A Decade of Empowering Employees
The Eight Eleven Family of Companies Has Been Recognized as a Top Workplace for the 10th Consecutive Year!
Friday, May 3rd, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Eight Eleven Family of Companies was recognized as a Top Workplace USA and a Top Workplace: Central Indiana in 2024! Although the company has been honored with the Top Workplace USA award every year since 2021, this is the 10th consecutive year of being crowned as a Top Workplace for Central Indiana - where we are headquartered. Remaining a consistent leader in any category for a decade is quite an accomplishment - especially if that category involves creating a thriving and welcoming workplace experience for employees.
“Being a Top Workplace doesn't just happen...it is earned.”
- Zack Jernigan, Vice President of Delivery for Calculated Hire
Maintaining this accolade requires an organization to be proactive, evolving, and most importantly, in tune with the goals and needs of its employees. Here at the Eight Eleven Family of Companies, we have already shared stories about our award-winning training programs and the amazing culture that has achieved national recognition in the past. However, a decade of being a Top Workplace is not an accomplishment every company achieves. On average, fewer than 3% of eligible organizations earn a Top Workplaces designation each year, which is why we want to celebrate the occasion by sharing the stories of some employees who have been with the organization since the beginning; from our first year of being recognized to our first year as a company!
Who Decides Who Is a Top Workplace
The award winners are determined based solely on employee feedback from a double-blind Energage Workplace Survey where companies must achieve a response rate of 35% or higher to be eligible. The results and comments of these surveys are then compiled and compared to almost 72,000 other organizations across the nation to determine which workplace experience best embodies the themes illustrated below.
Energage’s diagram breaks down the areas of workplace experience and the themes that drive it.
- Courtesy of TopWorkplaces.com
With an emphasis on opportunities for advancement, training programs, employee benefits, and inclusion, it’s no surprise that Top Workplaces boasts a 42% higher retention rate for its award winners. In addition to being a Top Workplace, Eight Eleven’s focus on these core values has allowed us to grow and retain many of our employees throughout the decade.
Meet (Some of) Our Judges
The Eight Eleven Family of Companies has undergone quite a few changes since its inception in May of 2000. What once started as a small staffing agency has grown into three professional services and consulting firms including Brooksource, specializing in IT and Engineering, Medasource, specializing in HIT and Healthcare, and Calculated Hire, specializing in the central business areas of all industries. That’s quite the transformation in less than 25 years! Even more impressive is the fact that Eight Eleven has organically grown our operations and national reach through our investment in our employees.
This is why the true focus of this story is the perspectives of our employees – they are the ones we truly owe for being awarded as a Top Workplace. Their hard work and innovation have driven our growth as individuals and as an organization. To share their stories and capture what being a Top Workplace for the last decade means to them, we sat down with eight tenured employees from across the Eight Eleven Family of Companies.
Mike Schonhoff
Media Strategy & Production
Total Tenure: 11 Years
Current Company:
Eight Eleven Group
Role in 2015:
IT Help Desk Specialist
Stacey Johnson
Director of Analytics
Total Tenure: 19 Years
Current Company:
Eight Eleven Group
Role in 2015:
BPM Analyst
Jeremy Hunt
Change Manager
Total Tenure: 10 Years
Current Company:
Eight Eleven Group
Role in 2015:
Accounting Associate
Nate Browning
Director of Diversity & Community Engagement
Total Tenure: 16 Years
Current Company:
Eight Eleven Group
Role in 2015:
NSC Delivery Manager
Patrick Zimmerman
Vice President of Operations
Total Tenure: 18 Years
Current Company:
Medasource
Role in 2015:
Medasource Director of Operations
Mara Kelpin
Professional Lead Recruiter
Total Tenure: 11 Years
Current Company:
Eight Eleven Group
Role in 2015:
Professional Recruiter
Zack Jernigan
Vice President of Delivery
Total Tenure: 14 Years
Current Company:
Calculated Hire
Role in 2015:
Professional Recruiter
Alexis Spooner
Executive Director of Delivery
Total Tenure: 11 Years
Current Company:
Medasource
Role in 2015:
Technical Recruiter
Hear Their Stories
Click the drop-down options for each question we asked our panel to read some of the best responses and see pictures that illustrate their time with the Eight Eleven Family of Companies.
