Fairway Independent Mortgage Earns No. 1 Workplace Award

Madison, Wisconsin-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation won the 2021 Top Workplaces USA award issued by Energage, an organization that develops solutions to build, brand, and incentivize a healthy work environment at companies across the nation.

Fairway also received top honors in three other categories of awards that Energage presented. The company was named first in Top Workplaces for Leadership, Top Workplaces for Communication, and Top Workplaces for Clued-in Leaders.

Winners of the Top Workplaces USA list were chosen based solely on employee feedback gathered through an employee engagement survey distributed by Energage. Results were calculated by comparing the survey's research-based statements, including 15 culture drivers that are proven to predict high performance against industry benchmarks.

"We are humbled to be recognized as not only the best place to work in the financial services industry, but also as the number one place to work in the entire U.S.," said Steve Jacobson, founder and CEO of Fairway Independent Mortgage. "We value our employees greatly at Fairway, so we provide them with a supportive culture and work environment where they can thrive and grow their careers. I see culture as a day-to-day discipline. We take nothing for granted as we never know what is around the corner."

Fairway is dedicated to offering borrowers a wide variety of mortgage options to help put more families in homes and is known for some of the fastest turnaround times in the mortgage industry. The company is one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, producing nearly $66 billion in volume last year. It has more than 500 branches and over 9,300 employees nationwide.

"Here at Fairway, we're committed to the individual success of every employee," said Chief Human Resources Officer Julie Fry. "We want to support them in reaching their career goals and empowering them to be creative, make decisions and think outside the box. We also encourage our teammates to make volunteering and community service a regular part of their routines, whether through our non-profit foundations Fairway Cares and American Warrior Initiative (AWI), or through charitable organizations of their choice."

"Fairway received high marks for the way our leadership approached the pandemic," Fry added. "We were able to pivot quickly and migrate employees to work remotely in best interest of their safety. We even offered exercise equipment to our staff so that they could work out in their homes."

A video on Fairway's Core Culture Values may be viewed on Youtube.