%
  • Bunzl Retail Services (Bensalem, PA) – 76%
  • Bunzl Southeast (Atlanta, GA) – 71%
  • Bunzl Heartland (Romeoville, IL) – 63%
• Conrad Company Holdings (York, PA) – 88%
• Control Southern, Inc. (Suwanee, GA) – 91%
• The Cook & Boardman Group (Winston Salem, NC) – 84%
• Crescent Crown Distributing (New Orleans, LA) – 81%
• Dot Foods (Mt. Sterling, IL) – 79%
• Erie Materials, Inc. (Syracuse, NY) – 90%
• Esch Construction Supply (St. Paul, MN) – 82%
• G&M Distributors (Galesburg, IL) – 87%
• Global Industrial (Port Washington, NY) – 74%
• Harbor Distributing (Huntington Beach, CA – 92%
• High Desert Distributing (Lancaster, CA) – 78%
• Johnstone Supply (Cincinnati, OH) – 85%
  • Johnstone Supply (Albuquerque, NM) – 98%
• Lansing Building Products (Richmond, VA) – 77%
• Majestic Glove (Everett, WA) – 73%
• McCoy’s Building Supply (San Marcos, TX) – 89%
• MSC Industrial Supply (Davidson, NC) – 77%
• Nelson Jameson (Marshfield, WI) – 94%
• Optimas Solutions (Wood Dale, IL) – 69%
• Pioneer Aero Supply (Chicago, IL) – 90%
• Puretec Industrial Water (Oxnard, CA) – 93%
• R3 Safety (Cincinnati, OH) – 76%
• Reliance Wholesale (Memphis, TN) – 91%
• Rexel USA (Dallas, TX) – 81%
• Richards Supply Co (Waco, TX) – 97%
• Riggs Distributing (Burlingame, CA) – 62%
• Rocket Industrial (Wausau, WI) – 84%
• RS Americas (Fort Worth, TX) – 82%
• Southern Pipe & Supply Company (Meridian, MS) – 96%
• Steiner Industries (Chicago, IL) – 73%
• Supplyhouse.com (Melville, NY) – 74%
• Texas Wood Supply (Donna, TX) – 96%
• TK Trailer Parts (Madisonville, TX) – 100%
• TopBuild (Daytona Beach, FL) – 81%
• Total Beverage Solution (Mount Pleasant, SC) – 90%
• Vector Controls and Automation Group (Plano, TX) – 92%
• Voss Distributing (Des Moines, IA) – 96%
• W.W. Grainger (Lake Forest, IL) – 92%
  • Zoro (Chicago, IL) – 85%
• Wesco International – (Pittsburgh, PA) – 73%
• White Cap (Norcross, GA) – 85%

Did I miss anyone? If so, please let me know at mike@mdm.com and I’ll be happy to update this list.

Which workplace accolade honors do you find to be the most legitimate? Let us know in the comments below or at editor@mdm.com.

You can get started with your company’s Great Place to Work Certification application here.