Build-A-Bear Workshop

Our 2018 list of the 100 best companies as ranked by their employees. See which companies made the list.

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

Best Workplaces for Women 2018_Build-A-Bear Workshop

Employee say: 
 
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"Collaboration at all levels makes you feel valued and gives all a voice. Our leaders are approachable and truly listen. The culture here is to learn fast from your mistakes and move forward with solutions. It is a learning environment." 
 
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Read the Great Place to Work review .

100 Best Large Workplaces for Women

We surveyed tens of thousands of young employees to create this list of millennials’ favorite workplaces.

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Employees say: 
 
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"They are always helping their employees better themselves and move up. By my second year I became a manager, thanks to management's guidance and motivation. They also after all kinds of benefits just for working here, no matter what level you are." 
 
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"We, at BAB, are given the opportunity to profoundly affect our customers— even if it's just improving their mood for the day! I've made princess bears for little girls who are in the hospital with cancer. I've made bears with capsules of a grandmother’s ashes for her five distraught grandchildren. I've made bears with a Navy Sergeants voice recorded in the hand to keep his son company while he's overseas. It's beyond rewarding." 
 
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100 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials

Our 2017 list of the 100 best companies as ranked by their employees. See which companies made the list.

Fortune’s annual list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women highlights companies with generous benefits, flexible schedules, and an emphasis on balancing work and life. 

170502_Sharon Price John

Employees say: "Build-a-Bear is a place where you are encouraged to give input. You don't have to hold back on what you see or worry about politics, but, rather, you are asked for input and valued because of it." 
 
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"The company is designed around their employees and has great resources to help each one succeed. With flexible scheduling, scholarship opportunities, and great management, Build-A-Bear Workshop is like a family unit, helping each one of their stores reach its highest potential." Read the .

best workplaces for millennials 2017 Build a Bear

Employees say: 
 
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"The most amazing thing about working at Build-A-Bear is the customers. It is so touching to know that what we do impacts their lives. I helped a grandmother memorialize her granddaughter by putting a recording of her heartbeat inside [a toy bear]. At the end of the experience, the grandmother gave me a huge hug and thanked me for making it so special. This is just one of many stories." 
 
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"When I began working here, I felt an immediate sense of acceptance, which I have never felt anywhere else. We are all truly a team and a family and that's a rare thing to find in our business. Everyone is so supportive of each other and it's a very safe feeling; even our mistakes are accepted, and we all help each other to improve. It's just plain fun and I always look forward to coming in." 
 
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Google/Alphabet is the No. 1 place to work for the seventh time in 10 years. Six newcomers include Veterans United at No. 30, Hilton Hotels at No. 56, and Slalom Consulting at No. 100. IKEA’s U.S. arm returns to the list, along with GoDaddy and Sheetz.

Fortune’s second annual list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women highlights companies with generous benefits, flexible schedules, and an emphasis on balancing work and life. 

100 best workplaces for women 2016- build a bear

Employees say: 
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"Build-A-Bear workshop has helped me grow as a person. I was taught how to talk to people and really be myself. Working here reminds me how something like a teddy bear can make a kid happy, and that gives me an amazing feeling when I come to work. I have made some great friends. This is definitely a second home." 
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"There is such a sense of family here, throughout the entire company. I have never worked someplace where even members of corporate know you, and interact with you and are super friendly. This is without a doubt the best company I have ever worked for. I can't imagine doing anything else." 
 
Read the Great Place to Work review .

The second annual ranking of the best employers for workers 35 and under.

best workplaces for millennials 2016- Build a Bear

"Build-A-Bear Workshop is so unique, because this is the only job I've had that truly treats you like family. They always do special things to make us feel appreciated and respected. For example, every Christmas they give us a special animal that is unavailable to the public. Also, one time a girl from another location lost her home and her nephew in the most terrible fire, we all came together as a team and raised money to help get them back on their feet. It's such a great feeling to know your job truly cares about you," says one millennial employee. 
 
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"Working in many retail environments, I feel like opinions are always at least listened to here at Build-a-Bear. No one is too small to have a valued opinion," explains another millennial. 
 
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Read the .

