Voting opens for Best Places to Work in the Advanced Bioeconomy 2020

Out of thousands of eligible organizations, who will make the Best Places to Work – who will get your vote? Expanded voting options via Twitter – special Photo voting

In Florida, The Digest announced the official opening of voting for the Best Places to Work in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

Voting Rules

Voting is open to all registered subscribers of The Digest and invited selectors; this year, votes may also be cast via Photo Voting.

This year, votes will be weighted as follows: 30 percent based on votes received from the invited Panel of Selectors; 60 percent based on votes received from registered subscribers of The Digest, and 10 percent based on Photo Votes.

Organizational eligibility

Any organization engaged in the advanced bioeconomy as a producer, R&D institution, lab, supplier, grower, distributor, investor or partner is eligible for the Best Places to Work. Academic or teaching institutions are not eligible in this survey.

Voting period

Voting will begin January 16, 2020 and continue through March 16, 2020 at 5pm ET.

Announcement of Best Places to Work results at ABLC 2020 in Washington, DC – March 26, 2020

Best Places to Work rankings will be announced at ABLC in Washington DC on March 26, 2020 at 6pm ET, and we will honor the organizations, their suppliers, industrial partners, investors and team at the annual Hot Party in Washington DC.

Selector balloting

Selectors will receive their official Best Places to Work from The Digest during the week of February 18, 2018 and must return them via email no later than 5pm ET, Monday, March 16, 2020.

Subscriber balloting

For the Best Places, subscribers will receive a link to their official ballot in each e-mail newsletter issue of The Digest published between January 16, 2020 through March 16, 2020.

Photo Voting

This year, you may submit Photo votes in support of your candidate organization. Each Photo Vote should be submitted between January 16, 2020 through March 16, 2020.
to [email protected].

Photo Votes will be distributed on the Digest’s Twitter and LinkedIn networks (subject to review for taste and originality) and each Like for each photo vote counts for 1 additional vote in the Best Places.

The photo must be an original creative work — substantially created for the competition — and must contain the name of the company you are voting for and the words “Best Place to Work”. Repetitive photos (e.g. a photo of every employee in the company, holding a “Best Place to Work” sign), will not be counted.  The Digest retains the right to reject any photo on the grounds of lack of originality — e.g. repetitive photos for the same organization, images that are from the public domain simply with a “Best Places” inserted. Images from the public domain can be used if they are used as a springboard for an original creative effort representing an original idea.

PhotoVotes are unlimited in number, and can come from one person — if you submit ballot vote, you can still submit PhotoVotes.

Special bonus votes for Photo Voting

The most original PhotoVote of the Week will count for 30 votes — the Digest will determine the number of awards given each week, based on the flow and quality of submissions.

Write-in votes

All organizations that registered for the Best Places are included in the Official Ballot, but if there is a deserving organization that did not register for the Official Ballot, voters are welcome to cast a write-in vote for that company.

Voting criteria

Voters may judge for themselves what makes an organization a “best Place to Work”.

In our view, we believe that “Best” represents an ideal blend of mission importance and positiveness. Organizations that have important missions but are not positive work environments are not Best Places. Likewise, organizations that have positive work environments but have unimportant missions may be nice places, but not Best Places. Best is not the same as “nicest”, “most popular” or have the “Best perks for staff” or “highest pay”. You can decide in your own mind what constitutes a “positive work environment” as you weigh compensation, working conditions, policies, openness, opportunity for advancement or other factors that are, in your own view, the important ones. The Rankings are neither intended to be a popularity contest nor a compensation value rating system.

Prohibited voting practices

Voters may not attempt to spam the ballot box through deceptive practices, nor may competing organizations organize spam balloting efforts. The Digest reserves the right to reject any ballot it deems to be the product of a spamming campaign — or to cancel all ballots from that voter, or remove an organization from the competition — and such a determination will be made in the Digest’s sole discretion, and its decision is final.

Prohibited voting practices include but are not limited to: creating multiple digital accounts in order to submit multiple ballots; using faked or borrowed digital accounts to submit multiple ballots in violation of daily ballot restrictions; or encouraging potential voters to create, borrow to otherwise use multiple digital accounts in order to submit multiple ballots.

In general, any practice designed to prevent a fair ballot is prohibited, and may result in the suspension of an organization from the Best Places or the cancellation of any and all ballots which the Digest, in its sole discretion, deems to be tainted.

Permitted voting practices

Companies, labs, institutes or individuals may exhort colleagues, friends or the general public to vote for a deserving organization – campaigning for the Best Places is not prohibited so long as the voting itself is fair and ethical. Voters are permitted to vote for organizations they are personally, directly or indirectly, affiliated with.