It’s lunchtime at the Jobot House, which opened early this year on the shores of Lower Newport Bay to act as headquarters for the fast-growing staffing firm.

Four Jobot employees step out the back door of the modern, three-story building and jump on a waiting Jaxi — the company name for two Duffy boats that ferry workers across the bay to dine at one of Lido Marina Village’s half-dozen eateries.

A few more employees sit on swings suspended from the ceiling around a large wooden table. Another grabs a refill from the Jobot Java station, which offers kombucha and Stumptown cold brew on tap.

Circulating between them in a smart blazer and sneakers is Heidi Golledge, who founded Jobot in 2018. Conversations don’t stop and backs don’t straighten, as they do in many offices when the CEO pops by for a chat on a random Thursday morning. Instead, employees appear genuinely happy to see their boss, who many mentioned by name in comments that helped propel Jobot to a first-place Top Workplaces win for the second year in a row.

“Heidi leads with a culture of kindness,” one worker said. Others mentioned feeling “valued” and “trusted,” with an exceptional work/life balance that comes from policies such as having every other Friday off and a ban on work messages after hours.

“I have the ability to change people’s lives for the better,” wrote one employee, “and I’m rewarded better than I could ever imagine by this company for doing it!”

Jobot is the third company Golledge has founded, after CyberCoders and CareerBliss. She said she saw an opportunity with Jobot to make waves in the staffing industry on two fronts.

First, she paired proprietary artificial intelligence with experienced recruiters to help match job seekers with employers. She said the efficiency the technology brings allows her to cut overhead costs without sacrificing quality, as she aims to bring a “Four Seasons” experience to the job search world.

Second, she strives to base everything around “treating people with kindness and respect.” That means all employees make at least $70,000 and they don’t compete against each other for bonuses. Rewards include free trips to a private island in Hawaii available to any of their nearly 700 employees who meet individual targets. During quarterly reviews, workers also score their managers on qualities such as “servant leadership.”

Other perks include college funds for all employees’ kids, remote work stipends, monthly family movie nights and a rotation of chefs who cook lunch every Monday.

They have workers now spread across 43 states, who can earn quarterly free trips to visit Jobot House. Golledge loves the freedom remote working allows, both for employees and for company growth. But she also sees the benefit in having staff come together to build community and so younger workers can “learn by listening.”

She said perks like Chef Mondays help make Jobot’s nearly 200 workers who are based in Orange County want to come to the office.

To offer such generous compensation, Golledge opted to run the company at a 10% profit, rather than the 32% profit set for her previous company. But she said waste is so low and productivity and growth so high that she believes profits are on par with the largest recruiting firms in the world.

And while other companies struggle with “quiet quitting” or filling openings, Golledge said they have extremely low turnover and get about 1,000 applications for every six positions.

Q: Can you pinpoint a couple reasons so many businesses are having trouble filling positions or keeping people around?

A: I think a big component is this mindset of companies feeling like these people are very lucky to have a job. They treat people like ‘you’re so lucky to be here’ instead of for us, we see it as a partnership. … Companies that have this real ingrained mutual respect in their culture do a lot better. I feel like there’s just antiquated treatment of even knowledge workers as if they’re factory workers, as if they’re easily replaceable as if they’re not unique human beings. And so we try to figure out what everybody’s ‘why’ is. What makes them get up in the morning, what makes them focus? And then we help them get the best results.

Q: A lot of companies seem to fear that if they offer the freedoms you do, such as every other Friday off or no work messages after hours, productivity will drop. How do you make sure that doesn’t happen?

A: It’s an interesting thing. When people realize, if I work really hard, at 6 o’clock, that’s it, I’m out, I feel like then they do more during the day because they feel like it’s worth it. … Imagine if you watched a professional football game that went on for 12 hours. Those athletes are going to burn out. They can’t give it everything they’ve got for 12 hours. So I’d much rather that you give your best for eight hours. … Of course, we have to hire people who are really good. Then we do everything we can with software and tools and culture to make conditions the best they can possibly be. But we also need to have a reasonable expectation of output.

Q: What’s your top piece of advice for a business leader who wants to see their workplace on this list in the future?

A: Probably the biggest thing is a focus on empathy, actually putting yourself in the shoes of the employees themselves and their families and everything that they go through. And I think if you come from a place of empathy, it’ll help you make decisions that are both right for the employees but also the business. … There’s definitely a world where both can be true.

No. 1 mid-size company

Jobot

Founded: 2018

Headquarters: Newport Beach

Industry: staffing

OC employees: 187

Website: jobot.com/

Quote: “We try to figure out what everybody’s ‘why’ is. What makes them get up in the morning, what makes them focus? And then we help them get the best results.” Heidi Golledge, CEO and founder of Jobot