“In 2015 I had just hit Professional Recruiter with Medasource and was transitioning into my exciting new role in Internal Hiring in Corporate! I was responsible for hiring solely for Medasource and training and onboarding our new hires. This was also the year I got to build out Medasource’s first training class and create the curriculum. It was such a privilege to have that level of autonomy in my role and the responsibility and trust they had in me right off the bat in the early stages of my career!” - Mara Kelpin
“2015 marked the beginning of a new area of our organization. We had only been growing organically up to that point, and just started transitioning some of our tenured employees into concrete leadership and corporate support roles. From standardizing our service offerings to establishing our core values, we truly were creating the foundation for the next 10 years.” - Patrick Zimmerman
“I was most attracted to the company culture to start, maintain, and grow a relationship in a way that helps you do your best work because you feel seen and heard. You feel a sense of belonging and because you belong, helping your peers with their job directly benefits your own well-being through a helpful and friendly environment.” - Mike Schonhoff
“There were 7 other recruiters in the office with 3 sales reps out in the field. Medasource was still in its infancy stage being about 11-months old… here were so many times that I thought about leaving in my first 6 months because I wasn’t seeing ANY success but could never imagine finding people or an environment like Medasource.”- Alexis Spooner
“Mike Finnegan’s passion for the company and the level of intentionality he had during my interview process with the company really bought me into the opportunity. The vision he had for Medasource and my ability to make a huge level of impact in my first couple of years in the organization really was unmatched to any other opportunity that was out there!” - Mara Kelpin
“One unique thing about our interview process that remains the same to this day is the involvement of our senior-level employees. My first interview was with Ryan Hasbrook, CEO and Co-Founder, and he really sold me on the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself. Uncapped commission is always nice, but it was his promise of uncapped growth that really had me hooked.” - Patrick Zimmerman
“It was apparent that the company was full of "relationship people", it was refreshing to be treated in a way that I could start, maintain, and grow a relationship with each person that I worked with. Lastly, and most importantly, we had fun every day, we had a laugh every day, and worked hard every day. All this is still maintained today at Eight Eleven HQ.” - Mike Schonhoff
“Easily the people. When I interviewed, I met with Andy, Trisha, and Ross. I could tell we would hit it off fast, and they were people I wanted to work with and for. 19 years later, those 3 are some of my best friends. It’s amazing to have watched everyone grow up, grow their families, and grow within the Organization.” - Stacey Johnson
“When I started, we had 80 employees. We now have over 800. We have all the tools, processes, and management structure now. Back when I started in 2010, we had some of that, but we were more of a startup then, so we used what we had and just figured it out.” - Zack Jernigan
“We have much more structure than we did back then but the “family” like culture and the “intentional” leadership still remains. We were blazing the trail back then and now our company has systems and place and so much more support than before for its employees. It still amazes me that no matter how large our company grows you will never feel like a number, you still feel the mentorship and guidance from the leaders around you!” - Mara Kelpin
Eight Eleven Group has grown a lot over the years but has stayed close to its core values. With those core values, each area has grown quite a bit, from the innovation that is constantly pursued, to the service capacity we now have through the Eight Eleven Foundation. Another area I feel has evolved over time is the way spaces have continued to be created to find community no matter your interests or pursuits.” - Nate Browning
“Our tenure and exposure have grown significantly – we have plenty of employees who really have established themselves both professionally and in their personal lives. Now a days family involvement is huge, and in our early days we never had as many family-focused events. It’s awesome to see that we are growing and maturing to allow employees to pursue these things but also bring them into the office culture.” - Patrick Zimmerman
“More opportunities have become available – when I first started you were either a recruiter or an account executive with the opportunity to try and be a Market Director. Now recruiters have so many different paths they can go down and those paths are continuing to branch off into even more opportunities.” - Alexis Spooner
“We are offering better maternity and paternity leave, offering Mental Health awareness and benefits, lowering the limitations to enjoying benefits of the Rewards Trip, room benefits at Conferences, dress code relaxation, work from home flexibility. Secondly, it has grown up in a lot of areas too- better trainings, better offices/working environments, expecting more of you as an employee- but they are providing us more to grow as well.” - Stacey Johnson
