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March 4, 2019 BEST PLACES TO WORK IN CONNECTICUT 2019

Nicola | Yester perks add up for employees at Glastonbury accounting firm

Nicola | Yester hosted a team-building activity that included kayaking out to an island.
By John Stearns

Ranked 2nd: Small/Medium Cos.

Nicola | Yester

Headquarters: Glastonbury

Industry: Accounting

Website: www.nicola-yester.com

Top executive: Steven Prigionieri, Managing Partner

Fridays off in July and August, tax-season fuel that includes free lunches every Friday and free dinners twice weekly, a kitchen stocked with healthy snacks, Fitbits at Christmas, flex time and work-from-home options — they're among perks Glastonbury accounting firm Nicola, Yester & Co. PC offers its 23 employees.

Nicola | Yester this year sweetened its summer Fridays benefit when, instead of continuing early out Friday afternoons between Memorial and Labor days, it will give each Friday off in July and August, totaling about 1.5 days of extra time off.

“They get paid for the Fridays and they don't have to come in,” said Tessa Jordan, one of the firm's partners.

It's among elements contributing to an atmosphere that has evolved significantly over the decades, said Laura Steiner, firm administrator and 32-year employee.

“We just incorporated so many benefits for employees and so many good things, as far as health and fun stuff to do and kind of de-stressing the office during tax season,” she said.

Office Olympics, for example, help lighten the mood. The 2019 games kicked off with a paper-plate toss onto plates numbered one to five, with participants awarded points based on landings. Enthusiasm runs high in such events, Steiner said.

“It's just simple things like that everybody has a lot of fun doing,” Steiner said.

Or, stress-breakers might include a chair massage, in-office yoga, half-hour walks on company time, or taking time out for a puzzle or game in the office kitchen. The firm also plans fun team-building events each year. A past event: rowing in the Connecticut River dragon boat race.

The company also has a quarterly innovation lab to get employee ideas on everything from an office-kitchen renovation to helping the firm meet strategic goals, with gift cards awarded for ideas implemented.

“Everybody loves that their opinion matters and everyone loves to see their ideas implemented,” Jordan said.

Other perks: The firm offers bonuses to all employees after tax season. This year, it also increased its minimum vacation time to four weeks.

Nicola | Yester also focuses on professional development tailored to employees' individual needs.

Staff have in-firm mentors for monthly check-ins and quarterly GPS (grow, perform, succeed) meetings to examine personal goals and how the firm can help their careers.

Related to that, the firm at annual reviews has begun asking employees to do a “keep, start, stop” — what the employee feels he/she should keep doing, start doing and stop doing.

The three questions are also asked about the firm, providing good feedback on what it offers that employees like or don't like, Jordan said.

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