Chicago’s Best & Brightest Companies 2025: Stories, Strategies & Leadership Lessons for a Thriving Workplace

The Best & Brightest Companies to Work For celebration in Chicago stands as more than an award ceremony—it’s a living showcase of the people-first practices, creative solutions, and bold leadership shaping the city’s most admired workplaces. As the 21st annual event unfolded, a spotlight shone not only on winners but also on the unique, replicable journeys organizations took to get there.

A New Standard: Listening, Engagement & Continuous Innovation

Take Comcast, this year’s Best of the Best among large businesses. They’ve proven that truly listening to employees isn’t just about annual surveys—it’s about acting on feedback, like implementing a Financial Wellness Benefit that directly addresses staff concerns. Their relentless drive to innovate in people practices is what helps them maintain excellence year after year.

For medium business winner Epitech, success came from making HR and finance personal: every employee is matched with a go-to team member, transforming processes into trust and care. Meanwhile, legal powerhouse Honigman LLP’s “Onboard 30/60/90 Program” offers not just orientation, but a personal onramp to growth and connection right from day one—a formula fueling 75 years of resilience.

Elite Awards: The Stories Behind the Honors

What makes the Elite Award standouts unique isn’t just what they’ve accomplished, but “how.”

• Shure Incorporated’s global IDEA inclusion program and the VIBEs resource groups bring together voices and backgrounds from around the world. Belonging becomes not a statement—but a system, entwined with robust anti-harassment training and transparent, trackable goals.
• LRS has built a culture where peer-to-peer shout-outs and year-round events turn recognition into everyone’s job, infusing daily life with real, meaningful gratitude.
• Thresholds links strategic planning and daily actions—using digital tools, manager-led discussions, and transparent communication—so every employee sees how their work moves the needle on purpose.
• CBIZ supports the whole person, with five pillars of well-being (physical, emotional, financial, social, community), from premium discounts for healthy habits to counseling, financial, and legal resources.
• AmTrust Financial fuels a workforce that’s both empowered and equipped by intertwining professional development, mentorship, and consistent recognition with plenty of open feedback loops.
• NOW Health Group transformed hiring with Walk-In Wednesdays, where you can walk in, interview with a supervisor, and walk out with a tailored job offer. Internal mobility isn’t an afterthought but a first step.
• Plexus Corp brings purpose to employee life through custom volunteer programs and matching donations—ensuring that giving back is built into the rhythm of work.
• Zeigler Automotive’s digital learning platform, over 4,000 videos strong, ensures skills and personal aspirations grow together—work and life, in sync.
• Marsh McLennan Agency sets the bar for work-life blend: flexible schedules, trust-driven time-off, paid parental leave, and on-site wellness create a workplace for “life without limits.”
• Wheels proves strategy works best when HR is integrated from the start. Every employee’s rewards are tied to what truly moves the company—and customer—forward.

Beyond the Awards: What Every Leader Can Take Away

Throughout panel discussions, local CEOs revealed the less-visible side of these successes:

• Change is constant, but the best navigate it with reciprocal communication and authentic care.
• Shared leadership means recognizing when to listen—and when to act decisively for the good of both business and people.
• Empowering employees is not just a metric; it’s the core of a resilient, innovative workplace.

As Nicole Martin of HRBoost said, “They really look for that reciprocity before they make a decision.” The two-way street of trust and feedback defines not just employee experience, but the health and agility of the whole organization.

Turning Inspiration Into Action: An Action Plan for Leaders

How can any organization start on this journey or level up their current practices?
Here’s a roadmap, built from the Best & Brightest playbook:

1. Reimagine Feedback Channels:

• Move beyond surveys. Launch listening groups, empower “culture committees,” and actually report—and act on—employee voices.

2. Make Recognition Relentless:

• • Move thank-yous to the center stage. Use online peer-to-peer platforms, regular shout-out events, and real-time praise.

3. Integrate HR Into Strategy:

• • Give HR a key seat at the table for business planning, not just policy maintenance—then report strategic outcomes back to all employees.

4. Prioritize Inclusion & Wellbeing:

• • Build measurable, open-to-all programs for DEI, wellness, and work-life blend. Offer resources for mental, physical, and financial health, and make support visible.

5. Innovate Recruitment & Growth:

• • Explore creative hiring (walk-in days, instant interviews) and prioritize employee mobility—move your best people up, not out.

6. Develop for Life, Not Just Work:

• • Invest in employee education portals, personal development opportunities, and provide flexibility for learning in and out of the workplace.

7. Power Up Communication:

• • Use digital tools and town halls to connect every level, every role, and make the company vision relatable—a beacon, not a poster on the wall.

Final Thoughts: Building the Future, Together

The Best & Brightest Companies of 2025 aren’t just names on a list—they’re stories of people-first innovation, resilient cultures, and leadership that listens, learns, and evolves. This event proves one truth: sustainable success is built on clarity, compassion, courage, and community.

By blending strategy, story, and action, any organization can take inspiration from Chicago’s champions to cultivate workplaces where everyone—at every level—can thrive.