How the Best Workplaces Are Keeping Their Promises...

Earning high marks for company culture is never easy, but it's particularly challenging when the business world is in a near-constant state of upheaval. In the wake of the pandemic, remote work looked like the way of the future, until it wasn't. Hiring sprees turned into firing sprees. DEI goals came under attack. Inflation gave way to trade wars. All of it has turned the American workplace into uncertain terrain, with employees left whipsawing between their employers' ever-shifting priorities.

- by ISSIE LAPOWSKY

In this environment, with change being the only constant, the companies that stand out are those that refuse to waver in their commitments to their people.

For Greg Van Horn and Christine Yaged, co-founders of the digital media firm Launch Potato, navigating that uncertainty meant reassuring employees that their jobs were safe. In 2022, as tech workers were being laid off by the thousands at some of the industry's biggest employers, the co-founders announced during a virtual all-hands meeting that Launch Potato would not be having layoffs. The Delray Beach, Florida-based company, which brings in over $100 million in annual revenue, has kept its no-layoff pledge to this day, even as the industry and the economy have undergone tumultuous swings. That has contributed to lower turnover rates and higher employee confidence scores than the industry average, according to the founders.

...and Reaping the Benefits

At a time of widespread uncertainty and economic headwinds, these founders made good on their commitments to employees. And it paid off.

“We have 150-plus families relying on Launch Potato for job security, and we sincerely take that responsibility to heart,” Van Horn says. “We felt communicating that there were no plans for layoffs and that we would do everything possible to avoid them would help ease concerns, reinforce trust, and remind the team that as an organization, we focus on long-term value.”

Launch Potato is one of 514 companies that earned a spot on Inc.’s 2025 Best Workplaces list. Something this year’s honorees have in common is a determination to keep promises to employees in the face of societal, economic, and even political pressure. They’ve done that not just as a moral imperative—though, in many cases, that drove their decision-making—but also because it’s made their companies stronger, building trust at a time when trust is being steadily eroded.