This year’s list marks Fortune's 18th year of partnering with Great Place to Work. Google ranks No.1 for the sixth time, and 16 new companies make impressive debuts, including Acuity (No. 3), Twitter (No. 24), and Riot Games (No. 13).

The inaugural list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women from our partners at Great Place to Work includes the wealth management firm TrueWealth at No.1, hospital system Texas Health Resources (No. 3), and Build-A-Bear Workshop (No. 10). Rankings were determined by employee surveys and the representation of women within the organizations.

BEST COMPANIES 2015  Build-a-bear

Led by CEO Sharon Price John, the DIY stuffed animal retailer is 87% staffed by women, who hold 74% of manager positions. Many cite the company's training, fair pay, and personally challenging work environment as reasons for calling it a great workplace. In the past year it held an International Day of Party Training for employees to share ideas for celebrations. "I love that they offer convenient services such as on-the-spot oil changes, massages, and yoga at the office," says one employee at its St. Louis headquarters. 

The inaugural list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials from our partners at Great Place to Work includes surprising newcomer Power Home Remodeling, making an impressive debut at No. 1. Other standouts include Chili’s Grill and Bar (no. 11), Elevation Church (No. 34), and Yelp (No. 41).

Build-A-Bear isn’t just a great place to take children who want to make their own stuffed animal: it’s a fun place to work. Employees enjoy birthdays off and a line-up of team events with names like Atta Bear and Wowidays. Employes at the Columbus-based bearquarters can take their dogs to work, where the canines enjoy discounted grooming and day care. Even though most employees are spread out across almost 250 locations, 90 of them all report that their workplace is fun and cooperative. Unlike many workplaces, where only a minority takes advantage of flexible work hours, a full 95 percent of Build-A-Bear employees report using compressed workweek and flexible scheduling options. <a style="color:#ec412e;" href="http://us.greatrated.com/build-a-bear-workshop" target="_blank">Read the Great Place to Work review.</a>

Google tops the list once again, marking its eighth appearance and fifth time as No. 1.

Perks

100% health coverage

Unlimited sick days

Telecommuting

Job sharing

Subsidized childcare

Compressed work weeks

Fully-paid sabbaticals

On-site fitness/subsidized gym

On-site medical care facility

Non-discrimination policy includes sexual orientation

Health insurance for part-timers

Sick days for part-timers

College tuition reimbursement

Student loan debt repayment

Medical facility at all locations

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# Sick days for part-timers

Compensation

Most common job (for salaried employee)

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Total pay for most common job (salaried)

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Avg. # of applicants per opening

FT voluntary turnover

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Jobs filled by referral

Company Info

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Worldwide Employees

Total Worldwide [including U.S.] Revenue in the Latest Fiscal Year

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Best Companies

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Millennials In The Organization

# of millennial employees

Millennials as % of total workforce

Women In The Organization

% of Women in Management (non-Executive)

% of Women in Executive/Manager Positions

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Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

Sharon Price John has led Build-A-Bear to new heights—and her journey to the C-suite started serving people burgers at a Fortune 500 fast-food chain. 

How Build-A-Bear’s CEO engineered a multi-million dollar turnaround

Sharon Price John is the CEO of Build-A-Bear.

Features

Build-A-Bear's CEO helped bring the brand to new heights—Sharon Price John and her journey to the C-suite started as a teenager working at a local McDonald’s.

