SPOTLIGHT ON INDUSTRY

The most psychologically healthy workplace in North America for small business is in Norfolk, Virginia. W R Systems, Ltd. (WRSystems), an information technology and engineering firm, has won the 2009 National Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award (PHWA).

The award, sponsored by the American Psychological Association, was presented March 1 in Washington D.C. and honors organizations that make a commitment to programs and policies that foster employee health and well-being, while enhancing organizational performance and productivity. WRSystems won from a field of more than 100 organizations in the small, for-profit category, which includes companies with less than 250 employees. WRSystems' Engineering Services Division in Norfolk employs a staff of 212.

"This is a real honor, and a tribute to our whole organization to be recognized as the most psychologically healthy workplace in North America for our category," says Dave Edwards, senior vice-president and director of WRSystems' Engineering Services Division in Norfolk.  Dave Edwards is a member of our Dean's Advisory Board.

Among the many practices Edwards credits with winning the award are programs for employee suggestions and feedback, the employee recognition program and flexible work schedules. The firm offers a nine-month mentor/protégé introductory course on management, participates in Old Dominion University's Women in Engineering program, and greets new employees with chocolates and handwritten welcome notes placed on their desks. Company turnover is 20 percent below industry average. Sixty two percent of employees have been with the firm for more than 2 years and 50 percent have been at WRSystems for five or more years.
 
WRSystems is a systems engineering firm that provides critical and high reliability products and services for Federal Government, Transportation Technologies and Healthcare Systems.