{"id":419879,"date":"2026-10-06T04:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419879\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T04:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:18:13","slug":"lja-engineering-named-top-workplace-for-large-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419879\/","title":{"rendered":"LJA Engineering named top workplace for large businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an engineering consultancy firm with over 3,000 employees spread across 90 offices nationwide, a supreme focus on people and clients is a non-negotiable.<\/p>\n

For their work in delivering purpose-driven projects and empowering employee growth through ownership, LJA Engineering is the Orlando Sentinel\u2019s 2026 Top Workplaces in Central Florida winner in the large business category.<\/p>\n

While LJA has offices in 12 different states, employees in the Orlando area recently moved into a new office space at the Keller Center in Maitland.<\/p>\n

LJA offers an array of services, primarily across eight areas of expertise ranging from land development, public works and surveying to transportation, rail and energy.<\/p>\n

As employees complete the necessary work of building relationships with clients and contributing to various engineering projects, LJA fosters its relationship with its employees by offering enrollment in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP.<\/p>\n

Federally governed, an ESOP is a retirement benefit plan that allows employees to invest in shares of stocks issued by their employer.<\/p>\n

\"LJALJA Engineering colleagues discuss a project at the engineering consulting firm\u2019s Maitland office on Monday, September 21, 2026. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cAs employees, we do have the opportunity to invest and we also help employees in getting their professional registration as an engineer,\u201d Robin Mitchell, LJA Employee Engagement Specialist, said. \u201cWe invest in surveying and we help pay for school, so we try to help our employees grow throughout their tenure here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell has worked at LJA for just over three years and is tasked with ensuring employees have all the necessary tools to succeed and grow within the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a whole leadership in development and learning team dedicated just to the employees,\u201d she said. \u201cAs soon as you get hired, we have a communication class, we have a mentorship program, and we have all these different research tools that most companies do not invest in.\u201d<\/p>\n

To keep employees motivated and engaged throughout the year, Mitchell said LJA has monthly celebrations for different events and holidays that could range from a Thanksgiving potluck or holiday party to Star Wars Day or Pi Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also just completed our anniversary lunch where we celebrate our employees hitting five, ten or 15 years,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re responsible for keeping the culture and environment alive throughout the year as well; they\u2019ll bring in different dishes from their families or do holiday events.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EngineersEngineers with LJA Engineering meet to discuss a project at the engineering consulting firm\u2019s Maitland office on Monday, September 21, 2026. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u2018Have Fun\u2019 is one of the Core Four within LJA, a collection of four foundational pillars that serve as the company\u2019s unifying cultural values.<\/p>\n

The other three \u2014 Make Money and Make a Difference, Grow or Die, Freedom and Responsibility \u2014 serve as the guiding force for the day-to-day operations of the company.<\/p>\n

In an effort to make a difference, LJA offers an employee resource group called LJA Cares, which focuses on charity efforts in the communities LJA works within.<\/p>\n

Within the Orlando office, Mitchell said the team does Toys for Tots each year, participates in local volunteer clean-up days and supports breast cancer awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n

LJA Senior Vice President of Land Development Bob Schanck said the company\u2019s focus on \u2018freedom and responsibility\u2019 is one of the biggest draws in attracting talented employees.<\/p>\n

The ability for employees to invest has been both a recruiting tool and invaluable in retaining a solid employee base.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an ESOP company, so you can really spend your entire career with LJA because it\u2019s a financial tool that makes us all employee-owners as soon as you join,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The working relationships between employees and the ability to get involved through ownership sets LJA above the rest as one of the top workplaces in Central Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see in other companies where they say the culture is there, but they\u2019re really like these siloed offices throughout the country that aren\u2019t working together,\u201d Schanck said. \u201cWe understand that we can thrive if we are truly working together and pulling together to increase the stock in our company for our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As an engineering consultancy firm with over 3,000 employees spread across 90 offices nationwide, a supreme focus on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,114,139,141,140,109,76686,65505],"class_list":["post-419879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-business","tag-top-workplaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}