Company attracts and retains top scientific talent with its unique corporate structure, vibrant culture

Research Triangle Park, NC -- May 16, 2019 -- AgBiome, the private company harnessing the plant microbiome for novel agricultural pest solutions, announced today the company was named one of Inc. magazine’s Best Workplaces for 2019, the publication’s fourth annual ranking in the thriving private company sector.

AgBiome was given the same recognition by the magazine in 2018.

Hitting newsstands in the June 2019 issue, and as part of a prominent Inc.com feature, the list is the result of a wide-ranging and comprehensive measurement of private American companies that have created exceptional workplaces through vibrant cultures, deep employee engagement, and stellar benefits. The publication singled out 346 finalists after collecting data on nearly 2,000 submissions.

“Since day one, AgBiome has operated with a unique, non-hierarchical management system with no fixed reporting structure. The company is instead run by committees of passionately committed employees,” explained Elizabeth Claypoole, Chief People Officer, AgBiome. “This award is a testament to how AgBiome’s unique structure not only enables us to attract and retain better scientific talent, which is critical to our mission, but also allows us to make decisions faster and innovate better. This certainly differentiates us from our larger, more bureaucratic competitors.”

Each nominated company took part in an employee survey, conducted by Omaha’s Quantum Workplace, on topics including trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. Inc. then gathered, analyzed, and audited the data. Then the publication ranked all the employers using a composite score of survey results. This year, 74.2 percent of surveyed employees were engaged by their work—besting last year’s score of 72.1 percent.

The strongest engagement scores came from companies that prioritize the most human elements of work. These companies are leading the way in employee recognition, performance management, and diversity.

While researching the finalists, Inc. and Quantum saw distinct themes:
● 99 percent provide health insurance—and some cover the cost.
● 49 percent allow employees to bring pets to work.
● 65 percent take employees to offsite retreats to relax and recharge.
● 16 percent offer paid sabbaticals to reward length of service.

About AgBiome
AgBiome discovers and develops innovative biological and trait products for crop protection. Our proprietary Genesis™ discovery platform allows us to efficiently capture and screen the most diverse and unique microbial collection for agriculturally relevant applications, coupled to industry-best screens for insect, disease and nematode control. Through its commercial subsidiary, AgBiome Innovations, Inc., the company develops and sells proprietary crop protection solutions. The first of these, Howler™, is a revolutionary biological fungicide for disease control in a broad variety of specialty crops. LifeEDIT, an AgBiome subsidiary, deploys proprietary genome editing systems to address human genetic diseases and high value crop traits. For more information, visit http://agbiome.com.

About Inc. Media
Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures, Inc. is the only major brand dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, with the aim to deliver real solutions for today's innovative company builders. Winner of Advertising Age’s “A-List” in January 2015, and a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in both 2014 and 2012, Inc. has a monthly audience reach that’s grown from two million in 2010 to more than 20 million today. For more information, visit www.Inc.com.

About Quantum Workplace
Quantum Workplace is an HR technology company that serves organizations through employee engagement surveys, action-planning tools, exit surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, performance evaluations, goal tracking, and leadership assessment. For more information, visit www.QuantumWorkplace.com.