Best Workplaces 2023
Inc.|May - June 2023
Meet the 591 companies that get it. You know, how employee happiness drives productivity
Best Workplaces 2023

Workplaces How the Best Manage to Give Their People What They Want

Lumin Digital CEO Jeff Chambers took four weeks off in 2022. The 49-year-old founder promises to do better this year: He's booked five weeks in vacation spots from Lake Tahoe to Hawaii. His company, which runs an online banking platform for credit unions and community banks, is heading for another year of 25 percent growth-evidence that his team clearly can function without him. "It's like we have 180 CEOs," he says. "I'm OK with that."

Although Lumin is a five-year-old tech startup whose cloud-based platform and weekly, zero-downtime upgrades give it a competitive advantage over legacy systems, the company actually isn't built around the technology. "We said let's go build a company that can build a better experience for employees and customers," Chambers says. "We can make investors a little less money and employees can have a happy life." For starters, he says, Lumin pays 10 percent above the going rate in its industry. And, young as it is, Lumin recently overhauled its benefits package to dial up the happiness knob another notch with such offerings as employee equity.

Like all the companies that made Inc.'s 2023 Best Workplaces list, Lumin seems to be running against today's tide. Located in San Ramon, California, in Silicon Valley, it sits at the epicenter of the economic temblors that may or may not end in recession: More than 120,000 tech workers have been drop-kicked by companies such as Meta Platforms and Salesforce. And, of course, Lumin was a customer of Silicon Valley Bank and had to do some scrambling to find funding as the nation's 16th-largest bank cratered, jeopardizing financing for Lumin and hundreds of other startups.

This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Inc..

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Inc..

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM INC.View All
7 Ideas : Sheila Johnson
Inc.

7 Ideas : Sheila Johnson

The iconic founder of BET and Salamander Collection draws inspiration from basketball courts and symphony halls.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 2024
What's Eating Steve Ells? What Steve Ells is Eating
Inc.

What's Eating Steve Ells? What Steve Ells is Eating

The founder of Chipotle wants to shake up the restaurant industry again, this time with robot kitchens and plant-based food.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 2024
5 Team Player
Inc.

5 Team Player

How Stephen Curry, the NBA’s greatest shooter ever, assembled an all-star business team that wins on social mission as much as money.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 2024
Regionals BLAZING A TRAIL TO THE INC. 5000
Inc.

Regionals BLAZING A TRAIL TO THE INC. 5000

We're a nation of competitors. Always have been-from the sharp-elbowed scramble for land unleashed by the Homestead Act to the improbable televised spectacle that is the American Cornhole League.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
The Cult of the Entrepreneur and How to Avoid It
Inc.

The Cult of the Entrepreneur and How to Avoid It

Imperious, infallible, and fawned over by employees and customers: Don't fall for it. You can succeed without being an asshole.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 2024
Insta-Worthy RetailEverything, Everywhere, All at Once
Inc.

Insta-Worthy RetailEverything, Everywhere, All at Once

How the designer behind some of today’s buzziest businesses lands in-person experiences that are too good not to gram.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 2024
Sallie Krawcheck
Inc.

Sallie Krawcheck

On battling burnout, insomnia, and the loneliness of being a WFH CEO.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
Airbnb Co-Founder Joe Gebbia Is Betting on a New Wave of Design-Led Startups
Inc.

Airbnb Co-Founder Joe Gebbia Is Betting on a New Wave of Design-Led Startups

The former chief product officer of Airbnb helps set the vision for Veeraj Chugh’s high-end webcam startup, Opal Camera.

time-read
7 mins  |
March 2024
Be Cool. Or Not
Inc.

Be Cool. Or Not

How the creators of one of the most influential brands of the past decade learned that cool is in the eye of the beholder.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
Yes, You Can Break Free of Your Brand
Inc.

Yes, You Can Break Free of Your Brand

People change. Interests evolve. The Cupcake Queen learned that firsthand.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024