“We have much more structure than we did back then but the “family” like culture and the “intentional” leadership remains. We were blazing the trail back then and now our company has systems in place and so much more support than before for its employees. It still amazes me that no matter how large our company grows you will never feel like a number, you still feel the mentorship and guidance from the leaders around you!” -Nate Browning
“Our CFO and executive leadership have continued to be prudent in the way we grow our business. This allows us to make smart decisions based on the long-term gain, not just the short-term profitability.” - Patrick Zimmerman
“Meetings might be a little bigger, our conversations are bigger, and the overall scale of work is just bigger! But the way we always aim to make this big company feel small for each employee had been constantly prioritized. We know that being connected to one another is the best way to change and evolve to have great days even when our environment outside of work becomes more complex and challenging.” - Mike Schonhoff
“I think a lot of employees who had things a certain way but didn’t agree with it being the “best way” drove a lot of change... I love knowing that the company isn’t “set in its ways” and that it can and will continue to evolve for the betterment of its employees.” - Stacey Johnson
“I was a cautious 23-year-old when I started. I was eager but didn’t know when to put my energy. I had tons of great mentors and bosses over the years to encourage me, but they also let me skin my knees and learn. My role started out as an individual contributor and has eventually moved to senior management. For me to be in the role I am now, I needed all the years prior to prepare me.” - Zack Jernigan
“My role has evolved due to our company’s growth! I’ve now broadened my scope to recruit for all three divisions and am a Team Lead where I get to coach/mentor members of our team. As my career has grown at Eight Eleven Group, I’ve been able to expand the impact that I have on the employees internally by being in a leadership role and that has been the most rewarding experience!” - Mara Kelpin
“I have had several different roles during my career with Eight Eleven Group, but that has given me insight into varying responsibilities and teams that ultimately help me make an impact. Being in recruiting, sales, delivery management, market director and now my current role as Director of Diversity & Community Engagement has allowed me to hone different skills and continue to learn along the way.” - Nate Browning
“My career has changed pretty uniquely because I've moved from IT to Marketing. Not many people move departments at this company, but I'm so proud of my time in both departments. I loved the tangible solving of technology problems in IT, but in my second half of my professional career here, now I get to make videos, photos, help run our events, and work in the marketing team as a strategic resource given my tenure and exposure. Eight Eleven allowed me to share my passions/ideas, and leadership had an open mind let me carve my own path trusting that my work was valuable and essential to our growth.” - Mike Schonhoff
“I've really tried to squeeze as much out of the opportunities I've been given, which has led to considerable growth for me. Beginning as an Accounting Associate on a team of four (4), I now lead in the organizational leadership and change management space. I benefited from working with so many levels of the organization, and I think that lends itself to properly assessing the needs of HQ and its employees.” - Jeremy Hunt
“I have had several different roles during my career with Eight Eleven Group, but that has given me insight into varying responsibilities and teams that ultimately help me make an impact. Being in recruiting, sales, delivery management, market director and now my current role as Director of Diversity & Community Engagement has allowed me to hone different skills and continue to learn along the way.” - Zack Jernigan
“One thing that always rings true is that as our company has grown, our leaders continuously pour back into us whether it be investing in an Eight Eleven University Gold Program or Lyra, our digital Mental Health tool. This is a company that gives back to its employees to ensure long-term success, growth, and happiness in their careers.” - Mara Kelpin
“Despite my many roles, I have been in the same organization since graduating from Indiana University in 2006. Not many people get to say that, and I know I wouldn’t be saying it if I hadn’t joined an organization that has pushed me to grow and supported me throughout it all.” - Patrick Zimmerman
“I went from being an extremely selfish and competitive producer who was always wanting to be #1 to now being the Executive Director of all Delivery for Medasource. As I stepped into new roles and shed my producing responsibilities, I needed to find success and happiness in other people’s success and the overall growth of the company versus just my own.”- Alexis Spooner
“Our training and benefits have allowed me exposure more than anything. Along with that, it is a great opportunity to challenge myself and do things that make me uncomfortable.” - Jeremy Hunt
Here’s to the Next One
We hope that you enjoyed hearing the stories of our past and the transformative growth that has made us into a Top Workplace. It cannot be stated enough how much this accomplishment this means to us. However, our work is never done, as we constantly revamp our services and training to ensure we remain at the forefront of our industries. One last final thank you to all our employees, and here’s to another decade of being a Top Workplace!
Interested in joining the award-winning culture of the Eight Eleven Family of Companies? Click here to learn more!