We Didn’t Win This Award. Our Team Did.

“We started this thing almost ten years ago… I go back to the two things of why we started this in the first place. The first: we wanted to bring an elite level of care and performance to the general customer — the recreational person, the active person, the high school athlete. If we can bring something that’s done at the pro level to the rest of the population — they deserve it. The second was our passion to make it a career possibility for every therapist — and what’s expanded to be every employee in the company… To develop something that did outstanding work, brought in the best clinicians and the best people, and created a way that they could stay.

Now we have a process: be the employer of choice — which answers the goal of being a real career at an elite level. Then be the provider of choice. Our third strategic objective is to grow — but growing is what proves we’re the provider of choice and creates opportunities for the employer of choice. Those top two get the job done.”

— Tony Mikla, KIME Co-Founder & CEO, KIMEcast Episode 008| Becoming The Employer & Provider of Choice (Watch full episode here!)

Two goals, ten years ago. Elite care for everyone. A real career for the people who deliver it.

This month, Sacramento told us how that second goal is going.

KIME has been named the #2 Best Place to Work in Sacramento in the Small Business category by the Sacramento Business Journal.

The Award With No Judges

Here’s the thing about this award: we couldn’t have campaigned for it if we tried.

No application essay. No panel. No pitch deck from leadership about how great the culture is. The Sacramento Business Journal honors 55 companies across the region and ranks the Top 3 in each size category — and the entire result is decided by one thing: an anonymous survey of the people who actually work there.

Our team answered. Nobody at KIME saw a single response. Which means every number below is what our people said when no one was watching.

• 95.13 out of 100 — matching the benchmark set by the Top 3 small companies, well above the 91 average among finalists.
• 97% of our team is highly engaged. Zero disengaged. Not one. The best workplaces in the country top out at 97% engagement — that’s the ceiling of this entire field, and it’s where our team already is.
• A 97 on “senior leaders value people as their most important resource.” Feeling valued is one of the biggest drivers of engagement there is. Our team says they feel it.

And when asked for the one word that best describes working at KIME — thirty-six people answering independently, anonymously, with no coordination — the top answer was:

EXCELLENCE.

We chose that word as a core value years ago. Our team just chose it back. Not as an aspiration — as a description.

Don’t Take Our Word For It

The best part of the survey isn’t the scores. It’s the comments — written anonymously, exactly as our team members put it:

“Ever since I started at KIME, it’s been nothing short of excellent. It’s clear to see the promotional pathway, I’ve been given all the tools needed for current and future success and I am surrounded by knowledgeable, professional, and most importantly, good people who care about what they do.”

“They care about us as individuals and do not allow anyone to fall behind. If a coworker is struggling with performance our leaders will take personal time to improve their skills and knowledge base. Autonomy is promoted above all else giving us control over work-life balance.”

“I no longer feel stagnant in my career and feel there are further growth opportunities for me.”

“I never feel like I can’t do the right thing.”

Read those again and notice what they’re about: growth that’s real. Mentorship that shows up. Autonomy. The freedom to do the right thing, every time.

That’s not a benefits package. That’s an environment.

Why It Matters — Whoever You Are

If you’re a patient or client: the person treating you works somewhere they’d vouch for anonymously. Engaged clinicians listen harder, hold a higher standard, and stay — which means the therapist who knows your story is still here for your next one. Employer of Choice and Provider of Choice aren’t two goals. They’re one promise, kept from both sides.

If you’re a clinician or professional watching from the outside: we’re not going to tell you KIME is a great place to work. That pitch is on every careers page in the country. We’ll just point at the scoreboard — an award we couldn’t influence, decided entirely by the people who’d know.

Ten Years In

Tony said it: the whole point was to build something that did outstanding work, brought in the best people, and created a way for them to stay. Ten years later, on a mission to upgrade 100,000 lives by 2030, our own team — anonymously, unprompted — called it what it is.

Excellence. Their word, not ours.