Three local businesses were honored last month as Best Places to Work in Southeast Minnesota by Workforce Development Inc.

Cooperative Response Center Inc. and CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, both in Austin, and IBI Data, of Brownsdale, received the award at a banquet on April 25 in Rochester. Overall, 15 local companies were recognized as “best workplaces” in either the small (100 employees or less), mid-size (101–400 employees), or large (over 400 employees) categories.

The recipients of the “Best Places to Work” program were part of a commissioned study by Workforce Development, Inc. Each company that participated in the study completed a 40-question survey that allowed their employment practices to be analyzed by the consulting firm Personnel Dynamics Consulting of Florida. The data measured included such parameters as turnover, rate of growth, promotion rates, employee evaluations and feedback, percentage of employee injuries, diversity of management, benefits offered, training expenditures, paid days off, and increase in pay.