Forcht Bank named one of KY’s ‘Best Places to Work’

Forcht Bank has been rated by its employees as one of the “Best Places to Work” in Kentucky in recent rankings released by the Kentucky Society for Human Resource Management and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

The award is part of the 11th Annual “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” Program Kentucky Career Center and the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES). Forcht Bank was named one of the Best Places to Work in Kentucky in the medium-sized employer category, which includes companies employing 150-499 U.S. employees.

“For any company, our success and future success is going to come from our employees,” said Tucker Ballinger, President of Forcht Bank. “When our employees tell us we have a good company and they feel good working for us, that’s when you win.”
Forcht Bank operates 30 branches in 12 different community markets in Kentucky. It is the first time it has been nominated for the award. A total of 36 companies were selected as winners in the medium-sized employer category.

The rankings for all companies taking part in the program will be announced during a banquet at Heritage Hall in Lexington on April 14. A magazine will also be produced and distributed statewide recognizing the winners and their final rankings.

“We are extremely excited about this,” Ballinger said. “We look at it as a great recruiting tool. We can use this to hire great people and, at the end of the day, it is all about hiring and retaining great people to beat your competition.”

Forcht Bank employs just under 300 employees.

Ballinger said the bank donated roughly $1.3 million to charity events and for sponsorships in the markets in which it operates in 2014. He said employees have volunteered innumerable hours participating in activities to help “make their communities better.”

“First and foremost, we care about the community markets we serve and are deeply committed to making those markets better by donating our time and talent,” Ballinger said.

Rankings in the program are based on an internal “Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Survey” that asks employees 78 questions about their company and workplace. Ballinger said he felt as though Forcht Bank employees responded generally positive to the survey because the company encourages their input.

“I think we listen to them,” Ballinger said. “While we can’t always do everything that’s suggested, we make sure they have a voice and let them know that they are heard.”

Winners from across the state are selected for the Best Places to Work in Kentucky program in three categories: small companies of 15-149 employees, medium companies of 150-499 employees and large companies consisting of more than 500 employees (categories based on number of U.S. employees, only Kentucky employees surveyed). The selection process is managed by Best Companies Group. The competition is a multi-year initiative designed to motivate companies in th Commonwealth to focus, measure and move their workplace environments toward excellence. Numerous studies show a strong correlation between profitability and creating a good place to work. The Best Places to Work in Kentucky initiative is based on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” list.