NRG Energy was one of eight companies
receiving awards at NJBIA’s 2005 Awards for Excellence
Dinner held at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village
on October 18.
“The winners were selected because they are the
best of the best. They have succeeded not only as private
sector companies, but in improving people’s lives
and our communities,” NJBIA President Philip Kirschner
told a crowd of 240 at the event. “The jobs that
NRG has created not only strengthen our economy, but
give people opportunities to build a better life for
themselves and their families.”
In moving its company headquarters from Minneapolis,
Minnesota, to Princeton, NRG Energy, Inc., which operates
a diverse portfolio of power-generating facilities in
the Northeast, South Central and West Coast United States,
not only brought 230 new high-paying jobs to the State,
but created a unique work environment where employees
come first.
The company began with the renovation of its new headquarters.
To create a life-size metaphor for its work philosophy,
the company put no dividing walls and no offices in
its 47,000-square-foot headquarters. Instead, it created
an open, shared workspace where everyone from the CEO
on down works together. The open layout is designed
to foster collaboration and promote informed decision-making.
Only 40 of the 230 new jobs were transferred from Minnesota;
the rest were new jobs that NRG created in New Jersey.
NRG not only offers competitive salaries and benefits
packages, but also caters to its employees—quite
literally. Employees at NRG’s headquarters enjoy
free catered lunches, including hot entrées,
soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts, as well as Starbucks
hot and cold beverages throughout the day.
Since 1984, NJBIA annually has honored a select group
of its members with an Award for Excellence. The Awards
for Excellence winners demonstrate outstanding achievements
in one of four award categories: Environmental Quality,
Outstanding
Employer, Enterprise, and Public Service. All 23,000
NJBIA member companies are eligible to be nominated.
An independent panel of judges reviewed the nominations.
Eighteen members of the Service Corps of Retired Executives
(SCORE) volunteered their time to conduct the judging.
They were joined by four members of NJBIA’s policy
committees: William Baney and Joann Trezza of the Human
Resources Committee, and Tom Eckhoff and John Kinkela
of the Environmental Quality Committee.
Mercadien P.C., Certified Public Accountants of Princeton,
verified the information supplied by the winning applicants.
With more than 23,000 members, NJBIA is the nation’s
largest state-level employer association.
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