Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI), a software firm in Exton, Pennsylvania, is a great place to work.  So say Great Place to Work Institute insiders Jennifer Robin and Michael Burchell in their book The Great Workplace, which was published on January 4.

Winning Workplaces agrees: we named AGI as one of our Top Small Workplaces in 2009.  A profile on the company, including their payoff of employee engagement practices, appears on our website.

Leading Blog tipped me off to AGI's inclusion in The Great Workplace.  They shared an excerpt from the book which reveals President Joseph Sheehan's practice of compiling weekly accomplishments and sharing them at an all-company lunch each Friday.  This helps the firm maintain a spirit of team building through the weekend, so their workers return on Monday more motivated to keep driving ahead than those at competing firms.

And guess what?  In keeping with an overall workplace culture of progressive people practices, this weekly celebratory lunch helped drive revenue growth of almost 6% from 2006-2008.  AGI generated just over $49 million in revenue in 2008, the year before they applied for our award.

What else is the software firm doing to keep collaboration, innovation, and productivity strong?  Here are five things in addition to the practice mentioned above:

1. Incentive compensation: sales commission, profit sharing, performance bonus.
2. Pay slightly more in health insurance premium for dependents vs. employees (98% compared to 97% – near top of range for both).
3. $5200 tuition reimbursement per employee, per year.
4. It's not just every Friday that AGI's employees get a free meal – the company offers free breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.  In addition, their families can eat dinner on site if staff work late.
5. In designing their current headquarters, leadership made sure that managers were intermingled with staff and that there were no corner offices.  There are also no doors in management office areas.

Does your organization use any of these practices?  Please let us know in the comments.  Thanks.