Find Your New Happy Place: WalletHub Releases 2019 “Happiest Cities In America” List
Some travel healthcare professionals already know that where a job is located can have a big impact on how much they enjoy working there. It can be difficult, though, to narrow down which city they will enjoy working in the most. A new list released by WalletHub, a personal finance education website, could help with that issue. WalletHub released the 2019 rankings for their annual “Happiest Cities In America” study Monday, which evaluated 182 of the largest U.S. cities based on 31 indicators of happiness, like the depression rate, income-growth rate and average leisure time spent per day, according to their website. Those key factors were combined into three main categories—”Emotional and Physical Well-Being,” “Income and Employment,” and “Community and Environment,” which produced a composite score for each city. While not all of the indicators listed in the study affect travelers directly—like the rate of separations and divorces in each city—others have a more direct impact, including ideal weather, crime rate, access to parks and open spaces, commute time, and illness and disability rates. The top 10 happiest cities in America, based on WalletHub’s rankings, are: Plano, Texas Irvine, California Madison, Wisconsin Fremont, California Huntington Beach, California Fargo, North Dakota Grand Prarie, Texas San Jose, California Scottsdale, Arizona San Francisco, California Among the top 10, Fremont received the highest rank for “Community and Environment” and San Jose for “Emotional and Physical Well-Being.” Seattle, Washington, which ranked overall at No. 54, received the highest ranking in the “Income and Employment” category. The results are intriguing, but should not be used as the ultimate solution to fixing the blues, experts say. Most studies suggest that finding and fostering happiness is less about a location and more about how people engage with their jobs, their communities and the experiences they choose to have. Travelers can view the full results of the analysis on the WalletHub website.
SIA Announces 2019 ‘Best Staffing Firms To Work For’ List
Staffing Industry Analysts announced the winners of their 2019 ‘Best Staffing Firms To Work For’ Wednesday at their 28th annual Executive Forum North America in Austin, Texas, according to a company press release. Among the categories–which were split into eight sections based on company size, types of staffing and geographic location–four U.S. travel healthcare staffing firms took home Grand Prize honors, which are awarded to firms that score the highest in each category. Those four Grand Prize winners from the 2019 Best Staffing Firms To Work For list are: Fusion Medical Staffing (Firms with 201-500 employees) LiquidAgents Healthcare (Firms with 51-200 employees) Health Providers Choice (Firms with 21- 50 employees) Austin Major Group (Firms with 10-20 employees) Each category also had several notable travel healthcare staffing companies that didn’t win a Grand Prize but still placed in the top percentiles of their category, including Atlas Medstaff, Aya Healthcare and Medical Solutions. About 400 staffing agencies participated in the 2019 awards program, which was conducted by SIA in conjunction with Quantum Workplace, according to the press release. Internal employees at each firm were asked to complete a 40-question survey that measured specific quality-of-life and engagement categories, including trust in senior leaders, teamwork, manager effectiveness and more. Staffing firms are not charged for their participation in the awards program and must have a minimum number of employees participate based on their size to ensure statistically sound results, according to the press release. “Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Best Staffing Firm to Work For Awards,” Barry Asin, president of SIA said in a press release. “These high-performing companies stand out for their quality of leadership and as organizations that prioritize culture and employee engagement. There is a strong correlation between employee engagement and growth. These firms have made that connection and use it to excel in their business and drive outstanding results.” Readers can view the full list of winners and top-placing staffing firms here.