Text 100 International, the largest global independent technology public relations firm in the world, was lauded this week for its Seattle branch. Text 100 Seattle has been named the fourth best company to work for in Washington State in a survey performed by Washington CEO Magazine.

Text 100 topped the small companies category (under 100 employees) surpassing more than 100 organizations including four competing public relations firms.

The magazine's annual survey ranks employers on a range of criteria including quality of work environment, rewards and recognition, employee benefits and career development. This year, 104 companies, representing 12,500 employees, participated, with human capital consulting firm Watson Wyatt & Company supervising the collection of anonymous employee surveys.

"Text 100 considers this recognition an honor and we view it as an indication that we are on the right track in our development of employee-centric work/life balance, training, benefit programs and policies," says Deb Hagen, vp and general manager of Text 100 Seattle.

Text 100 Seattle opened in 1995 as the first of seven US locations for the company, which was founded in 1981 in London. A year later, it landed the account for Microsoft in the UK, which it still retains today.

The award is particularly gratifying for Tim Dyson, who opened the Seattle branch and is now CEO of Text 100's parent company, the OneMonday Group. According to Dyson, Text 100 has always tried to treat its US employees much like those in the UK, where vacations are longer and holidays more plentiful.

"Some of the Americans didn't get it originally," quips Dyson, "and we still have trouble getting people to take all the time they're entitled to."

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