This is the twelfth year that the Journal Sentinel has published the list of top workplaces, and the first year that Viking Masek has participated. The list is compiled solely based on anonymous employee feedback gathered through a survey administered by Energage, a culture technology company.

The survey measures employee engagement as the percentage of employees who are highly motivated, committed to staying with their organization, and willing to recommend the organization to others. "We practice our core values every day from top management all the way through every level of our organization," comments Scott Miller, Viking Masek VP of Product & Technology and co-owner. "We value our employees and realize we owe a great deal of our success to them. Each of them has a voice and we encourage them to use it."

The survey revealed that Viking Masek's overall employee engagement is 80%, which is 20% higher than the benchmark. An impressive 84% of Viking Masek team members completed the survey. "We have great employee engagement because we hire great people," said RC Huhn, Viking Masek CFO and co-owner. "We try to show team members that we appreciate them and we invest in creating an inspirational facility for them to work in. It is very important to us to make their workday as good as it can be." “It’s the people that make the company," comments Rick Leonhard, Viking Masek President and co-owner. "The people that work here are truly amazing and people that I trust wholeheartedly.”

Viking Masek scored well above its peers in areas of innovation and interdepartmental cooperation. Driven employees, flexibility, and winning mindsets were also highly rated. Overall employees feel new ideas are encouraged at Viking Masek and managers enable team members to work to their full potential and care about their concerns. “By empowering every individual and ensuring their full participation in the business, innovation has increased, productivity is on the rise, the entire company has become more efficient, and employee satisfaction is high,” comments Robb Leonhard, Viking Masek Executive Vice-president and co-owner.

Plans for future workforce growth Viking Masek's workforce has more than doubled in the past 5 years and grown by 40% in just the past year alone. Viking Masek is currently looking to fill positions in multiple departments. A 33,000 sq ft addition to Viking Masek's US headquarters is nearing completion to provide more space for their growing workforce as well as double their production capacity to better serve their clients. "We've worked extremely hard over the years to build a strong workplace culture that truly reflects our values of innovation, drive & passion, a winning attitude, and teamwork, with a healthy balance of fun along the way," comments Ty Weinhold, Viking Masek COO. "Being named as a top workplace is a credit to the incredible contributions from all of our employees to reach that goal." “As I walk around the building and talk to everyone I thank God that I am surrounded by such great people," says Viking Masek President and co-owner Rick Leonhard. "That means more to me than any award. It’s the vision, dedication, and creativity of our team that will continue to make this a great place to work.”