Workplace
100 Best Companies Snapshot: Accolade
Making collaboration and fun mutually beneficial.
By TERESA KENNEY AND JOHN LEVESQUE June 20, 2017
This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of Seattle magazine.
Although health care is serious business, Accolade a health care concierge for employers, health systems and health plans doesnt take itself too seriously. Its not uncommon for product releases and birthdays to be celebrated with mariachi bands or magicians. And once, says Elizabeth Napolitano, Accolades EVP of human resources, the companys engineers hacked into the white noise, replacing it with a livelier playlist. Its our fun way of working together that separates us from other companies, she says.
Accolades benefits include nine weeks of full-paid maternity leave, and, for biological and adoptive parents, nine weeks of fully paid bonding time, available throughout the childs first year. The company also allows biological mothers and adoptive parents to transition back to work part time for four weeks, and, through a partnership with Milk Stork, ships breast milk home when nursing moms are on business trips. To encourage conversation and collaboration, Accolade shuns offices. Everyone from the CEO to summer interns has the same shape and size desk, Napolitano notes. … What strikes people is our most senior leaders are sitting among our team. Youre never too far away from a leader, and theyre never too far away from you.