We are working feverishly to bring you our bigger and better-than-ever 2008 Top Small Workplaces Benchmarking and Best Practices Report.  You can pre-order it now here, and it will be sent to you when it's ready.  We are hoping to have copies available at our Top Small Workplaces Conference on October 14-15.

I have been editing a draft of this report today, most of which is all about this year's 15 winners (TBA in The Wall Street Journal on October 13).  While working on this, two pieces of data under the benefits section really stood out.  I'm talking about total paid leave (including vacation and sick days, and PTO) and medical coverage (premiums paid by the company for both employees and their dependents).

I wanted to see how these benefits metrics from the firms we evaluated compare with those from other leading studies of small workplaces.  So I chose a solid benchmark: the 25 Best Small Companies to Work For in America, as named in July 2008 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Great Place to Work Institute.

Check out the charts below, which show both these metrics side by side with that survey:

As you can see, our Top Small Workplaces provide, on average, 5% more in company-paid medical coverage for employees and 16% more for dependents.  They also provide half a month's worth more paid leave for their employees vs. the paid leave average of the 25 Best list.  These results support two of the many themes we noticed among this year's winners: that a focus on well-being and health builds endurance, for employees and the business; and that when workers have a stake in the risks and succeed, they also share in the rewards.

Note that average number of employees between the two lists are comparable: 154 in 2007 for the Top Small Workplaces; 136 for the 25 Best list.

There are certainly many more relevant studies of exemplary small businesses out there, and we'll be comparing the data from our 15 winners (out of 406 that applied this year) to those as well in the coming weeks.  But we thought we'd start by comparing against SHRM's list because they've been doing this for a while (2008 is their fifth year publishing their small and midsize companies lists) and because they are a well-respected authority on employee engagement best practices.

The first session that will kick off our conference on October 14, by the way, will review in detail the stellar workplace team building and employee engagement practices of this year's Top Small Workplaces.  With a lot more info on benefits being provided by one of last year's winning firms and the Principal Financial Group in this same session, you won't want to miss it.

What other workplace data or best practices from the 2008 Top Small Workplaces would you like to see discussed here, and/or compared against other prominent studies?  (And which ones?)  Add a comment below and let me know.  Thanks.