Recently, Monetate was thrilled to learn that we have been honored with two prestigious awards:

The Philadelphia 100—a program sponsored by The Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Business Journal, and the Wharton SBDC, which recognizes the fastest growing, privately held companies in the Philadelphia area.

Best Places to Work in PA—an award that ranks and celebrates the 100 Best Employers in Pennsylvania.

While one is a revenue and growth achievement and the other pays tribute to companies that cultivate a fulfilled and challenged workforce, being notified of these awards within a period of days of each other made us consider the inextricable, direct link between valuing your people and growing your business.

The Philly 100, for short, is based on hard data. Monetate is growing rapidly; we know this. We have a solid vision and mission for helping online marketers fulfill the promise of the early days of the web and leave the one-size-fits-all web experience behind. As consumers increasingly demand personal website experiences, we’re achieving great momentum as we bring on customers from the travel, retail, financial, and publishing sectors.

But a killer product and vision are not enough to keep a company moving “up and to the right.” People, of course, are a company’s most valuable resource. But if getting the right people to help realize a corporate mission is one thing, keeping them on board—and happy—is something else entirely.

As part of the Best Places to Work award process, Monetate’s employees were asked to fill out a survey about their experience working here. And more than 80% of us voluntarily participated, an overwhelming turnout. We touted the perks of Monetate, including the free catered lunches daily; the availability of ping-pong, foosball, and other de-stress activities; the free massages during the amped-up holiday season. But the two recurring themes that emerged were trust and innovation.

Monetate employees value the level of trust management has placed in them. Citing the company’s vacation “un-policy” (you go when you want to go) as a proof point, we have an authentic appreciation for the fact that management trusts us to handle our own workloads—and schedule our own downtime.

Then there’s innovation. Beyond Hack Days, Monetate fosters a culture of innovation by empowering all of its employees, no matter what their role or department, to be innovative.  Great ideas are welcomed and tested. Collaboration is built into every aspect of the business, from online social tools to the open floor plan. Monetate was built on a culture of creativity, and all of us who work here—as well as our customers—recognize and appreciate it.

We’re not trying to toot our our horn too loudly here (well, maybe a little bit!), but we see these two awards as complements: A valued workforce is productive, and drives the great customer relationships at the core of our success as a business.

Marifran Manzo-Ritchie is the Director of Corporate Communications at Monetate. She has over 12 years of experience in helping companies create and share the messages that resonate with their target markets. In a previous life, Marifran worked as a radio news writer, producer, and occasional on-air talent. She is always trying to learn the Italian language and the piano.