Announcements   //   October 25, 2022  ■  5 min read

Pinterest, BambooHR, Harry’s Inc. and Hook are among this year’s WorkLife Awards finalists

New workplace cultures are emerging as more companies pivot to hybrid working environments and increasingly prioritize not only a work-life balance but also wellness and diversity, equity and inclusion. These changes and more are reflected in this year’s WorkLife Awards shortlist.

After introducing new and extended parent benefits for employees, Pinterest earned a nomination for Best Employer for Parents. To support its employees at all stages of family planning and child care, Pinterest now offers more than 20 weeks of global parental leave for all parents to bond with their newborn or newly adopted child. Other new parental benefits include 12 weeks of paid leave for newborn intensive care unit needs, up to $10,000 in monetary assistance for adoptive parents globally, four weeks of paid leave for pregnancy loss and global IVF and egg freezing. These updates build on Pinterest’s existing parental and caregiving benefits, which include surrogacy assistance, free breast milk shipments for business travel and access to parenting support and dedicated care coordinators through external benefits platforms and support services.

For Most Innovative Culture, which recognizes employers whose cultures foster original and successful thinking, Area 23, an IPG Health Company, is a finalist for its ‘What if?’ program. The healthcare agency gives every employee free, non-billable time to work on non-billable passion projects. Each quarter, employees can present their ideas and innovations to a panel of judges, with the most promising projects being further developed until they are client ready. This creativity has also attracted more innovative clients to Area 23’s roster.

BambooHR received a nomination for Most Committed to Work/Life Balance. With “enjoy quality of life” as one of its core values, BambooHR has implemented several unique benefits to support its people. Among these are birthdays off, 12 hours of volunteer time off and “paid paid vacation,” where BambooHR allocates $2,000 yearly to each employee for vacation travel. Additionally, employees participating in the company’s Financial Peace University literacy course have paid off $570,000 in debt and saved more than $610,000.

Harry’s Inc. was a standout for Best Mental Wellness Program, a new category highlighting how employers are supporting employee wellness. The personal care company has worked to fully integrate mental health advocacy within its culture through resources, education, benefits and well-being programs. Benefits include a flexible work schedule (Harry’s My Time), quarterly wellness stipends and five paid days off a year for employees to volunteer with their choice of nonprofit (Harry’s High Five). Full-time employees also have multiple paid mental health days per month, including a full week off in the summer and two weeks off at the end of the year. As part of its commitment to mental wellness, Harry’s Inc. has donated $11.5 million to nonprofit partners focused on mental health and well-being.

Hook secured nominations in several categories, including Most Committed to Social Good. The agency has a long-term objective to “consistently do what matters most,” including a commitment to expose young people from historically underrepresented communities to creative opportunities and career options that don’t require an expensive education. Hook’s college mentorship program, Sandbox U, pairs students from HBCUs with employee mentors to build a 10-week program that matches students’ interests and career goals. The agency’s high school mentorship program offers workshops and exercises to students interested in creative arts but no chosen career path, helping them build their skills and relationships. Through pro bono work, Hook also supported causes, including Locks of Love and Safe Places for Youth, by creating campaigns, branding, event collateral and more.

Overall, the companies the judges nominated in 2022 demonstrated how organizations are empowering employees with meaningful benefits with a particular focus on work/life balance, innovation, wellness and DE&I.

See the complete list of finalists below. 

Best Coworking Culture
Petalfast

Best Employer for Parents
Arc Worldwide
Assembly
Horizon Media
Pinterest
theSkimm
UM’s Culture of Care Embraces and Celebrates Parents
Upwork

Best Employer for Remote Employees
Goodway Group Leads Remote Work
How ActiveCampaign Supports & Empowers our Remote Teams
Kindred
Marketing Architects
StackAdapt
TheSoul Publishing

Best Hybrid Work Environment
Adswerve
Bubble
FutureBrand North America
Industrious’ Proprietary Hybrid Work Model
Periscope
theSkimm
TheSoul Publishing

Best Manager
Brian Vaughan – SHADOW
Lauren Nut Bello, Ready Set Rocket
Lauren Shapiro – Work & Co

Best Mental Wellness Program
Banfield Pet Hospital
Harry’s Inc.
Hook
Horizon Media
January Digital, The Digital Leadership Company™
SourceCode Communications

Best Mentorship Program
Big Communications
Critical Mass
Curaleaf Executive Mentorship Roundtable
Pink Mentor Network – Building Cultures of Sponsorship
SoFi
Woo agency (TEAM Woo)

Best On-Boarding Process
Enboarder: Solving the human connection gap in onboarding
Klick Health
Noom – Noom Onboarding Boot Camp
PROPELLER
TheSoul Publishing
WorkMotion

Best Physical Wellness Program
Megaphone
Next PR 

Best Rewards & Recognition Program
3Q/DEPT
ActiveCampaign Peer Recognition & Benefits Programs
Angi 
Critical Mass
Epsilon Spotlight and Magnitude Recognition Programs
GoPro and Blueboard: The Legends Program

Best Virtual Work Environment
Horizon Media
Just Drive Media
Loop
Marketing Architects
MikMak
OLAPLEX

Best Workplace for Young Careers
Critical Mass
Epsilon’s Young Career Development Programs
Horizon Media
mSix&Partners
Pathlabs
PMG

Employer of the Year
BAM Strategy
Critical Mass
Havas New York
January Digital, The Digital Leadership Company™
Momentum Worldwide

HR Leader of the Year
Ceridian
Critical Mass
Tarveen Forrester
TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles
Verizon
Whalar

HR Team of the Year 
Axios People Operations Team
Critical Mass
Express, Inc.
mSix&Partners
Rain the Growth Agency
Whalar

Most Collaborative Culture
Coegi
Express, Inc.
Fiverr
Gather
Group SJR
Megaphone
Rokt

Most Committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Critical Mass
FCB Health New York, An IPG Health Company
Horizon Media
Momentum Worldwide
Vox Media

Most Committed to Social Good
Assembly
Hook
monday.com
PagerDuty.org
PPK
Work & Co

Most Committed to Work/Life Balance
BambooHR
Epsilon’s Commitment to Work-Life Balance: Days of Rest and Wellness Initiatives
Hook
Jennifer Bett Communications (JBC)
Merit America
Tinuiti: Growing Happiness by “Owning Our Offline”
Truth Collective

Most Dedicated to Employee Growth
Alaska Airlines
Critical Mass
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
Goodway Group Is Dedicated to Employee Growth
Movers+Shakers
TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles
TBWA\Media Arts Lab

Most Innovative Culture
AREA 23, An IPG Health Company
Critical Mass
Gather
Megaphone
Truth Collective
Wistia – WIST.fm and Virtual Reality Teambuilding

Most Passionate Employees
Critical Mass
Dotdash Meredith
ezCater
Lexipol
Pinterest
Whalar

Most Valued Employees
Coegi
G&S Business Communications
MMI Agency
Movers+Shakers
Workhuman
Würk

Top Recruiter 
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