The top priority at Strategic Financial Services is employee engagement.

“My No. 1 job is building an engaged team. It’s the best thing you can do for your clients and your success,” said CEO Alan Leist, III.

The firm uses the Entrepreneurial Operating System to develop organizational vision, execution and leadership. One of its tools is an employee engagement survey that includes questions such as “Do you fully understand the vision?” and “Do you feel all the right people are in the right seats?” Also contributing to engagement is the company’s commitment to the principle of “Family First.” This is supported by its “intraday personal time off” policy, which allows people to leave during the workday to attend to personal business. The idea is to enable employees to integrate their personal lives with their work lives.

“The people who decided to work here have made one of the biggest commitments of their lives, like marriage or where to live. Because of that, we want to make them feel respected,” Leist said.