Eagle County companies make Outside Magazine’s 2024 list of Best Places to Work
What makes these 2 companies special? The people, the place and the drive to excel
Eagle County Paramedic Services/Courtesy photo
Two Eagle County companies — East West Partners and Eagle County Paramedic Services — made Outside Magazine’s 2024 list of the 50 Best Places to Work.
The list includes companies across the nation in a variety of fields. The main thing they have in common? All provide uniquely beneficial workplaces for their outdoors-minded employees.
Outside Magazine develops its list based on employee surveys, so the ranking is designed to genuinely reflect what it is like to work at each company.
“I’m really fortunate to work with such a great company, and with the people that I work with, and I don’t ever see a world where I’d want to work somewhere else,” said Kevin Murphy, vice president of real estate development for East West Partners’ Vail office.
Both East West Partners and Eagle County Paramedic Services have made Outside Magazine’s list several times before.
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“I applied for this position because we were on the Outside list,” said Michelle Gennett, HR manager for Eagle County Paramedic Services. “It’s a great recruiting tool, for sure, but it speaks the truth. We genuinely are a really great place to work — we’re one of the best.”
East West Partners is one branch of East West Family of Companies, which also includes East West Hospitality — an employer of approximately 1,500 people in Eagle County alone — and Slifer Smith & Frampton, the real estate company.
Eagle County Paramedic Services is the emergency medical services agency and health service district that responds to local 911 calls and provides community paramedicine and inter-facility transfer. Eagle County Paramedic Services’ 100 staff members include trained EMTs, paramedics, community paramedics and an administrative team.
“We really strive to be a community partner, and to really address and support our community and the community’s needs,” Gennett said.
Both Murphy and Gennett referenced the people at their companies as crucial to the workplace environment.
“I think it’s a testament to the folks that we work with,” Murphy said. “One thing that’s really special about East West is most of the folks that come to live here don’t leave.”
“One of the biggest reasons why people like to work here is because they feel like they’re working with some of their best friends,” Gennett said. “A lot of our folks, they work and recreate outside of work with the same people because they do feel that strong camaraderie, strong sense of community, and similar goals and lifestyle.”
Eagle County Paramedic Services is the only health care organization to make Outside Magazine’s list this year.
“People who are interested in EMS as a career typically are people who enjoy being there in someone’s worst moment, that adrenaline when the tones go off, and I think we provide an employment environment that allows you to be really at your best in an EMS organization,” Gennett said.
With a mission to provide world-class health care, Eagle County Paramedic Services attracts people who want to excel at their jobs.
“I think we back that up with the education we provide to our employees,” Gennett said.
More about East West Partners
At East West Partners, the company culture leans into the environments in which its employees work — in Avon, Snowmass, Steamboat Springs, Denver, Charleston, South Carolina, and Deer Valley, Utah.
“There’s a great balance of work hard, play hard which I think is really important, and it really goes a long way for our culture,” Murphy said. “There’s generally excitement around the company, and we work on some of the coolest projects in the high country and in mountain communities.”
East West’s projects in Eagle County include The Westin Riverfront and One Riverfront in Avon, Eagle Ranch in Eagle and the West End project in Edwards.
Sustainability goals are “near and dear to our office,” Murphy said, and all projects going forward and in recent history are all-electric.
“Although it might make the project a little bit more difficult, it’s the right thing to do, and it’s something that we really place an emphasis on in our office,” he said.
According to Outside Magazine’s list, East West Partners boasts unlimited paid time off, a $1,200 annual wellness bonus and regular paid month-long sabbaticals. But one of the company’s greatest perks may be the location of its offices.
“Having our offices here in Avon and being able to hop on the gondola and be at the top of Bachelor Gulch in 15 minutes is pretty awesome,” Murphy said. “During the workday, if we have a chunk of time when I can get out and take a couple runs, or if I can go fish for a couple hours in the summer, it’s really encouraged, and I think that’s a huge benefit to me. Sometimes you need that break in the middle of the day to clear your mind and get outside and come back to the desk with a new perspective, and I think that’s not only encouraged, but valued across the company.”
More about Eagle County Paramedic Services
Eagle County Paramedic Services offers a mix of work schedules and vacation time to allow its employees to engage in their interests outside of work. The “field staff” — EMTs, paramedics and community paramedics — work either one 48-hour shift with four days off, or three 12-hour shifts weekly. Vacation time ranges between 15 and 40 days of paid time off per year, and employees are encouraged to use all their vacation days.
“We find that a lot of our employees have a lot of outside interests, and we really support them,” Gennett said. “Time away from work is one of the best ways that you can support your mental health and have self-care.”
Eagle County Paramedic Services also offers a $1,200 annual stipend for recreational pursuits and a housing assistance program. “We all know that housing is really at the crisis level here in Eagle County, and we are trying our best that if an employee would like to live locally, we will help support that,” Gennett said.
Eagle County Paramedic Services works to recruit within Eagle County, including partnering with other emergency services providers to familiarize high school students with career pathways. EMTs hired by Eagle County Paramedic Services can attend a Denver Health satellite paramedic school in Eagle County, allowing them to “be supported and have career growth right here at ECPS,” Gennett said.
“This is a really wonderful career — very fulfilling, very rewarding — and you’re serving your community. I hope that people do look at us as a really great career here in Eagle County,” Gennett said.