How Build-A-Bear’s CEO engineered a multi-million dollar turnaround


There's a lesson in there about how beneficial it is sometimes to not know your odds. When you don't know that your odds are ridiculously impossible, you believe in the possibility and with that very belief, you actually tip your odds in your own favor. Sometimes I You know, you have to look at the facts of the matter, but don't let facts overtake your dream. Somebody out there is going to get it done. Why not you? Hello, I'm Sharon Price John, the president and CEO of Build A Bear Workshop, and this is my secret to success. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee south of Nashville, about 7000 people. My dad worked for South Central Bell, AT&T, and then he eventually worked. NASA. He was in communications there at NASA, and my mom was a church secretary. I worked at McDonald's. I worked at a florist in my hometown. In college, I had some, you know, summer jobs as well as waitressing and random jobs like you do in a small town. I went to undergrad at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. My first professional job was in a big furniture store as the head of marketing and merchandizing. I was Reporting to the president of this company, and it was a fascinating experience. So that was really fun and I then went to an ad agency in Knoxville after that at the University of Tennessee, the ad club had already been to New York during my senior year, and we visited some of the top 10 agencies, and I definitely wanted to go back and I put together a crazy plan that I was going to use my one week. Vacation, fly to Manhattan, set up all of these interviews. I had this vision that I could get a job at a top 10 ad agency in one week. This was my goal, and I set up 15 interviews, 3 per day in Manhattan. I thought that should be fine. I ended up with a 16th interview on that Friday, and they said, Well, we love you, you know, we. I think this is great. We'd like you to join our training program. We'll get back to you. And I'm like, why can't we just, why can't you just offer me the job right now? And she literally offered me the job right at that moment, and I got my job in a top 10 New York advertising agent, global agency in one week. So from the New York ad agency, I ended up working at another major agency where a gentleman on my on the client side, he recommended that I get my MBA and he. Talked me into applying to Columbia and it took a lot for me to convince myself that was a possible dream. I got in on the last of the last round and off I go to Columbia for my master's in business. I didn't want to do what most MBAs from Columbia do, which is venture capitalism or private equity or investment banking or management consulting, so I sought out brands and businesses that were really inspiring and. Special to me and so I initiated the interview and the opportunity with 5 different companies, one of which was Mattel, mostly because I loved Barbie. I did get the job at Mattel, but not without a few tries. I ran Barbie Fashions, which was awesome. Mattel was a fabulous experience, learned so much about brand, brand management, brand building, the toy industry. I also had gotten married in the meantime. And was about to have my first child. And so I left Mattel and my husband and I moved to Chicago and then went to work at VTech Toys. Then I ended up starting my own entrepreneurial company by buying another fashion doll. It was the number one selling fashion doll was in 1970s. My next large company was Hasbro. From Hasbro, I went to Stride Ri Children's Group. I was recruited there to be the president of the division of to turn around the retail. Business. It's a children's footwear company, and I had not had any experience doing that, but we turned that around, returned the company to profitability on both the wholesale and the retail side that in so many ways made me a pretty viable candidate for the CEO of Build A Bear because the founder, Maxine Clark was ready to retire at that point. I understood the toy industry, the sourcing industry, everything along those lines. It was a difficult turnaround. There was financially. Struggling, the company had lost $49 million the year before I got there. They had been working very hard to return the company to profitability after eight years of contraction by getting back to what they had done when they were so successful, but the world had changed in 2008, 2009, 2010 leading up to me coming in in 2013, and there really wasn't a going back. And I think that when I got there there was also A lot of fear that I would somehow sort of theoretically rip the heart out of a company that was full of so much heart to return to success. And so this was an interesting type of turnaround where I had to be extremely respectful as well as I should be as what had been accomplished and assure the organization that I believed that we could be successful while keeping the heart and the culture of build a bear and we laid out a strategy. that was about monetizing the extraordinary equity that was in this brand. The company literally had built something that started as a vertical retailer in malls for kids that almost didn't realize what a powerful emotional memorable experience, particularly that heart ceremony was, and that all of that equity was still just packed in this brand and I wanted to pivot the organization. And it start with the return to profitability before we started growing the revenue line which took multiple areas and bringing in new leadership, new organizational structure, a new IT infrastructure across the organization to be able to do this. We popped out with a great team and a great strategy, not just thriving but surviving, and we're now. I've had 3 years of record setting results. I think that I am most proud of the fact that the heart of Build A Bear still beats and that we have both believed and proven that you can be a company that adds a little more heart to life and be successful, and I think that the associates at Build A Bear were as surprised maybe the investment community, but there was a lot of you can't be an e-commerce company because you You're an experiential retailer. You can't, you, you'll never be able to appeal to an older consumer. Um, you know, this is a fad that, you know, build a bear is not, there's there's no place for build a bear in today's world. Malls are dying. Um, it's just pretty remarkable how many, uh, how many hurdles can get thrown in your way, and you have to hold fast to your vision and get a team that believes and. Um, and, and, and kind of plowing through that with, with good results is very satisfying.

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