Best Friends Animal Society Among 2021 Top Workplaces and CEO Julie Castle Wins Leadership Award
KANAB, Utah (Nov. 3, 2021) – Best Friends Animal Society has been named one of Utah’s Top Workplaces 2021 by the Salt Lake Tribune, with Best Friends CEO Julie Castle receiving the Tribune’s sole 2021 Leadership Award in their large business category. These awards, based on anonymous employee surveys, highlight the uniqueness of Best Friends Animal Society and how Julie Castle is paving the way for other CEOs to create a thriving work environment by putting culture first.
The Salt Lake Tribune’s annual Top Workplaces Award is based exclusively on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by Energage. The survey measured drivers of engaged workplace cultures that are critical to the success of an organization including alignment, execution and connection.
Best Friends, a national animal welfare organization focused on ending the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters by 2025, credits their mission-driven work, emphasis on data and innovation, and a culture rooted in kindness and the Golden Rule as keys to creating an energized work force. Headquartered in Kanab, UT, where Best Friends runs the country’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary, the organization also offers unique benefits to its animal-loving staff such as paid time off for adopting or fostering pets, and the ability to bring dogs, cats—and occasionally even a pig—to meetings.
About 40 percent of Best Friends’ nearly 800 staff work remotely, an opportunity that has been available well before the pandemic made it commonplace. Best Friends also retains staff, with 37 percent having worked there for five years or more, and 16 percent for more than 10 years.
“The most successful companies are leading with their hearts,” said Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle. “Those are the companies that are going to win because they recognize that their most important assets are their employees.
I am so honored to receive this Leadership Award and the Top Workplaces in Utah award on behalf of Best Friends Animal Society. Being named one of the Top Workplaces in our home state is a little extra special because it’s based on feedback from Best Friends’ staff, and as a CEO I can’t think of anything more gratifying than that,” said Castle.
“Fostering a culture of innovation and listening to my team have always been my top priorities and I could not be prouder of our progress in our goal to achieve no-kill by 2025. As an organization we do everything we can to prioritize our staff and provide a safe, inclusive and equitable workplace; to provide a fair wage, great benefits, and time off to recharge. As an organization based on kindness, being one of the best places to work is as important to who we are as saving animal lives.”
About Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is the leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to around 347,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs all across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 3,300 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.