25 organizations awarded for democratic workplace practices
Release of WorldBlu List coincides with Democracy in the Workplace Day
Thursday April 24, 2008 -- Jason Thompson
In recognition of a commitment to workplace democracy, 25 companies have been named to the second annual WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces.

The list is part of an international competition organized by WorldBlu Inc., an Atlanta-based company specializing in organizational democracy.

To be eligible for inclusion on the list, organizations are asked to have their employees complete the WorldBlu Democratic Workplace Scorecard — a survey tool developed by WorldBlu and based on years of research into what constitutes a democratic workplace.

The scorecard asks employees to rate their organization’s implementation of 10 democratic principles such as decentralization, accountability, transparency, integrity and choice at a leadership, individual and systemic level.

Organizations scoring at least three-and-a-half out of five on the survey are included on the WorldBlu List, which was released April 24 to coincide with Democracy in the Workplace Day.

“The WorldBlu List seeks to shine a spotlight on the companies pioneering the next generation of business,” Traci Fenton, WorldBlu CEO, said in a news release.

“The ego-driven, command and control business model is officially dead. WorldBlu List companies represent the future of work.”

With combined annual revenue of nearly $8 billion, the WorldBlu winners represent for-profit and non-profit organization in the technology, communications, healthcare, media, manufacturing and retail sectors in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and Malaysia.

WorldBlu is also declaring April 24 Democracy in the Workplace Day and invites individuals and organizations to examine how they could advance democratic principles in their own workplaces.

According to WorldBlu, there is a growing global movement towards creating workplaces that engage employees and give them a voice and a stake in the outcome of their work.

“We believe great value, as well as a community will emerge from shining a spotlight on organizations choosing freedom rather than fear, peer-to-peer relationships rather than paternalistic platitudes and engagement rather than estrangement as their way of getting work done,” states the WorldBlu website.

In alphabetical order, the 25 companies named to the 2008 WorldBlu List are (companies listed in bold maintained their place on the list for the second consecutive year):

1. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? – Vancouver, Canada
2. AIESEC International – Rotterdam, Netherlands
3. Axiom News – Peterborough, Canada
4. BetterWorld Telecom – Reston, Virginia
5. Beyond Borders – Norristown, Pennsylvania
6. BzzAgent – Boston, Massachusetts
7. Continuum – West Newton, Massachusetts
8. DaVita – El Segundo, California
9. DreamHost – Los Angeles, California
10. Equal Exchange – West Bridgewater, Massachusetts
11. FBS Data Systems – Fargo, North Dakota
12. Great Harvest Bread Company – Dillon, Montana
13. Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products, Inc. – Sebastolpol, California
14. Innovation Partners International – Portland, Maine
15. King Arthur Flour – Norwich, Vermont
16. La Siembra – Ottawa, Canada
17. Linden Lab – San Francisco, California
18. MindValley – Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia
19. Motek – Beverly Hills, California
20. Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – New York City, New York
21. Pandora – Oakland, California
22. Sweetriot – New York City, New York
23. TakingITGlobal – Toronto, Canada
24. Tracer Corporation – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
25. Zimbio – Redwood City, California

For more information on organizational democracy and the WorldBlu List, visit www.worldblu.com.

If you’ve got a story about democracy in the workplace you would like to share, contact the newsroom at (800) 294-0051, ext. 25 or via e-mail at jason(at)axiomnews.ca.